Jesus Christ played the pivotal role in our redemption and it is essential for us to be constantly mindful that we have been “bought with a price”. It is hard for us to comprehend how the Creator of heaven and earth, One so great and powerful, could take cognizance of wayward mortals and provide for them a way of salvation. The Lord’s comment that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16), fills us with wonder each time we think about it. This love for the world was matched by Jesus’ great love exceeding any other man’s, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. It is profitable for us to reflect on the love of the Father and the Son in order for us to appreciate and be thankful for the price paid.
Imagine if you had to fulfil the role that was laid on our Lord? What would have been your response? Isaiah in the first of the Servant Songs speaks prophetically of Yahweh’s delight in His Servant, and there He outlines his demeanour and final victory: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law” (Isa 42:1–4).
And what was it that was expected of the Servant; what was his commission? Yahweh his Father required, as the basis for the extension of His grace, mercy and forgiveness, a perfect man, a sinless bearer of the mortal nature that had come by sin in the beginning. He was to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, our frailties, our weaknesses in striving for the goal of perfection, but with the added dimension, this sinlessness was to be achieved under the greatest trial, provocation, humiliation and pain ever experienced by man, and it would culminate in a cruel lingering death by crucifixion. This was his work description:
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him … He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth … In his humiliation his judgment was taken away [lxx as cited Acts 8:33]: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isa 53:3, 7–8).
Imagine if this was your appointed lot. How would you have reacted?
His birth and early youth
In a certain sense we are treading on holy ground, as we explore the closest relationship that has ever existed, that between God and the Saviour, or more poignantly between the Father and the Son of the Father.
What were some of the factors that were necessary for the achievement of the objective of our righteous and Holy Father?
There had to be a young woman, virtuous and willing to accept the lofty role of being “the handmaid of the Lord”. Mary, a virgin of Nazareth, graciously responded to this heavenly calling, to be the mother of Israel’s Messiah. But she had to be a special person as she would have such a defining influence upon her son. That she had the requisite spirituality can be seen from her immediate responses and the remarkable words spoken to her cousin Elisabeth, in which she humbly perceived the import of her singular honour: “My soul doth magnify the Lord … He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever” (Luke 1:46–55). Moreover there was required of her maternal compassion, wisdom and a capacity to instruct with a heavenly balance, lest the young child should be skewed or prejudiced. She would perform her sacred charge from the earliest days of his life. The Psalmist anticipates this, along with the child’s awareness of his Father’s influence in his first remembrances: “But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope [rsv, ‘keep me safe’] when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly” (22:9–10).
God, his Father
Another crucial element in attaining perfection was our Lord’s divine paternity: in order for the victory over sin and death to be achieved, God would have to intervene; the Holy Spirit would overshadow the virgin Mary bringing about the unique conception of that holy one who was truly the Son of God (Luke 1:35).
Why was this necessary? The simple answer is because there was no man of purely human origin who was or could be sinless: “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23, 9–11). God had looked in vain amongst the ranks of the holy nation, Israel, without success. It was essential for Him to become involved: “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him” (Isa 59:16 cp 50:2; 51:18).
But what part did the divine paternity play in the sinlessness required? It did not make Jesus sinless, but it made sinlessness possible, if he chose to do his Father’s will; it gave to him a predilection for spiritual things beyond any other man; he had an insight, and intimate knowledge of his Father’s ways. This was coupled with daily communion and instruction that led to fervent love between the Father and Son, unique and never experienced by any other.
The Father’s education
We might pose the question, Whence could the Redeemer obtain the education, the knowledge mandatory for a sinless life? In a word it was from Scripture, but in his case it was not ministered by the Rabbis, but by his heavenly Father. Daily he was ‘tapped on the shoulder’, awakened, and his ear was attentive to his Father’s voice. God initiated the education of this special, responsive one: “The Lord Yahweh hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned” (Isa 50:4).
In the course of this careful instruction the Son learned many things about his mission, some daunting and frightening. He came to understand that he was the subject of Scripture, he was its theme, the seed of the promises made from earliest times and to Abraham and David! Everything depended upon him and his performance of his Father’s will.
All that he learned about this mission was not pleasant. We do not know at what age he actually came to understand that his life would be terminated by a humiliating, cruel death at the hand of Jew and Gentile, but we do know what his response was – acceptance: “The Lord Yahweh hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isa 50:5–6). This response showed courage and commitment to the uncompromising will of his Father; he came to understand His objectives, and though he was a Son, he would learn obedience by the things he suffered; perfection would come only through suffering! (Heb 5:8).
We should ask ourselves again what our response might have been to such a commission? Then we shall understand something of the burden he had to live with “in the days of his flesh”. How thankful we should be to him who alone can lift our burden and set us free.
In the Temple, twelve years of age
Jesus and his family made their way from Nazareth to Jerusalem to keep Passover. While returning, his mother and Joseph became aware that he was not in the company. With much anxiety they retraced their steps to Jerusalem, where they found him in the Temple. The story provides us with some significant insights: clearly in those years there had been prodigious spiritual growth, for we read that all that heard him, and that included “the doctors” of the law, were “astonished at his understanding and answers”.
He was the subject of adulation and amazement, but he could not let pride, so common in gifted youth, take root. The record notably informs us that he returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, “and was subject unto them” (Luke 1:41–51). Rounding out the time of his youth and development, Luke adds, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature [mrg, ‘age’], and in favour with God and man” (v52).
We have commenced our contemplation of what was entailed in the “great salvation” in which our Lord played the crucial role as he undertook fulfilling his Father’s will. God willing, we shall follow his time-line and strive to appreciate more of what was involved in being the Saviour of the World.