Learning to Be Human

Matthew 26:47-56

Do what you have come here to do.

Photo by Strvnge Films on Unsplash

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?” At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. - Matthew 26:47-56

There he is, surrounded by his friends, when one turns on him, and the others flee from him.

Some friends, right?

My father used to say that you don’t have a lot of true friends in this life. If you have one, you are lucky, and this may be what Jesus is feeling right now.

I don’t know the details of my father’s experience with a close friend who turned against him, but that experience haunted him the rest of his life.

And it made him overly cautious and protective of us, his children. I think of my dad, though, when I read about how Jesus’s friends turn against him, and I wonder if Jesus was as hurt by this as Dad was.

We have this image of Jesus as someone who is above emotional trauma and pain, and yet, we have moments like when his friends couldn’t stay awake with him, that we get a sense of his sensitivity.

We forget that Jesus learned to be human like us.

I can’t imagine being human without having relationships. While many animals develop bonds with one another throughout their lives, human relationships are odd and unique.

We tend to pull apart and drift away from some of those who used to be very close, and we can hold grudges forever.

Jesus didn’t do that. He came back to his friends and showed them that his love for them was real and everlasting.

Imagine how they felt when he came to them after his resurrection and embraced them as though they had never abandoned him.

It is hard to see that lesson in this excerpt from the story, but the bones of it are there. He loved them and didn’t fight when Judas came to betray him.

I started this by saying that Jesus was learning to be human like us, but I think I was wrong about that. Jesus was teaching us how to be truly human, like him.

My father never got that lesson. He clung to family above all else and didn’t trust others. But Jesus taught us to trust in God, and all else will fall into place.

That should be easy, but it’s not.

We would rather argue the nature of God than examine our own nature. Such is our fate, I guess. To err is human. To forgive, divine.

More to come...

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