How to Be Human

 Though he was God,
      he did not think of equality with God
      as something to cling to.
 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
      he took the humble position of a servant
      and was born as a human being.
                                   (Philippians 2:6-7b)

Christmas forces us to consider Jesus’ humanity, and one of the reasons he came down from heaven was to show us how to live here on earth. The people who lived during the time of Jesus were just like us in many ways. They struggled with self-protection and greed. They struggled with comparison. Jesus addressed all of these issues in the parable of the good Samaritan.

A religious scholar asked Jesus what he should do to have eternal life, and Jesus responded by asking what the Law said. The scholar replied,

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your strength and with all your
mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
(Luke 10:27)

Jesus affirmed his answer, but the teacher wanted a loophole; so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus told him a story about a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers. They beat him, took his clothes, and left him for dead. A priest came along and passed on the other side of the road. Later a Levite came and also passed by. But then a Samaritan happened by, had compassion on him, and stopped to bandage his wounds. The Samaritan took the man to an inn and paid the innkeeper to take care of him, pledging to pay any extra expenses on his return.

Jesus asked, “Who was the man’s neighbor?” The scholar replied, “The one who showed compassion.” And Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” (See Luke 10:25-37) The scholar was asking Jesus, “Who is deserving of mercy?” Jesus essentially responded, “Everyone.” The scholar wanted to know, “How much must I give?” Jesus’ answer? Everything.

As we follow the story of Jesus through the Gospels, we see that Jesus modeled a life of servanthood. What does the life of a servant look like? For us it may look like volunteering at a local food bank or cleaning up the coffee area after church. Living a life of servanthood can look different for each of us–all we have to do is be obedient to those things that God puts before us.

Jesus came so that we could live united with God–now and forever. He walked on the earth so that we could watch and learn from him how to truly be free. He know we had no strength to do it on our own. His own words to his disciples as expressed in The Message Bible sum it up well:

 "What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not
 be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to
 God's giving..."

 "Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a
 bank that can't go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from
 bank robbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank
 on. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is,
 is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."
                                       (Luke 12:29-34 The Message)

Prayer Focus
How is God calling you to walk and live with others as Jesus did? Where is God calling you to walk differently, following in Jesus; footprints of grace and servanthood?

From Rob Renfroe and Ed Robb, The Wonder of Christmas: Devotions for the Season