True God and True Man

Theme: The Earthly and the Spiritual
 
SCRIPTURE
Mark 4 35-41
 
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea,“Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

LESSON

When we look at the Lord Jesus, what exactly is it that we see? “True God and true man” is the answer given by the ancient church, and hundreds of pages have been written to explain exactly what that means. Certainly we cannot answer the question definitively in the course of this study; nor was that Mark’s chief purpose in writing his gospel. But in the next few chapters, mark does provide us with many incidents that offer glimpses into Jesus’ unique nature. He shows us the way Jesus, like no other man, was able to bring the earthly and the spiritual together.
 
In the story of Jesus calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41), Mark shows us the humanity of our Lord Jesus. We must never think of the humanity we see every day as being normal, for we are not truly human, not in the way we were intended to be. We are fallen humanity, a very great difference that taints every aspect of our lives. If we think of Christ as a demonstration of what humanity was created to be, then we will see all that we are by contrast in its weakness and sinfulness. What a humbling realization!

STUDY QUESTIONS

  • Explain what it means that Christ was fully truly God and truly man.
  • Is it important that Christ was truly man? Why?
  • How does Mark 4:35-41 exemplify his humanity and his deity?
REFLECTION
  • Read Philippians 2:1-11
PRAYER
  • Pray in gratitude that God sent his son to take on flesh, being fully God and Fully man, which enables Christ to empathize with humanity and die for our sins.

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