On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
Jesus is with us in good times and bad times, when we’re rejoicing and when we’re sad. Jesus understands because he was fully human in addition to being fully God. The divine Son became human, not only that he might empathize with our sorrows, but also so that he might save us from sin, suffering, and death. When we struggle, when we hurt, when we feel afraid, Jesus is with us to comfort us, strengthen us, and save us.
Jesus had recently come down from the mountain where he had been transfigured, revealing his heavenly glory and receiving strong verbal affirmation from his Heavenly Father. But then he confronted the annoying reality of demonic bondage and human unfaithfulness. In frustration, he said, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here” (Luke 9:41). Notice that Jesus didn’t let his frustration keep him from rebuking the unclean spirit and healing the boy, giving him back to his father whole. Feeling frustrated is not a sin, though it can lead to sin. This was not the case for Jesus, who acted in loving compassion for the father and his son.
I find this story strangely comforting, in that, I have often felt something like Jesus must have felt. Many times in my professional life, for example, a sublime experience of God’s presence was followed by something painfully down to earth.
I find it comforting that Jesus knows what it’s like to go from heavenly glory to earthly pain and frustration. It makes such a difference that Jesus “will all our sorrows share,” in the phrasing of the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” But, even more astoundingly, Jesus chose to live with us, in our pain, loss, confusion, and limitations. Philippians 2:6-8 reminds us that Christ surrendered his divine privilege in order to become human, humbling himself even to the point of death. Though he still participated in divine reality, he chose to live in the messiness and suffering of fallen human life. Jesus joined our reality so that we might join his reality. Or, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” How amazing!
If you’re on a mountaintop today, celebrating God’s blessings in your life, Jesus is with you. And if you’re in the darkest valley, confronting the harsh reality of human life, Jesus is with you. Not only does he understand, but also he took on this reality so he might set us free from bondage to sin, suffering, and death. No matter what you’re facing today, let me urge you to take this good news to heart.
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