The Life of Christ

LESSON 9

SECTION 93

Mt. 13:53 And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.

Mt. 8:18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side.

It had been a very long day; after finishing His teaching on the parables, and with crowds closing in, it was time to board the small boat and head for the other side of the lake.

• Jesus was extremely tired and probably didn’t even have time to eat.

• Lk. 8:24 shows Jesus sound asleep in the midst of the upcoming storm.

A careful look at the moments when Jesus’ humanity was particularly pronounced reveals a significant pattern.

• Shortly after the deepest manifestations of Jesus’ humanity, come some of the highest displays of His divinity.

• We see it here: directly following His moment of weariness He calms the sea.

• In Jn. 4:6, Jesus sat at the well wearied from His journey. In a matter of moments, He will demonstrate the word of knowledge to such a degree that much of an entire city will come to believe (Jn. 4:39-42).

• In Jn. 11:35, immediately after weeping for His dear friend Lazarus, He then raised him from the dead.

• His ultimate example of “divinity following humanity” was the death on the cross followed by the resurrection.

The same pattern can be traced throughout the life of the Apostle Paul:

• Three days after being struck blind, he was powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:8,17).

• Following Paul’s emotional breakup with Barnabas, three verses later in a divine encounter he meets Timothy (Acts 15:39; 16:1).

• Upon being stoned to death, he’s caught up into the third heaven (Acts 14:19; 2 Cor. 12:2).

This pattern encourages us that our greatest encounters with God often come shortly after our most painful encounters with our own humanity.

Mt. 8:23 And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

The boat they boarded may have belonged to the Zebedees.

• The boat was always at their service, whether for a pulpit, a resting place, or even a means of escape.

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