Jesus is more human than us (Easter Thursday)

Today a momentous moment in human history occurs: Jesus eats some fish.  Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.

Why is this so important?  Why so momentous for us?

Its firstly because it tells us this is a real man, a 100% human being standing in front of us.  Sometimes we can feel very distant from God. It’s OK for him - he’s God, I’m just a mere human on the earth.  And we can use this as an excuse for our wrongdoing: God doesn’t understand, it’s easy for him, he doesn’t have to go through what I go through.  That’s the sneaky almost unconscious thought which underlines some of our temptations. 

But my friends it’s not true!  It’s a complete lie! Jesus is so human he knows the joys of eating fresh, grilled fish.  He is so human he delights in being in the company of his friends. He is so human he gets immediately our human fear of the situation after death.  He is so human - he is more human than we are, and he gets being human infinitely better than we do, because he doesn’t share the falleness and internal division and conflict we each have in our own souls about who we are, what we should do, and what we are free to do.

This is why we look to Jesus, and abandon ourselves to his teaching: because it is he who reveals to us who we are, and what it means to be human.

Let us pray:

O God, who have united the many nations

in confessing your name,

grant that those reborn in the font of Baptism

may be one in the faith of their hearts

and the homage of their deeds.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.