John 2:12
After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days.
This is, by and large, a transitional verse, moving Jesus from the setting of his first “sign” in Cana to the stage for his first major public encounter in Jerusalem that will come in the next scene. In between these two scenes, he goes to Capernaum for a few days, a place that figures larger in the other gospels but must have been a place connected to family and friends as it sounds like it’s a bit of a rest and refuge for Jesus and those with him.
What strikes me about this otherwise unremarkable verse, however, is the subtle reminder it offers that Jesus had a life. He had a mother. He had disciples. He had brothers. He had, that is, family and friends like we do.
It’s so incredibly easy – particularly when reading John’s Gospel, as we’ll see – to get so wrapped up in issues about Jesus’ divinity that we almost forget he was human. Oh, we confess “fully man, fully God” in the creeds, but the “God” part seems to swallow whole the “man” – or, more to the point, human – part nine times out of ten.
So just for a moment, let’s take John’s brief transition verse as a subtle but important reminder that Jesus was very much like us – with family and friends, hopes and hurts, laughter and tears, longings and disappointments, and all the rest. Because if he’s not, then much of what we confess about Jesus just doesn’t matter all that much.
Prayer: Dear God, we thank you for becoming like us in Jesus, taking on our everyday lot and our mortal life that we might know you understand us now and that we might share your eternal life in the future. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thank you for this reminder that Jesus was real and human. Sometimes as I reflect its easy to forget that. I still wrestle with those who may not know him the way I do and get frustrated with a more narrow theology that limits those who he knows and know him. My early faith walk was in more fundamental churches and some of that interpretation lingers but the grace that Jesus preached and lived has to to be for all. And I have to believe that in time they will realize that. I live in Wa state where huge numbers of people are unchurched, including at this point many of my own family. Yet I must have Hope.