Just how human was Jesus?

This might sound a dumb question - of course Jesus was human.

Yet one of the most distinguishing charactoristics of humanity is that it has the ability to learn.

Now I doubt Jesus was born able to speak. If he was then the gospels would be full of his early life, not his later ministry. So Jesus did learn some things.

But did Jesus - say, from the point of his baptism - know all things? Some Christians argue that he must have, for a big thread of theology believes that Jesus (the Son of God) existed from the beginning of creation. The problem with this argument is that Jesus must have known much about which he kept quiet. Such as the fact the world is round not flat. I'm sure Jesus had great self-control, but if you knew things the world didn't, wouldn't you be tempted to tell all?

Then there is the scriptural evidence. Such as the meeting between Jesus and the Caananite woman in which he refuses initially to heal her daughter on the grounds that his mission was only to the Jews. The woman appears to persuade Jesus to come to a different view of his own ministry. Not only is Jesus prepared to learn, but he's prepared to learn from a foreign woman!

If we accept the idea that Jesus was fully human, then it is possible to begin to see his ministry as one in which his own understanding of self gradually revealed itself.

To me that is a much more accessible and approachable Divinity. Moreover, it begins to make possible what Athanasius - I think - said back in the early centuries of the church. 'That Jesus became man, so that man might become God'. This idea of the divinization of humanity is not as wacky as it might sound to our rational infested minds. If the purpose of humanity is to be re-united with our creator, then Jesus shows the extent to which this is possible in life. Following Jesus becomes the means by which we become one with God 'in Christ', in this life and not only in the life to come.

Above all, it avoids putting Jesus on a pedastal, high out of reach, to be adored at a distance but rarely to be emulated.

So if you think of our relationship with Jesus in linear terms, then think horizontal not vertical. Jesus is not up in the clouds but right beside us on our level. Immediately accessible to know and to follow.

If I believe that Jesus had to learn his ministry, it makes it much easier for me as I struggle to learn mine. It means I have someone to learn from and someone to learn with.

I'm not alone.

Dave Ford