[DIVINE POWER YEAR DECEMBER 2002 Volume 31 Issue 12 No. 321 For Youth A Friend closer than a Brother! Duke Jeyaraj The popular TV programme Friends is a huge hit with yahoo youth, But you know what, despite the fact that many young people’s whole lif revolves around their ifiends they are lonely. It may be unbelievable but it's true ~ the lonely feeling hits even when they are rubbing shoulders with each other in a big crowd! A popular music group sang, "Ail alone in this world...” To a generation for which loneliness is the best fiend it's my joy to introduce a "ifiend who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov 18:24). Who? Jesus. He is getting bad press these days. He is portrayed as one who lives in unapproachable light. He lives there no doubt, but hardly anyone hammers home the fict that He is an understanding Friend. We know He is God — 100%, But how many of us have celebrated the fact that He is human — also 100%, Read the last sentence again. I am not taking about a celebral understanding but a celebration of the humanity of Jesus! Even the disciples of Jesus got lost in His divinity. They told themselves after He did a stupendous miracle, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!" (Mk 8:27). Notice that they did not stop and wonder when Jesus was sweating afier a hard day's work, "Hey! He is like us, man — He understands our life battles!" There were some that only saw Him as an ordinary human, “Isn't He the carpenter’s kid? Don’t we know His brothers and sisters?" — they slighted Him. Made jokes about Him, that way. I am clearly not advocating thatwe look at Jesus ina false way like that — never! ‘Who is Jesus? Ask Samuel Dickey Gordon. He said, "Jesus is God spelling himself out in a language that man can understand.” He got it right — bull's eye! Why can Jesus understand us, young people? There is a pack of reasons, 1. He ENTERED the world like us! How on earth did we enter this planet? We all — without exception — came out from our mother’s womb, No faltering about this fact! That's the way Jesus came into the world too, No — he was not conceived the way we all were conceived. The Holy Spirit made His conception in Mary's womb happen, in spite of the fact she was a virgin (Mt 1:18-20). Yet His birth was normal, That's why we read, "When the right time came, God sent His Son, bom of a woman!" (Gal 4:4). This is just to undertine the fact He didn’t drop into this world as an alien swinging down in a parachute, Hardly. He came in the scene in this planet the normal way- through a woman’ womb! He did not prefer to land on the earth in a space-ship like Spiderman is supposed to have! He stayed put in Mary’s womb for a full term- He did not jump out in the third month! There was a stamp of humanness about Jesus’ birth except the way He was conceived. 2. He was EDUCATED like us! Jesus grew in all dimensions (Lk 2:52). "Jesus grew up both in height and in wisdom," Luke pens. That surely rust imply that He had to learn up the Hebrew alphabets (Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth...) just the way we learnt our ABCD. That's right. Like every Jewish boy He studied up the Old Testament. True He was “filled with wisdom beyond His years" (Lk 2:40). But don’t forget the fact that He "grew" up (Lk 2:40). When we started growing up have we not experienced our T-shirts becoming too small? Even Jesus must have outgrown His clothes. Jesus shared in every non-sinful aspect of our humanity (Heb 2:14), Young fiend, that’s is why I say with gusto that Jesus understands it as you tangle with your Calculus test. Or that Physics paper. He does. He has been through the whole process of studying, So He understands. 3. His EXTERNAL APPEARANCE was like us! Jesus’ portrait has made it to the cover pages of most of the top magazines of the world like Time, Newsweek, etc. In every shot of Jesus they have printed He looks drop-dead handsome with graceful curls and with cheeks without a pimple or wrinkle! Nevertheless there is one description of Jesus’ looks that’s worth a look: Isaiah 53:2,3, "There was nothing beautifil nor majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him, He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief! We tumed our backs on Him and looked the other way when He went by. He was despised, and we did not care." Eugene Peterson’s contemporary version has it that there was “nothing” about His face that would "cause us to take a second look." Note that pal. It was as if He had a disgusting cancerous lump hanging on His face that made His onlookers look away! Quiz John the Baptist, Ask him if he would have recognised Jesus without a special revelation. He wouldn't have. There was nothing about Jesus’ external appearance that made Him stand out in a crowd. His looks were ordinary and plain! That is why He could dissolve Himself in a swarm when there was a plot hatched to finish Him off. That is why some people merely addressed Him as "the Carpenter" or "the Carpenter's son" (Mk 63; Mt 13:55). He looked lke a regular rugged man — that’s all. The point I am driving home is this: When Jesus walked around this earth no one would have walked up to Him and said, "From my youngest years to this moment now — I have never seen such a lovely king!" His looks were common — unglamourous. You must listen to this one from Philip Yancey: "Our guamourized representations of Jesus say more about us than about Him!" Ever thought about yourself, "I am not handsome?" Ever felt bad that you aren’t "that pretty?" Jesus understands ‘what you go through. He wasn’t a good looker Himself4, He had EMOTIONS just like us! ‘No — Jesus wasn’t cold and clinical, He wasn’t a machine. He had real emotions— just like us! When He talked about his death to Philip and Andrew, He conceded that His "heart was troubled!" (Jn 12:27), He did not jump for joy that He was going to die. He felt bad. That's being normal, That's being like us, buddy. When He geared up to announce, "One of you guys is going to betray Me," John (Jesus’ closest pal) records that Jesus was in "great anguish!” (In 13:21). He felt hurt — just the same we do when our ffiends backstab us. His eyes were welling up with tears when His close acquaintance Lazarus passed away (Jn 11:35). He knows why you are crying. He sees the pain behind your sad eyes. He’s been where you've been. Yes. Jesus understands that pain you go through when you have flunked your exam. When someone has ditched you. When someone has played football with your heart. He may not endorse everything you do. But understand — He sure does! Cricket fans couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw Dravid and Laxman bat one fill day without getting out to the feared Aussie bowling attack in the Calcutta Test Match of 2001. They rubbed their eyes in disbelief when Laxman (who made 281 in that match) took India to a historic win after having it had a deficit of 274 runs in the fist imings. Feelings of amazement — young peoples’ lft is dotted with them, Time and again, Even Jesus has had those kind of feelings — that’s correct. When a non-Jew told Him to speak a word so that his servant living far away would be healed, the Bible records that He was "astonished!" (Mt 8:10). Shell-shocked — in our language! Jesus’ eyes widened — if I put it in modem terms! Ifyou have ever blown your fuse you have a pal in Jesus. He too did! He was once looking for edible buds in a fig tree in a certain Passover Season — one March end or early April. It was just the right season for figs in Israel to sprout with edible buds (if not fruits). But that particular fig on which Jesus east His eyes had no edible buds that implied it would stay barren that year out. But it was leafy —as if to show it was healthy and normal. The tree reminded Jesus of the religious leaders of the Jews with whom He was constantly at loggerheads because of their pretense and show. So He cursed the fig tree wild with rage! When He saw the temple in Jerusalem having been tumed into a messy marketplace He let it rip. He tumed the place upside down. What Jesus saw was blatant injustice and He could not take it cool. He had to get angry. It has happened to us young guns — has it not? When we see hypocrisy around us we get incensed. Infuuriated. He can understand why you feel that way. 5. He ENJOYED human company like us! A monkey enjoys the company of another monkey. "What a brillant observation!" you may well chuckle. Hang on, Only a human can truly enjoy another human’s company. A monkey can’t — I bet! Jesus had a nickname, ‘What? "A Friend of Sinners." Listen, each one of us is a sinner (Rom 3:23). So one can reffame that pet name of Jesus to "A Friend of Humans.” That tells me He loved to hang out with humans, He accepted invitations for Jewish weddings that lasted for weeks together. No, they did not call Him because they thought His miraculous powers would be useful. C’mon! His first miracle was in that wedding at Cana. His reputation as a miracle worker hadn’t been made yet. So why did they call Hint? Let Max Lucado tell you. When they were finalizing the list of invitees for the wedding someone must have said, "Let’s have Jesus and His gang here. They really light up a party!" Whew! Lucado’s eloquent pen goes on: "The Almighty did not act high and mighty. The Holy One was not holier-than-thou!” Can you believe it— Jesus walked 90 miles to attend a wedding? He scaled 90 miles to have some fun with humans! Just love to hang out and have fim with your pals? Same pinch with Jesus! 6. He had ETHEREAL instincts like us! ‘Uma once said, "I wish there was someone to talk to when you are alone at night!" That’s the cry of our generation. A cry of loneliness. A cry that reaches out to something beyond the skies.