The Untiring Servant

Meditations for Monday

I scratched out a note for a blogging idea a couple of weeks ago and it reads:
"Jesus - the untiring servant"

I don't remember what I was thinking when I wrote that, but when I read it today, I was thinking more along the lines of this:
"Jesus - the untiring servant?"

Meaning, even Jesus got tired.

I've been tired lately. And it has been more than just the way I've been tired because I am a mother and mothers are always tired. It has been a deep spiritual ache accompanied by struggles with my health that have brought on chronic exhaustion. No, I'm not pregnant. That would be a much more pleasant reason to be struggling than what I am dealing with. But today as I looked at my list of blog ideas, I was struck by Jesus' humanity and it gave me comfort.

Jesus was the Son of God and the Son of Man. He carried on a very intensive ministry for years. Just because He is Deity does not mean that His body did not have the same physical needs and limitations that the rest of us do. He needed daily bread. He needed rest. He needed time alone. He needed comfort. He was not an untiring servant.

Consider His temptation in the wilderness for forty days. The Bible tells us that He was hungry, but I imagine He was pretty tired as well. We know that afterward angels came to minister to Him.

Consider Jesus on the Mount of Olives before He gave Himself up to the soldiers who came to arrest Him:

Luke 22:39-45 -

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."

Just before beginning His ministry, Jesus endured 40 days of the Tempter throwing everything he possibly could at Jesus. Throughout His life, Jesus endured tremendous pressure and sorrow. At the end of His life, He endured separation from His Father while bearing the weight of all of the sins of the world. Jesus endured betrayal and loss.

Jesus endured.

And the real reason for comfort - Jesus ENDURES!

Jesus crushed Satan's head when he rose on the third day. Death was swallowed up in victory and Jesus reigns in heaven at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus endures forever!

And Jesus is NOW the untiring servant, mediating for us, listening to our prayers, understanding our every trial and temptation day and night until God calls us home to join Him at His throne.

I feel like I can endure now, at least for today, and it is because He is my strength!

Psalm 73:23-26

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.