Under Cover of Darkness

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Philippians 2:8

Jesus was fully man and fully God.  I get what it means to be fully man, but I struggle to understand his experience of being God while wearing flesh.  I cannot know what it was like to leave heaven.  He emptied himself and became limited.  When he took on humanity and shed his glory did he blunt his awareness?  If so, I imagine it was very frustrating to be subject to human frailty, needing sleep, food, and air.  The worst part would be to his chosen limitation.  Did his humanity trump him omniscience?  Did he feel deaf, dumb, and blind compared to his former awareness of everything?

 Out of the Silent Planet is a science fiction piece from the forties.  It depicts Earth as a world cut off from the constant songs of deep heaven.  Our world was a prison for Satan and all of its residents were muted to the glory beyond the veil.  Perhaps this is how Jesus experienced Earth, with senses blunted to the unlimited flow of awareness and relationship.

 But Jesus was on a mission.  He talked with the other members of the godhead with communion and comfort.  But when compared with the closeness they had shared in eternity was it as satisfying as a long distance phone call? 

He loved the people he came to save and they turned on him.  He loved his friends; and when the first one walked out the door John reports, “it was night”.  When Judas skulked away on his errand of betrayal I imagine the dark of night touched Christ’s heart as well.  Like a moment of chill when a cloud blocks the sun he watched as his friend walked away; ‘it begins’.  A while later he watched his all his friends run away.

On Friday I think the most devastating distance was not the pain of betrayal, or the beatings, or the nails, or the suffocation.  He had nothing left but his relationship with God.

He took all the thoughts and actions that separate us from God upon himself.  He was obedient, and took on the death I deserve.  Then at the extremity of his obedience it happened.  He looked to the Father he had shared every thought with through eternity, and the Father turned away. Cut off, alone for the first time, with nothing but pain.

I’m sure he knew what would happen Sunday, that he would rise and we would be redeemed.  What I am focused on today is that before he left heaven he knew what would happen Friday, and yet he came.  And it was night.