What I learned from Watching Jesus

Last week I shared the new Watching Jesus journals and why I created them. But now I want to share with you some of the things that took my breath away–in just the first booklet.

As a long time Christian, I have always heard how humble Jesus was. But, He never really seemed that way to me. I mean, I knew Christians are supposed to think of Him that way, but without slowing down enough to actually watch how He lived, it wasn’t something I had seen. (That sounds terrible, I know, but that’s the reality of it.)

So how did Watching Jesus show me His humility? (But, before we jump into the good stuff, please note that my pictures are all prototype copies of the journals, made as I was working through the layout and questions. I deliberately didn’t rewrite my notes in the current journal because I thought it might be cool to see where they started, not the slick perfectly written version. The journals available now are the perfected and refined version. You can see more pictures of them at the bottom of this post.)

In Matthew chapter one, I got my first glimpse of His humility when studying the genealogy of Jesus. There is a long list of people I wouldn’t consider role models. There are murderers, adulterers, liars, deceivers, prostitutes, and all sorts of other people who I would have avoided if I were God.

God had a plan before the beginning of time. And He was not ashamed to come from and come into a long line of sinful human beings. He didn’t cover up their failures, or create a “super human” line for Jesus to be born into, He sent Him right into the mess, and Jesus 100% accepted and submitted and agreed to it. HUMILITY.

In verses 18-25, that first question got me: “Where was Jesus?” In the first sentence of verse 18 it says Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. And where was Jesus? He was in heaven. Not only was He in heaven, but He was enjoying perfect, beautiful unity with the Father and Spirit. He was reigning in His full and complete glory. I had to stop and imagine that.

And He agreed and submitted to leaving perfection, unity, and glory to come down to earth. And not only come down but come as a helpless infant! His humility, unselfish love, obedience and His great love and compassion for His creation drove everything He did. I can’t even comprehend the enormity of this, but I am so incredibly thankful! Amazing, AMAZING grace… to save a wretch like me.

How many times had I read these verses? How many times had I focused on all the other things, and never paused to think of His glory and humility?

Then in chapter two, my view of Jesus just kept getting better. Not only was the Sovereign King now on earth as a young child, but He came to the earth with people who hated Him (Herod) and He grew. And He waited. And He submitted. This great Creator of everything and King of all waited. The King of the Jews was also the King of the wait. What King, who can have everything and anything in an instant, is content with waiting? A truly, deeply, authentically HUMBLE King.

Are you starting to see the weight and glory of this? The humility of our Lord and Savior and King? I was completely broken and amazed. In fact, I was embarrassed that I had always known the right thing to say about Jesus’ humility, but had never taken the time to truly see it.

Chapter two continued with Mary and Joseph fleeing from Herod’s murderous edict. Again, the Creator of the Universe needed protection. He needed protection from Herod–who He created; by Mary and Joseph–who He created. The powerful King who causes demons to flee, had to flee Himself. The upholder of all things, needed to be guarded. Why? Why would He do this? Why would He submit to this? Why would He even want to redeem and restore those who don’t deserve it? Who don’t love Him? Oh, what perfect love! Perfect humility!

In chapter three I kept seeing more and more of Christ’s beautiful humility. And, then, building upon this revelation, I saw that His humility also caused Him to submit, and to submit joyfully and willingly to something He never had to do, baptism. He could have totally bypassed this. He could have declared His authority, demanded His rights as Creator of all! He could at the very least modified it. Or just plain excused Himself. But He submitted fully and completely, with no breath of complaint.

What a truly humble example. What incredible love. Just reviewing these truths to write this blog post has my eyes wet with tears and my heart overwhelmed with His humility.

I encourage you to join in on this journey. The Watching Jesus journals are a tool to help you slow down and see Jesus with new eyes. They are on sale until February 15 for only $10 and you get 25 booklets that take you slowly through the entire gospel of Matthew just like this. Click here to buy your own printable copy of the journals and see what God has to show you! (And, please share with me, I love to hear what God is showing others about Himself!)

(Here’s some examples of the pages you’ll get. The journals print out in half page sized booklets.)