One of Us

"But there is only one true ideal of manhood - Jesus Christ."

A FOUNTAIN runs best on clean water. Put mud in the fountain and you clog the motor which moves the water and fill the orifices where the water flows. So is our humanness. We only run correctly in righteousness, as God created us to walk. What we deem as our right, to behave as we wish, is destructive to our mental health, and the more we continue to think and act in un-righteousness, the further we back away from how God made us to function. The way of the world is to redefine manhood to fit their selfish ideals. But there is only one true ideal of manhood – Jesus Christ. This includes women, though understanding is given for womanhood being as women are designed. But in reading Matthew 5, all its ideals apply to men and women and all describe Jesus, for we can fall to the final verse for this. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven in perfect (V48).” Jesus came to reveal the Father, to represent the Father.

Of importance are the definitions in Greek of “righteousness” and “adversary” used in this chapter. “Adversary” is the exact opposite of “righteousness.” Satan is called our adversary (same word). In other words, he is the anti-righteous. “Righteousness” means “right” and “justice.” It can also mean “judgment” which plays into the chapter as well (V22).

The righteous are said to be humble (poor in spirit), meek, merciful, pure in heart (which also manifests as mourning for sin), and peacemakers.

We can say, then, that unrighteousness is the opposite, and that is pictured in Matthew 5 as persecution of the righteous, anger without cause, lust of the eyes, lust of the hands, unfaithfulness in marriage, false oaths, evil communication, and retaliation.

The response of the righteous to the anti-righteous is also given. We are salt, light, and good works (V13-16). We love our neighbors and love our enemies, to the point of giving them our coat as well as our shirt and allowing them to “hit the other cheek too (V39).”

Read those lists again, then apply them to the Father in heaven, who sent His Son to live on earth and proclaim the good news of His kingdom, knowing He would be persecuted, spoken evil of without cause, be lied about, lied to, and receive the ultimate retaliation – death on the cross. Men and women He’d created would prove themselves to be most unfaithful. All of these behaviors just like mud in the fountain.

He knew what man had become and forgave us anyway. That was the point of Jesus living and dying and being raised from the dead. That in Him is life abundant and free and these people were too selfish and messed up to see it. They couldn’t fix it. Living water only comes from Christ.

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” (John 4:10)

Jesus went through Samaria to see a woman lost in sin. She’d had five husbands and was living with number six. Interestingly enough, He sent the disciples away for food and spoke to her alone. Being a woman of many relationships, notice her words to Him when He asked for a drink. “What are you a Jew doing speaking to me, a Samarian? (John 4:9)” What we read as cultural aversion was also a woman asking a man who He was. She’d known only failures in relationship and had no trust in what must’ve looked to her like just another man wanting her attention. Jesus’ replies to her pull back the curtain in a way she did not expect. He knew who she was, but before saying so, promised her living water found only in the fountain of God’s grace. Where she had been searching for clean water in a muddy pool, He had come to give her God’s goodness for free.

Her joyous reply to the people of Samaria, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did (John 4:29),” shines a picture as well. Here, He is the Righteous One turning the other cheek to make peace with someone lost in unrighteousness. He had to know what it looked like when He spoke to her. The disciples returned and were puzzled by it. But what mattered was not what people said or what she supposed, but His being the Light of the World and the Love of God. He was humble and meek and merciful like His Father, but He was certain of Himself, confident in His obedience to the plan of salvation written before the foundation of the world, and not afraid to do what His Father asked, whatever people thought.

He proved this on the cross, where He hung until giving His spirit into the hands of His Father. Not until then could He die. This marks the difference between Him and all others. He had no sin, so sin had no hold to cause death in Him. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but that is not a place to remain. For we are also seated through Jesus’ actions, in heavenly places as far above the stolen powers of the evil one, the anti-righteous originator of sin. We are with our Father in heaven (Ephesians 1:3).

Jesus fulfilled the Lord’s prayer, every word (Matthew 6:9-16). It is an Old Covenant prayer, based upon the work which He had come to earth to do. Read it in this light. Jesus is the hallowed name of our Father in heaven. He is the bread of life, which we consume daily to grow stronger and more in love with Him. He delivered us from evil forever. All of its promises come through the righteousness of God, whose ruling scepter He holds on the throne of heaven where we sit, boldly, confident in Him. We are at peace there and content only to make peace. We are meekness and humbleness there, so placed in that beauty through the gift of God that our hearts see only His truth and purity. This does not mean our ignorance, but as it did with our Savior, it affects our behavior, modeling us after the perfection of our Father who as big as He is, and as wise, and as powerful, deemed it not unworthy to become one of us.

“But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8)

Image by TyliJura from Pixabay

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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com