May 20, 2020

It feels strange, almost wrong, for me to ask this question: How could the Creator and Controller of the universe be held in captivity by it? I hope I am not dabbling in something inappropriate, but this has been on my mind. The confinement of lockdown is a familiar situation for all of us right now, and it would be helpful to know if Jesus ever felt confined.

I know that He is God and always will be. He limited the use of His deity when He came to Planet Earth to save us from our sin. He was always under the protection of Father and Spirit, but in His humanity, He experienced life like we do.

It must have been very confining to go through conception and birth and the growing up process to become a mature man for His God-man assignment. He felt hunger, thirst, weariness and loneliness. He felt rejection and hatred. Being “tested in all points, yet without sin,” He must have understood human frustration.

His journey through the garden, the trial and death on the cross apparently felt so overwhelming that He cried out to the Father as He felt completely abandoned. I have never been in a situation where I knew of no one who cared about me.

A song title asks the question, “Does Jesus Care?” It follows with a list of specifics but then answers, “Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares – His heart is touched with my grief.”

Whatever degree of struggle we are having with the current situation, we can be sure that Jesus feels it with us and will see us through. Remembering this can help us make it through the long, lonely days and nights. I am encouraged by this.

Pastor Bill Ehmann