Jesus Understands
-B. Thomas Clark

Have you ever felt temptation?

So has Jesus...

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

"He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said. "if you will bow down and worship me."

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

-Matthew 4:1-11

Have the people you've known all of your life, who should know you and understand you more than everyone else, ever doubted you and turned away from you?

The same thing happened to Jesus...

When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved away from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers and sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

-Matthew 13:55-58

Have you ever had your authority questioned?

So did Jesus...

Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief of priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?"

Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John's baptism-- where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?"

They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From haven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From men'-- we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet."

So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Then he said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

-Matthew 21:23-27

Have people ever plotted against you?

People plotted against Jesus...

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. "But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people."

-Matthew 26:3-5

Have you ever been betrayed?

So was Jesus...

Then one of the Twelve-- the one called Judas Iscariot-- went to the chief priests and asked "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

-Matthew 26:14-16

Have you ever been scared and troubled?

So was Jesus...

Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

-Matthew 26:38 & 39

Have you ever been falsely accused?

So was Jesus...

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

-Matthew 26:59 & 60

Have your friends ever denied knowing you?

The same thing happened to Jesus...

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said.

But he denied it before them all. "I don't know what you are talking about," he said.

Then he went out the gateway where another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth."

He denied it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!"

After a little while those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."

Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!"

-Matthew 26:69-74

Have you ever been mocked?

So was Jesus...

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

-Matthew 27:27-31

Have people you knew ever dubbed you crazy? Has your own family ever thought you have gone mad?

Jesus was thought to be a lunatic...

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."

So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them."

-Mark 3:20-28

Have you ever faced opposition?

So did Jesus...

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.

-Mark 9:51-53

Have you ever been abandoned?

So was Jesus...

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

-John 6:60-69

Have you ever been hated?

So was Jesus...

Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast because for me the right time has not yet come. Having said this, he stayed in Galilee."

-John 7:6-9

Have people ever not believed you?

The same thing happened to Jesus...

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am here not on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me."

At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because the time had not yet come.

-John 7:28-30

Have you ever suffered?

So did Jesus...

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

-John 19:1

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull. Here they crucified him, and with him two others-- one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

-John 19:16-18

Have your closest friends ever doubted you?

Jesus was doubted...

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"

But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

-John 20:24-28

No matter what problems you are having right now, no matter what's going on in your life, what struggles you may have, Jesus understands them. Jesus was fully human, he had the same feelings we do, he knows what it's like to go through the problems associated with life. He truly understands you.

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