Have to plug today's entry at Real Live Preacher.  He retells, in very modern terms, the story of James and John (the "Sons of  Thunder") requesting seats of honor in Jesus' kingdom.  Go ahead and click on the link; the story is longish, but I promise it's worth it.  I'll wait for you.

Preacher Man puts some pretty rough language into Jesus' mouth, doesn't he?  Certainly the folk at Sermon Resources (an ad which frequents the top of this page) would be shocked at this sort of language.  I believe our fundie friends would declare the Preacher Man a heretic because he describes Jesus in such human terms.

Most protestants would agree with Martin Luther's declaration that Jesus was "fully human/fully divine," but — as I say in my comments on the Preacher's site — it's often a precarious balance.  I would hazard a guess that most churches emphasize Jesus' divinity over his humanity.  The primary exception might be the Unitarians, some of whom could be accused of the opposite emphasis (i.e., humanity over divinity).

Of course, part of the problem is that our source texts (i.e., the four gospels) don't reflect a lot of what we would recognize as human characteristics as they tell the story of Jesus' life.  Aside from eating, getting angry when he cleansed the temple, and suffering on the cross, we don't have much record of Jesus' human nature.

The mystic 18th century poet William Blake addresses this same issue in his poem The Everlasting Gospel. He asks, “Was Jesus gentle, or did He/Give any marks of gentility?”  He then responds with instances in which Jesus is far from gentle:  the twelve year old who "sasses" his parents; the young man who confronts the Tempter in the desert; the mature man who challenges the religious authorities.

Blake's poem is over 300 lines long, citing examples which contradict the popular image of "Jesus, meek & mild."  I see this as a necessary corrective, and view the Preacher's retelling of the Sons of Thunder story in much the same light.

Those who would bear his name accept the responsibility of being "Christ-like."  They are called to be "Christ Bearers," like the Theotokos.  To expand the Apostle Paul's image, we are called to be Christ's hands & feet in the world.  This might seem an impossibly high calling if we view Jesus as being divine only.  Jesus is both teacher and exemplar; put another way, he teaches by example as well as by words.  But Jesus' example seems meaningless unless he was human as well as divine;  since most of us perceive ourselves as "only human," and therefore incapable of doing as Jesus did.

It's interesting that Jesus rarely (if ever) refers to himself as the Son of God; the title he most frequently applies to himself is "Son of Man."  Granted, this is a title the Book of Daniel gives to the coming Messiah; but by embracing this title, Jesus also embraces his humanity. 

Elsewhere, William Blake wrote that God became as we are, that we might become as he is.  Thus, as we acknowledge the humanity of Jesus, we may also come to recognize the spark of the divine in ourselves.