He Never Hit His Thumb With A Hammer

Jesus, our creator, the Son of God, 1/3^rd part of the Trinity, and our redeemer, humbled Himself to become a man and set aside the powers of His deity. That is He emptied Himself of his heavenly powers and his authority to become obedient to death. Jesus set aside His deity, and took on the appearance of a man – in other words, He became a man. His Spirit did not change, but His soul became just like the souls of all other men, and His spirit began living in an earthly body of flesh. He became physically, emotionally, willfully, and mentally the same as any other man. The one difference between Jesus and other men was His entrance into this world was without sin. He was born sinless.

Although He was born without sin, He, was capable of and subject to sin the same as any other man. He was born without sin, but He could have sinned and could have done so at any point in His life. Thank God He never did. What He did do was become a perfect sinless sacrifice for ALL the sins ever found in the heart of man. Unequivocally and without question “All means All - ALL means every sin”!

It is interesting to think about what His life was like – that is Jesus being a perfect man and all that that entails. What does it really mean to be perfect as Jesus was perfect? Did He ever come down with the common cold, or other common childhood sicknesses? Did He ever fall and scrape His knees? Did He every demonstrate disrespect towards His earthly parents? Did He cry out as a baby? And if so why? Did He cry because He was irritable; or because He didn’t get His way? As a child, or even a man for that matter, did Jesus ever get sick or did He ever injure Himself (i.e. break a bone, bump His head, accidently cut Himself on some sharp object, etc.)?

Just how human was Jesus, and the flip side of the question is just how perfect was Jesus? He was absolutely, 100%, completely, totally perfect. In every way Jesus was a perfect human being. He was a perfect human being who had as many opportunities to sin as any other human being has. After all He had a mind. His mind was human mind. His mind could have led him astray with thoughts and temptations. We can be sure Jesus had thoughts consisting of sinful temptations (which was His human side), but He never allowed those evil thoughts or sin temptations to enter into His heart (which was His perfect side).

Like other men, Jesus not only had a mind, but He also had a will. He could have aloud His will to be either selfish or unselfish, prideful or humble . We know a man’s will can dwell on things other than God’s will, and the manifestation of those thoughts allows sin to exist. On the other hand, Jesus never did sin, therefore, we know His will was always perfectly matched with His heavenly Father’s will.

Jesus could have allowed His emotions to overwhelm Him from time to time. Had He yielded to His emotions to the point of not believing or trusting God Jesus would have entered into sin. He could have sinned in anger, pride, hate, lust, bitterness, etc., but He never did. He was tempted and tried in all areas (mind, emotions, will, and body), but never yielded to those temptations; never became sick; never accidentally injured Himself; and never allowed pride or fear to enter His heart. Jesus never did anything God didn’t want Him to do. He always did what God wanted Him to do.

Did He cry as a newborn? Yes, long enough to clear His lungs. He was a human baby, He needed to clear His lungs like all other human babies do, and most human babies clear their lungs with a cry – plus the cry reassured the parents of their newborn child was a health baby. The cry of a newborn was not a sin in the baby Jesus or any other baby, any more than the first smile of a newborn is a sin, or the first wobbly step is a sin.

Did Jesus cry as a growing infant? Yes, as a human baby He could not speak. Thus, He would cry out to let His mother know when He was hungry. Being hungry is not a sin. He cried when He was thirsty. He cried when His diapers needed changed. He cried when He needed to be picked up and patted on the back. He cried to express to His parents what He needed. That is the way human babies communicate. What Jesus did not do was to cry out when He didn’t need anything. He didn’t cry out for selfish attention. He didn’t cry out in any sort of temper tantrum. He was a perfect human baby.

Did Jesus ever physically, mentally, emotionally or willfully experience anything any other children or adults experience. No! Was He ever indirectly affected? Yes, He was tempted and He was tried, but unlike all sinful men, Jesus did not yield to those temptations or trials. It is my belief, that had Adam not yielded to the temptation of eating the forbidden fruit, man would not have had to experience additional temptations ever again. The test would have been passed and the earth would have truly remained ‘Heaven on Earth’.

All of which brings me to the title of this piece, He Never Hit His Thumb With A Hammer. Sunday school teachers and theologians alike for the most part teach that Jesus learned the trade of carpentry as a boy, and went on to provide for Himself using that trade as a young man. I’m not at all sure that is true, but for the sake of this discussion let us say that is. And if that is the case then we can ask ourselves, did Jesus ever smash His thumb while swinging the hammer. I for one believe He was perfect, and because He was perfect He never missed the nail. 

Right here we need to answer an obvious question. If Jesus never hit His thumb with the hammer how could he understand the humanness of those who have? Let me drive that curve ball right out of the ballpark. I do not need to have my hand or arm cutoff, in order for me to have an understanding of the pain and permanent disability that would follow. Jesus did not have to hit His thumb to understand the resulting pain and suffering.

Jesus did not need to experience physical pain or physical suffering rooted in the results of sin. No, that pain and that suffering would come when He suffered and died on the cross. He not only took upon Himself all of man’s sins, but He also took upon Himself all of man’s sicknesses and sufferings. Jesus understands to the max everything every man has ever suffered. Not because He experience those things when He walked this earth, but because He experienced those things when He died on the cross as the perfect substitute bearing all sin.

Jesus was able to swing the hammer and never miss the nail, not because He was God, but rather because He was a sinless human being. In other words, because He was a man without sin, a man without one flaw, He never hit His thumb with the hammer. Had He used His heavenly authority to live a perfect life there would have been no point for Him to become a man. It was essential for Him to live His entire life as a man with none of the powers or none of the authority that rightfully belonged to Him. It was essential for Jesus to live His entire life without sin or blemish, and do it without the supernatural power He possessed when He created the sun, the stars, the earth or man himself. He had to live completely and totally as a man – a man relying only on the authority of His Father; a man perfect in every way; a man without sin. Then and only then was it possible for Jesus to become the propitiation for all the sins of all mankind.