Mensa Otabil - The Lord Identifies with Us (10/29/2025)
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15: For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus is our high priest, but He’s also our Shepherd. The unique thing about Jesus as Shepherd is that He is a Shepherd who became like His sheep. He identified with us; He became a man. He didn’t just live as God, but He became God living with us. He put on flesh, and so when He became like us, He identified with us. Jesus lived a life like every ordinary human being; He grew up, had friends, played with people, and experienced every human emotion. He went through all the challenges humans face, and yet the Bible says He did all of that and did not miss one point; He did not miss the mark; He didn’t sin.
So it’s important, when we follow Jesus as a Shepherd, to know that He is a Shepherd who understands us. He knows our feelings and appetites. The Lord Jesus Christ did not live on Earth in a bubble, isolated from all the hardships of human life. He didn’t live as a person without feelings and without emotions; He lived with the fullness of our humanity and understood the pressures on the human flesh and body, and yet without sin.
So when you’re going through temptations of the flesh, remember Jesus walked where we walked, and yet He was able to overcome. He can help us overcome, too. He didn’t just deal with the temptations of the flesh; Jesus also knew how people were. He lived with people; He didn’t live with angels. He lived with His friends and lived with people who didn’t like Him. He lived with people who loved Him, with enemies, and with all kinds of people. The reality of life is that we don’t live with only one group of people; even in your own family, there may be people who like you and others who don’t really like you. Amongst your friends, there may be people who are loyal to you and those who are not.
It’s part of life. We treat people probably similarly, and Jesus went through all of that. He knew what it was to be betrayed by friends, what it was to be denied, and He understood the human need for vengeance and for hitting back at people. Yet, even when He was being crucified, He forgave people. Jesus experienced the extremes of human commitment, extreme devotion, and extreme betrayal, and yet He remained the same. He can also help us to live with all the extremes of our human experiences.
Not only that, Jesus understood the pressures of life we face here on Earth. Every one of us faces pressures of life. The pressures of life want you to take shortcuts, to do something very quickly without going through the process. And if you follow Jesus, even His mother wanted Him to do something that Jesus was not ready to do at a certain time. His friends wanted Him to do things; His brothers, His neighbors-everybody was putting pressure on Him. The devil also put pressure on Him, tempting Him to do things that were not in the will of God.
So we are going to face pressures for us to perform, pressures for us to do something to impress people. Jesus went through that, and yet He overcame those pressures. So if in life there is pressure on you to perform, pressure on you to impress, pressure on you to fit into a group, pressure on you for people to accept you, Jesus went through all of that, and yet He didn’t fall for those pressures. That’s why He’s a good Shepherd. That’s why we can trust Him; He can help us deal with the desires of the flesh. He can help us with all the challenges we have with relationships, and He can help us with all the challenges we have in fulfilling the expectations of people.
May the Lord be your Shepherd in all that you do. Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, thank You for sharing in my experiences so I can share in Your strength. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.