God is Smallfeatured
This post’s title “God is small”, is not meant to be an insult or demeaning toward God in any way. Quite the opposite! We see in the gospels that our infinite and great God was also small and limited in so many different ways. In His earthly existence, His divinity was encased by His humanity. Yes, He is all mighty and powerful, and at times, He exercised His divine power to perform miracles, but by His being “small,” He makes Himself available to all of us even in a personal and intimate way. The following are a few aspects of His smallness.
Limited as an Embryo
The birth of God into humanity is something so mysterious that we will never understand. In a normal, physiological way of pregnancy, two cells need to be fused together to conceive a baby. With Mary, the mother of Jesus, we see that she “was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). Can you imagine that at one point of Jesus’ existence in the womb of Mary, He was smaller than a raindrop? He possessed half an extract of humanity’s DNA, and the other half of DNA being divine in nature.
Limited as a Young Man
The Bible doesn’t reveal much information about the life of Jesus as a a young man, but we see in Luke 2:51 that He was “subject to His parents,” and that He grew “in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52).
Limited in His Physical Appearance
So how tall was Jesus? Archeological evidence shows that most Jewish males living in the first century AD were close to 5’1”.
Furthermore, Jewish people around that time tended to have olive-brown skin, black curly hair, and dark colored eyes. The prophet Isaiah says “He has no attractive form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2). Wow, He chose to incarnate as an average looking man in that region of the earth, and perhaps that’s just another way of relating to all.
Limited in His spoken Languages
The Lord Jesus spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic; however, it believed that He also spoke Hebrew, and some Greek and Latin. For those of us that speak and pray in Spanglish, we don’t have to worry about learning Aramaic, we can rest assured that He understands us!
Belonging to a Particular Country and Culture
The Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, 10 kilometers south of the city of Jerusalem, a Jewish part of the world. His mother was Jewish, and He partook of a typical Mediterranean Jewish diet, which consisted of fish, lots of bread, olive oil, grains, vegetables, and fruits. The Lord never tried the “five T’s diet” (tortillas, tacos, tamales, tortas, and tostadas… though there could be more T’s!) that many of us in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) consume pretty frequently.
Holding a Specific Job
As far as His job, He worked with His hands, and just like many of my patients here in the RGV area that I’ve met over the years, He was a carpenter. It was common for a son to carry out the same line of work as his father, as we see it mentioned in the book of Mark: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary …”(6:3).
Moved with Compassion in His Humanity
His being “moved with compassion” after hearing and seeing of sufferings around Him show His endearing Humanity. For example, when a leper approached Him and fell on his knees asking Him to “cleanse” him, He was moved with compassion, and healed him (Mark 1:40-41). On a different occasion, He and the disciples entered a certain city and “one who had died was being carried out, and only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a considerable crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He was moved with compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep’” (Luke 7:12-13). The next verses show that He raised the young man from the dead. Sure, He eventually expressed His divine power and raised the young man, but it was first His human emotions that moved Him to perform such a miracle.
Being our Food
“I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever” (John 6:51). Ummh, no, He isn’t referring to cannibalism, as we see that a few verses later, He clarifies that expression, “the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). Now, let me ask you: Have you ever had a sense that you ate His words in the Bible? I have, and it’s a satisfying experience which I invite you to, in simple faith, by reading the Bible out loud. Start with one of the four gospels in the New Testament.
Another interesting point related to bread and eating is that the Bible says that when the Lord Jesus was born, He was placed in a “manger”, a word which comes from the Old French mangier (meaning to “eat”), and from the Latin mandere (meaning “to chew”). Do you think that the newborn baby Jesus having no other place but a manger to be placed could be just a random event? Or, could it have been planned out by God before hand to show us something?
The Lord’s supper (also referred to as “the Lord’s table”, or “Communion”, or “Eucharist”) that all Christians periodically celebrate reminds us of His sacrifice on the cross AND His desire to be our food, our sustenance. He longs to have an organic union with us by our “eating of Him” through His word. We’ve all heard the saying: “You are what you eat.” This is true physically, mentally, and spiritually!
Not only does the Lord Jesus desire to be our bread via His word, but He is even willing to be referred to as “crumbs under the table.” We see this in the Gospel of Matthew where a Canaanite woman begged Him to heal her daughter from demon possession, and He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (15:26). The “children” in this interaction are the Jewish people whom He came originally for, and not for the Gentile “dogs” (the way this Canaanite woman and other non-Jewish people were referred to as by some Jewish people). Did she care about being called a dog? Nope. She was just desperate in getting her daughter healed and said, “Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs eat of the crumbs under the table” (15:27).
Noticed that the Lord did not mind being referred to as the “crumbs under the table” or being “eaten by Gentiles”. Actually, He honored that lady’s request by healing her daughter. So if you are like me, a Gentile by birth and not Jewish, don’t feel offended at being called such a strong word by the Lord Jesus. He gave His life for you and me, and we just need to “eat the Lord” as “crumbs under the table”. By our “eating Him”, He can fill and satisfy that infinite void inside of us called our human spirit. And I promise you that these little “crumbs” will satisfy you much more than a steak at Longhorns!
Being a Gentle, Quiet Voice to Us
“And He said, Go out, and stand upon the mountain before Jehovah. And suddenly Jehovah passed by, and a great, strong wind rent the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before Jehovah – Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake – Jehovah was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire – Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire, a gentle, quiet voice” (1 Kings 19: 11-12).
In the Old Testament times only the High Priests were able to contact God related to big things on His heart. During those times, God manifested as a “thunder” and “flashes of lightning” (Exodus 20:18).
Likely none of us would want to be near God if He was so powerful and intimidating as that would make Him unapproachable and impersonal.
But we who have been born again, regenerated with God’s life, now have access to Him as the “gentle, quiet voice”. God is small enough to care even for our intimate concerns. Let’s not forget that no matter is too small for Him.
God Working and Manifesting Himself through Us
Christ is the Head and all of us believers are members of the Body of Christ, the church; or you could say, we are cells in His Body.
Did you ever take a biology class and saw pictures of human cells, or have you ever seen a cell under a microscope? An average human cell is about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. Despite their small size, they each have a specific function.
In like manner, we all are “small” members of the Body of Christ, yet each one of us possess a particular function. May God have mercy on us so that we all should be “living cells” in His Body that are full of life, expressing a specific function according to our capacity and measure of faith.
May our particular function never “grow” out of proportion in His Body, as that could turn us into “cancer cells”.
God is still Great through His Smallness
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life” (1John 1:1).
I invite you to appreciate the Lord Jesus’ precious humanity. The apostles spent 3.5 years with Him, but we have the rest of our lives to get to know and experience Him both in His greatness and smallness.
Even though such a small seed of Christ entered into our hearts when we said “Yes” to Him, we should never underestimate His potential for growth in us. He is being formed in us (Galatians 4:19)!
Please drop a comment and let me know what you think about this post, and feel free to share with others.
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