We call Jesus the Lord, the Christ so there is a natural tendency to place him on a pedestal, to think of his feet as never quite touching the ground. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews warns us against such thinking. In order to save us, Jesus “had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way.” Since Jesus is like us he had things that made him laugh — maybe Peter’s floundering at trying to step out on the sea — and things that made him cry — the death of his friend Lazareth. He enjoyed being with friends but he also liked his “me” time. He was confident in the love God had for him and he was reluctant to go through the suffering that was in front of him. He had to learn. He had to forgive. He was certainly a willful adolescent (as the story of the finding in the temple demonstrates) so we can infer he went through the “terrible twos” like any child. His family drove him crazy sometimes. Since he is like us in every way he went through fear, confusion, doubt, loneliness, depression as well as joy, hope, resiliance, intimacy. Jesus probably fell in love. He grieved at the loss of his foster father, Joseph. He worried over the future of his mother after he was gone. Jesus occasionally needed a bath and did he have a tooth brush in first century Palestine? This is important to understand, the author of Hebrews says, because it assures us that no matter we are going through Jesus will be there with us and for us. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. In our prayer today let us embrace the human Jesus as Simeon did at the Presentation. What the Bible tells us is that it was his very humanity which made it possible for divinity to break into our world and become a “light to the nations.”