“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (RSV)
I was an art major in college and portraits were my favorite. I did many over the years, but nothing of this quality. When I found this portrait of Mary and young Jesus, on line, I thought it was breathtaking. It inspired me to write about it, because I was struck by the purity and innocence in their faces, and the sense of comfort and security that Jesus, as a toddler, felt in Mary’s lap.
Being both human and divine, Jesus grew up receiving the human love of His mother, the family leadership of Joseph, His step father and the divine comfort and sense of oneness with His Heavenly Father. It all qualifies Him to be the greatest comforter of all time.
His earliest human connection of comfort came from the first face He ever looked at, His mother’s face, which is meant to be the case for all human beings. Newborns grow in comfort and security when they exchange glances with their mother. Mary also found eternal comfort in beholding the face of Jesus as well, knowing He was not only her son, but her Lord and Messiah.
From a natural perspective, no one denies that every human person needs the emotional security and comfort of a loving mother and father. Jesus is our comforter, not only because He is divine, but because he also had the love and comfort of being nurtured by both of His human parents.
Jesus also had a pre-incarnate family in heaven, with His Father and the Holy Spirit. It was an infinite family relationship until He came to this world and was born as a human person, and raised in a human family, by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Not much is mentioned about the childhood of Jesus in scripture, but at some point in growing up, He had to have made the connection of being one with His Heavenly Father. The gospel of Luke tells us that the twelve year old Jesus disappeared from his parents while traveling to Jerusalem, and was later found in the synagogue. (Luke 2:48-49)
He casually told Mary and Joseph that He was where He belonged, in His “Father’s house.”
Jesus probably grew in awareness of His divinity and hungered for His eternal Father. As He approached adulthood, He found His comfort and true purpose in spending time with His invisible Father.
Jesus was always a part of a family, and after He became part of a human family, He pursued His life mission and created the spiritual family of God, which is the church, universal. God meant for all of the human race to find comfort through both their natural and spiritual families.
As I meditate on today’s scripture with that picture, I see an interesting contrast. The most high God and Father of mercies, desires to share His loving comfort with humanity, in all of our afflictions. God, who is so high, came down so low, in order to comfort and lift us higher to Himself.
Jesus, the perfect blend of receiving human comfort, combined with divine comfort, now shares His comfort with us, which has a domino effect. He comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we are able to comfort others, with the same comfort which we received from Him. God always intended for the human and the divine to work together in the family of God, to ultimately draw us all closer to our true Father in heaven.
Isaiah’s message of the Messiah are in these words:
“Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)
The pinnacle of God’s heart and purpose is to give His love, peace, comfort and pardon, to all people, if they will receive it.
Jesus said blessed are those who mourn, for they will be “comforted.”
There is a lot to mourn for in this world, but the amount of love and comfort that Jesus wants to give us, is far greater than all the sorrow and mourning combined.
Maybe it’s just the artist part of me, or my attraction to great portraits, but I can see in this picture, the power and grace of the loving comfort Jesus received while growing up. He now desires to share that comfort with all of us, so that we can share it with others, so that the message will go on and on.
Lord, I pray for all who need extra comfort today, in any affliction, help us to surrender ourselves to you, to be held close to you, and find the comfort, gentleness and security of a toddler sitting on their parent’s lap. Amen