At twenty-seven months of age, Timmy has begun to tell jokes. For quite some time now, he’s loved to do things that make us laugh. He still does. But now, he’s added a new skill to his repertoire: joke-telling.
The other day, Timmy told his first knock-knock joke. It went like this:
Timmy: “Knock-knock.”
Me: “Who’s there?”
Timmy: (silence)
Within days, however, he’d gotten the idea that when someone said “Who’s there?” he was supposed to say something back. So here’s his second joke:
Timmy: “Knock-knock.”
Me: “Who’s there?”
Timmy: “I don’t know.”
Okay, so he’s not quite there yet. But the point is, he’s getting there. Slowly but surely, he is learning the social rules for interaction with others, and he’s increasing in his ability to relate the way he wants to.
I wonder whether Jesus, when He was a little boy on this earth, liked to tell jokes.
I bet He did. I bet He loved to have fun, just like any other little boy. After all, He was fully human. Yes, even in His infancy and childhood, He was fully God. But He was also fully human.
Sometimes we forget that one of the implications of that is that Jesus had to learn things as He grew up. He had to learn to tell jokes. He had to learn to relate with others. He had to learn what to say and not to say. He had to learn to work hard. He had to learn the Scriptures.
I could go on, but you get the point. Even Jesus, who was Almighty God, had to learn things that any other human child has to learn. True, all other human children are sinful, and Jesus wasn’t. But there are many things children have to learn that have nothing to do with sin, so Jesus would have had to learn them too.
He wasn’t born as a fully functioning adult who, by the way, knew everything. He was born as a tiny, helpless infant. He had to learn to nurse. He had to learn to walk. He had to learn to be potty-trained. He had to learn to dress Himself. He had to learn to read and write. He had to learn to relate to others. He even had to learn to obey (see Hebrews 5:8).
There are two reasons why we’re talking about this today. One is that it’s always good to remember what Jesus did for us—how He humbled Himself to take on human form and had to learn and grow as a human (though one unmarked by sin).
The other is this: if even Jesus had to learn things and probably made mistakes along the way (not sins; I’m talking about mistakes like cutting a piece of lumber too short), then you and I need to give our children grace while they are still in the process of learning—which will be for their whole lives.
We need to give ourselves grace, too. Sometimes we moms expect too much of ourselves. Yes, we should do the very best we can with everything we have. But too often, we expect ourselves to somehow know and be able to do everything right now. If Jesus had to grow and change, we must realize that we ourselves will have to do the same thing.
So the next time you make a mistake, remember this: even Jesus probably made (non-sinful) mistakes. He went through a learning process just as you are going through one. And that’s okay. It’s the way He made you—to need to grow and learn. (In fact, we’ll spend all eternity in heaven continuing to do so.)
Yes, you need to ask forgiveness when you sin—both from God and from the one you have wronged. But when it’s a simple mistake…give yourself some grace. Be willing to be on the journey, and not yet fully there.
Let God work the same process in you that He once worked in His Son.
Luke 2:52—And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (NIV)
