Being like Jesus is such a tricky thing ..

Being like Jesus is such a tricky thing, which is odd really, because Christians seem to sing about it most sundays, and even shout out "we want to be like you, Jesus!" And whilst I know this is a judgmental observation, there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of understanding about what that means, let alone attempts to be like Jesus. In fact on the whole I get the feel - and yes, it's a judgment thing again, it seems like there is a desire for the comfort or consumerism of God-stuff than an attempt to go Jesus' way.  Yes, I know, the goal of every Christian should be to be like Jesus, but ..., and as our college pastoral lecturer famously and unforgettably once said, "it's a big but(t)!"
.... If I'm to be like Jesus, then I just don't know if I can be precisely like Him. I'm honestly not sure if the Jesus of the scriptures that I read about in say the Garden of Gethsemane, where he tussles with his will and Father's will - and incidentally, his disciples cannot stay awake and pray with him; they shall we say "cannot go his way" and be precisely "like him!" And when I read about the passover lamb - Jesus, in Isaiah 53 - "He was despised and rejected of men ...." [that bit] (as in the Messiah), I'm even less sure that I can travel such a painful way. Does that make sense? Right now, as I write this, I feel like I am betraying Jesus - does that make sense too?
In the end this is all about Jesus the suffering servant, and the way of grace. That's what this is all about - probably! You see Jesus gave himself totally and utterly for the sin of the world upon the cross to die this agonising death. I'm sure that humanly he didn't want to, but as God there was only one option. The sinless lamb had to be sacrificed as an atonement. And Jesus so readily served others in his ministry. But can we be like that? Can we be like him? Of course, that's a lifetime goal.
But this journey of grace in us is a tough one. Let me unpack that: learning to be graceful, patient, merciful, forgiving - and loads of other Galatian 5 fruit stuff, that's just so not easy. I can do it when the pressure is off of course, then it's a kind of thing that begins in my head, T's off to the heart - "that would be a good thing to do", and eventually leads to actions - and wow! That was good! But from the heart, that's a real tough ask. From the heart where it becomes "second nature" (interesting phrase) or should that be "first nature"? Where it becomes automatic.
Now of course we are in the new world of boundaries and what is acceptable and what is not. In many ways these are extremely helpful tools that counselling, coaching and team skills (etc) have so wonderfully taught us. In other words, there are limits to how much we can appropriately take, or give before we need to say that enough is enough, or something is unacceptable. I'm right there - these are so very helpful for everyone, especially those in people work, ministry being one of them. More often that not, these tools more than preserve people from being abused in all kinds of life, but sadly, not all.
But then you see you get this Jesus come along and as the "suffering servant" mostly defies all this boundary stuff. And that's where I ponder whether I can really be like Jesus? And "people" have this expectation of me as a Pastor or a Church Leader that essentially I am "ok" to take anything thats thrown at me. "Oh, he gets paid to do it!" (I'm both creasing up in hilarity and in tears of sadness right now.) Of course in one sense thats immaterial because that's not what this is about, it's all about our personal worlds: "Us" as disciples, and whether we can really go the way of Jesus, rather than anything else.
Over the years I've read account upon account of people who are just so much more graceful than me, and seem to demonstrate far more vividly what all this "stuff" is really all about, which is grace. It crosses my mind that this journey of  "going the way of Jesus" is indeed a lifetime journey. As a slight personal encouragement but not as one of pride, I hope I am a little more graceful than in my younger days, but let's not get stuck there and pass swiftly on! And ultimately I am that way because of the painful and challenging parts of life that I have been through. This is, as one person describes, "divine sandpaper" where God puts us into situations where it is the exact opposite of our nature, to teach us and change us. That over the years the divine sandpaper begins it's at times painful lesson of smooothing off our sharp edges, until one day we get to the lower grade sandpaper, and then it's all just about buffing!
So yes, this being like Jesus is such a hugely tricky thing. In one sense "no" we are not to be like Jesus in that we never ever place our feet in his exact footsteps. That's just not possible. But in another sense, "yes" we have no choice but to go the way of Jesus.