Jesus Hid

Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.  John 8:59

Does God hide?  How could Jesus hide Himself?

Usually the ones doing the hiding were the sinful creatures, not God. After they fell into sin, Adam and Eve hid from God. Moses hid his face from God, because he was afraid to look at God.  But here we have Jesus, God's own Son, hiding.  How can this be?  Why didn't Jesus just call in His angels and use His divine power to defeat these men?   The answer is found in who Jesus is.  

Jesus is perfect.  He knew no sin.  Yet, he took our sin as His own.  When He came to walk the earth, He humbled himself and became sin for us.  He went the way of the cross, not the way of glory, because He loves us poor miserable sinners.  He had to hide from the sinners seeking to kill Him, because he was taking their guilt onto Himself.  

Man desires to kill God and replace Him with something else, but Jesus came to do the replacing.  He came to take our guilt and our place on the cross and thus replace our sin with His righteousness.  He came to replace our punishment with eternal life in Heaven.  Jesus didn't have to hide, He chose to hide for you and me.  He doesn't need to hide anymore.  Through His Holy Spirit He reveals Himself and His Father in His Word.  He is seen in Baptism and in the Lord's Supper.   Oh taste and see that the LORD is good.