The Fifth Proof
The fifth indication that Jesus was human is the fact that the Gospels and Epistles describe him as having human characteristics, including the fact that he was not all-knowing. They say that he was unaware of certain things and that he forgot others; they also say that he got tired, desired food, got thirsty, grieved, became depressed, felt pain, slept, was afraid, wept, and prayed to God – all of which indicates that like us, he was human with some shortcomings. If he were God, he would not have experienced these things that humans experience, because God is perfect in His attributes and does not have any shortcomings whatsoever.
There follow some of the biblical texts in which these human characteristics of Jesus are mentioned:
…Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” [John 19:28]
…But Jesus was sleeping. [Matthew 8:24]
…and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. [John 4:6]
“Jesus wept.” [John 11:35]
Jesus used to pray, feel sorrow, and be distressed:
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. [Mark 14:32-35]
It is appropriate here to ask a very logical question: To whom was Jesus praying? Was he praying to himself? Or was he praying to someone else, namely, God?
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. [Luke 22:14-15]

Not only that, but Jesus was afraid that the Pharisees would kill him:
So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, ‘What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?’ But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.[John 11:53-57]
•    Comment on the above:
•    Is it possible that one who is like this could be God?
How can it make sense for the Messiah to be God when he got thirsty, slept, got tired, was astonished, got depressed, wept, reclined, desired to eat, suffered, and felt fear?
What is the difference between him and any human being then?
God is independent of means and strong; He is the Creator and is perfect in all His attributes. Based on that, it makes no sense to suggest that He would create something (like food or drink) and then need it, or that He would need anything else to help him live, because if He needed something else, He would not truly be God. In the Qur’an, God says about Himself:
“I have not created the jinn and humans except to worship Me. I seek no provision from them, nor do I want them to feed Me. Indeed, it is Allah Who is the Provider, Lord of Might, the Powerful.”[adh-Dhaariyaat 51:56-58]
The Messiah, on the other hand, ate and drank, and the one who has needs cannot possibly be God.
•    Moreover, the fact that the Messiah had these characteristics (eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing and so on) implies that if these things had not been available, he would have died, because he needed these things, which were necessities, in order to stay alive. He would not be subject to dying if he were God, because God is ever living and does not die. Rather death is something that happens to human beings, from whom the Messiah was born.
•    Similarly, one who eats food must excrete waste, which is something that normal human beings are embarrassed to mention, because it is a kind of shortcoming and involves something that is regarded as filthy. So how could it be appropriate for the Messiah to be God when he had this significant shortcoming that humans are embarrassed to mention and find repulsive?
All of this definitively indicates that it is false to ascribe divinity and lordship to the Messiah.
•    Furthermore, the Messiah spent nine months in his mother’s womb, and was born in the usual manner, then his mother wrapped him in a cloth, like any other human infant. Therefore, it is not possible that one who was like that could be God. Such a suggestion makes no sense at all.

Another proof showing that the Messiah had human characteristics is the following passage:
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard him say it.” [Mark 11:11-14]
•    Comment
In this story, we see that Jesus got hungry and that he thought that the fig tree had borne fruit. When he came to it, he did not find any fruit – meaning that before he reached the tree it was not clear to him whether it had any figs or not, and he did not know that it was not the season for figs. Thus, he went to the tree at the wrong season, when he should have been aware of the season if he was truly God.
This story tells us that he got angry with the tree and prayed that it would never bear fruit again, thus he deprived the people of its fruit.
All of these characteristics (being hungry, thinking, not finding something, something not being clear to him, and not being aware, praying against the fig tree, and getting angry with the tree) indicate that he was human, not God; otherwise, what is the difference between him and humans?
Moreover, if he was really God, why did the Messiah not command the tree to bear fruit so that he could eat its fruit and solve the problem?
If he were really God, this is what would have been most appropriate.
Is that not better than praying that the tree would never bear fruit again, thus depriving himself and other people of its fruit forever?