When our kids were very young but old enough to go to Sunday School, a fellow parent shared that they had taught their child that if he was ever asked a question, any question, by his teacher during a Sunday School lesson, to just shout out “Jesus!” and his answer would most often hit the bullseye. We laughed about that together and in thinking back, there is some profound truth in that! It seems Jesus really can be found as some kind of answer to most any question.
In thinking about the topic of “Emotional Health” for this devotional series, I wanted to go back and look at how Jesus experienced and expressed emotions in Scripture, thinking there should be some good clues for how we should also deal with our emotions. Below are some thoughts.
As recorded in “Psychology Today”, most psychologists would agree there are six basic emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. There are many variations and nuances within each of those emotions, but those are the six category headings.
I found Jesus experiencing each of these six emotions in the Gospels, though usually the name for the emotion was not explicitly mentioned.
In John 2, Jesus seemed like he must have been happy at the wedding feast in Cana by 1) turning the ceremonial water for washing into delicious wine for drinking to keep the wedding party going, and 2) he may well have been joking with and teasing his mother when she told Jesus, “They have no more wine.” He replies, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” Then Mary turns and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do, apparently knowing Jesus was just teasing her and would truly do something about the wine problem! This possible interpretation was first mentioned by Randi in a sermon awhile back. We don’t know for sure what this exchange was about, but I like this possible explanation because it’s a rare example of Jesus’ levity and playfulness, which would be fitting for him to have had.
Jesus expressed his sadness in John 11:35. At the death of his friend Lazarus. Lazarus’ sister, Mary, came to Jesus weeping, together with many others, and Jesus too was filled with emotion. The shortest verse in the Bible is this: Jesus wept.
In Matthew 26:38-39 Jesus is in Gethsemane with his disciples, he is praying to His Father, because he knows what is about to happen. The Scripture says, “He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Jesus had just said that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. I think it’s safe to say that it wasn’t just sorrow but also fear that he was experiencing, since he had asked his disciples to keep watch like bodyguards while he prayed.
The well-known temple scene in Matthew 21:12-13 is when Jesus enters and overturns the tables of the money changers and proclaims, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers!’” He is angry that these people are making profit in a sacred space meant to be consecrated for the meeting between God and His people.
Jesus is disgusted at the hypocrisy of the Pharisees when he calls out the “seven woes” in Matthew 23. No other group of people were called out by Jesus for their duplicity like these religious leaders, who paraded around arrogantly as if they were holy, put difficult requirements on the common people, and yet did not even fulfill these requirements themselves.
The last basic emotion is surprise. Jesus expresses surprise in Matthew 8:10 when talking with the Roman centurion, who has asked Jesus to come heal his paralyzed servant. Jesus agrees to go, but the centurion discloses his faith when he tells Jesus he doesn’t need to go anywhere to heal. He can do it right where he is by just saying the word. When Jesus heard this, “he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith!”
So, what can we take away from looking at Jesus’ emotions and how he expressed them? One thing is certain: he didn’t stoically try to hide them or suppress them. Since we believe Jesus never sinned, we can then also say it is not a sin to feel emotions.
Many of us grow up with the idea that some emotions are good and some are bad. We often try to ignore, minimize or deny the ones we think are unacceptable. But doing this usually leads to all kinds of problems, and sometimes physical ailments. We have been created with emotions and they serve a good purpose. They lift us, they lower us, they warn us, they connect us to others, they prepare our bodies to physically respond to a stimulus that could save our lives. They set in motion a chain of chemical reactions that can energize us or calm us.
I’ve heard it taught that it’s not the emotions that are bad, but our expression of them could be. Anger is a good example: anger can give us the energy we need to right a wrong. But it can also destroy if it goes unchecked and dominates without the good boundaries of reason and empathy.
It seems wise to learn to understand why we feel the way we do. This way we can know ourselves better and manage our reactions to people and events. Our emotions aren’t in control, but they also aren’t denied.
And one thing I’ve learned is not to fear emotions. This is how the Lord helped me see this. I had a dream one time that I was a big iceberg right off the beach at Bandon. My family was playing on the beach along with many other people. All of a sudden, me, the iceberg, started to melt and I was terrified that the tsunami-type waters resulting from my meltdown would flood the beach and kill my family. Well, the melting waters barely added much of a ripple and everyone was fine and continued playing! Because of what I was going through at the time, this dream was easy to interpret. My frozen emotions were coming alive and I needn’t worry that they would harm anybody. They weren’t dangerous.
The take-away for me is to let our emotions do their work in us within the boundaries of our God-given reason. Maybe this is part of loving God with all our heart, soul and strength and loving ourselves and loving our neighbors at the same time.
Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Philippians 2:6-7
Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Matthew 22:37-40
Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
About the Author
John has been an essential component to the life and development of CitySalt since 2004 and, presently, serves as an associate pastor with a focus on prayer, discipleship and spiritual direction in addition to being a regular part of the teaching team. He enjoys the outdoors, water sports, music, reading and especially spending time with his wonderful family and chocolate lab, Gunnar.