Quest 22 - The Emotions Of JEsus

One of the greatest things about scripture is its ability to be fresh and new, while never changing. Those two concepts don’t typically play well together. You either have to change something to make it new or you never change something and you get bogged down. Scripture, though, is alive and communicating to us no matter how many times we read something. God is breathing new words into our lives every single time we open that book, pull up the app, or press the listen button. It amazes me every single time. 

This past week was a perfect example of this. I feel like I have read the story of Lazarus over 30 times in my life, I have preached the scripture, and we even did a whole night on it at camp last year. I have consumed that story on a deep level. Due to that, it was easy for me to go into this week relying on my past experience with the scripture and space out. 

Yet. That’s not how God’s word works does it?

Reading this time: I found something fresh and new that gave me life. It was two different verses that pointed to an overall idea that I don’t explore enough. 

The first verse: John 11:35, “Then Jesus wept.”

The second verse: John 11:38, “Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance.”

The first verse is a famous scripture for “being the shortest in the bible.” It’s a powerful scripture though that communicates something that I will talk about momentarily. The second verse was a verse that I had never seen. Obviously I have read it, but I didn't see all of it because this time that word angry caught my eye. The reason that these two verses gave me life when I read them was because it opened my eyes to a portion of Jesus that I had not dwelled on. 

The emotions of Jesus. 

In the church world, the emotions of Jesus are always talked about. Jesus loves you, Jesus cares about you, Jesus and his joy. But if you are like me, you have taken in such a generalized concept that it actually means nothing if you aren’t careful. 

Think about the way we would communicate this in regards to our lives… 

“I love all people!” Do you really or is that just the right thing to say?

“I care about all people!” Do you really or is it only when it benefits you?

Now hear me clearly, I am not calling you out at this moment, I’m just saying that we have a tendency to generalize emotion to a point where it actually means very little. But, in this situation, these scriptures point to the fact that when we say that Jesus loves people and he cares about their problems… He really does!

This struck me. Jesus’ emotions in this moment were very real and very raw. This is one of the people that he cared about most in life and when he died, that hurt! This is one of those situations where when something bad happens, he gets angry! Chances are, like me, you have been in that situation. Someone passes away and it hurts and you get angry that it happens. 

This all ultimately leads to the lesson that I pulled out of realizing the depth of Jesus' emotions… that none of this is manufactured. These are emotions that only come out of reality. It’s not an act, it’s not out of an ulterior motive, it’s not for show. It’s out of the heart. The heart of Jesus is for his people and he FEELS for them. He FEELS for us. 

When you think about that and the fact that he actually feels for you and your problems, it begins to change the relationship. Jesus cares about the fact that you are hurting. Jesus is angry at the injustice in your life. Jesus has empathy for you when you are emotional. Jesus loves you. 

As all of this gets put into our minds and hearts, like it did mine when reading this scripture. It changes your perspective on different moments in your life. Whether that's the realization of what Jesus did on the cross or the moment when you blamed him, beginning to comprehend that He might have been just as angry as you were. The perspective shifts. 

The emotions of Jesus explain the reality of Jesus. He is real, the love is real, the sacrifice is real and that in turn makes scriptures that have been so generalized that we lost the meaning of come to life. 

John 3:16-17, “16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

That love is real because Jesus really felt things. I want you to know today that whatever you are going through, whether it’s good or bad, Jesus is right there with you, feeling that pain, feeling that excitement, feeling that anger. The emotions of Jesus change the relationship. It’s not an act, it’s active. 

So whatever you are going through this week, take a moment and think about what Jesus

is feeling as well. It might just change your perspective.