Before Jesus was arrested and put on trial, He retired to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with His disciples. When He enters the garden, He takes three disciples with Him further into the garden to watch and pray.
Jesus Shares His Feelings
As they are leaving the others, Jesus’ soul becomes sorrowful and troubled. Jesus knows what is about to happen and He is deeply distressed over it. The distress Jesus feels wasn’t a I left my homework at home, or I can’t pay a bill, or I lost my job kinda distress. The distress Jesus is feeling is a distress that is like death itself.
I don’t know about you, but I have never been so sorrowful, so distressed that I could die. But Jesus was. He was because He knew what was about to happen to Him. The reality and the weight of the cross was bearing down on Him. In that moment, He relates His feelings to the three disciples with Him.
In verse 38 He tells them:
“[His] soul is very sorrowful, even to death;[and He asks them to] remain here, and watch with [Him].”” (Mt 26:38)
You see, while Jesus was God, He was also man. It is a mystery how someone could be 100% God and 100% man, and I am not trying to solve that mystery for us now. I only want to point out that Jesus was human like you and I. As a human, He experienced feelings and emotions just like we do. He felt the weight of heavy situations, just like we do. He felt sorrow and distress, just like we do. Jesus felt these things because He is human just like we are.
A Comfort to Us
Knowing Jesus, the perfect God man, is human and feels emotions like we do should be comforting. It’s comforting because it tells us He can sympathize with what we are going through. So we need not be ashamed to bring our feelings to Jesus.
Human Emotions are OK
Not only does Jesus comfort us by displaying His emotions, but He also teaches us human emotion is ok. It is ok to feel, and to share your feelings with others.
True But Hard
While that is true, I believe sharing our feelings is something we aren’t comfortable with. And, at times, I would include myself in that group – the group that thinks they have to keep their feelings bottled up inside because they believe doing so makes you more of man or more independent.
That, however, is not true. Jesus shared His feelings with His disciples and you better believe He is more of a man than we could ever hope to be.
So we see then that it is ok to feel and it is ok to share those feelings. It’s ok to tell your kids you love them. It is ok to tell your spouse and your friends how you are feeling. These things are ok to do. Jesus did them and so should we.
Question for Reflection
- Do you struggle with sharing your feelings with others? Why?
Resources
Post developed from the sermon: Jesus Stayed, Even Though He Knew