Emotions - Engaging God with All of You Part 2 - Jesus Felt Surprise
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Jesus empathizes with us in our feelings of surprise.
We are going to take several weeks and explore the mystery of God in the flesh, experiencing emotions so that he can empathize with us and thus save us.
The exploration of this mystery is informed by many passages of Scripture. We will look at three of them. They are John 1:1-5, 14; Philippians 2:5-8; and Hebrews 4:14-16.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
What do we learn about the mystery of God in the flesh, experiencing emotions, from this passage?
First, we learn that the Word is God.
There are three definitive statements to this in the passage.
“In the beginning was the Word...” (verse 1). He was in the beginning with God (verse 2).
“… the Word was God” (verse 1).
“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (verse 3).
Second, we learn that the Word became flesh (verse 14). We know that the Word who became flesh is none other than our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.
Jesus, who is the second person of the Trinity, became flesh so that he could redeem all of who we are, including our emotions.
This is the mystery: Jesus is 100% God and 100% human, experiencing emotions.
How can Jesus, who is God, an all-knowing being, be affected by the emotion of surprise?
The answer to this is debated and will continue to be debated. I am going to give you my understanding of how this all worked out.
Turn to Philippians 2:5-8. It gives us the answer.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, 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.
What did Jesus, who is God, do?
He emptied himself. He set aside his God powers for his time on earth, becoming obedient to the point of death on the cross.
He became totally dependent on the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 5:30; Luke 4:14).
Since he emptied himself of his God powers, becoming like us in every aspect except sin, he was able to experience emotions like we do.
Praise God, he can empathize with our emotions and bring redemption to all of who we are.
May we come to him with all that we are (Hebrews 4:16).
This is confirmed by Hebrews 4:14-16.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Will you draw near to God with all your emotions, the comfortable ones and the uncomfortable ones?
Now that we grasp how Jesus, who is God, was able to experience the full range of human emotions, let’s look at Jesus’ root emotion of surprise.
Depending on the context of events, this emotion is either comfortable or uncomfortable.
When surprise is comfortable, we may describe it as amazed, excited, astonished, awed, eager, or energetic.
When surprise is uncomfortable, we may describe it as confused, startled, shocked, dismayed, disillusioned, or perplexed.
Turn to Mark 6:1-6, and we will look at Jesus experiencing the root emotion of surprise uncomfortably.
The translators chose the Greek word θαυμάζω, translated as “marveled,” to describe his surprise.
Greek dictionaries define θαυμάζω as:
to be extraordinarily impressed or disturbed by something or an action.
to wonder, marvel, or be astonished (the context determines whether in a good or bad sense).
He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.
And he went about among the villages teaching.
Jesus was uncomfortably surprised that when he went home to preach - to share his mission of the Kingdom of Heaven with his family, friends, and neighbors - they rejected him.
He could have felt any of the uncomfortable emotions of being surprised.
He may have felt confused, thinking to himself, “They know me. They should know I would never mislead them.”
He may have felt startled, thinking, “Wait, What?! They don’t believe me?”
He may have felt shocked, pinching himself because of their rejection and unbelief.
He may have felt dismayed. The ones he loves, that he grew up with, have rejected him and not received the life he freely offers.
He may have felt disillusioned. “If my family, friends, and neighbors won’t believe me, who will?”
He may have felt perplexed, addressing this feeling by saying, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
Jesus knows the uncomfortable feelings of surprise. He shares them with us in the day-to-day grind. He wants us to bring these feelings to him and lament them before the throne of grace so that we can receive the mercy and grace to help in our time of need.
Please do not stuff or ignore the uncomfortable emotions of surprise; instead, lament them before the throne of grace.
Now, let’s take a look at Jesus experiencing the comfortable emotion of surprise. Turn to Matthew 8:5-13.
When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
Jesus was comfortably surprised when the centurion, a Gentile, demonstrated unrivaled faith in who he was.
He could have felt any of the comfortable emotions of surprise.
He may have felt amazed, thinking, “Wow, this guy, a Gentile, does not even need my presence to believe. Praise God for giving him such belief.”
He may have felt excited, thinking, “The centurion is acting on the faith God has given and does not even need me present. How exciting!”
He may have felt astonished, thinking, “A Gentile is pursuing more than the whole nation I have chosen.”
He may have felt awe, thinking, “God is giving his grace to all through me. Oh, how awesome are we, Father and Holy Spirit!”
He may have felt eager, thinking, “Let’s find more individuals who act on the faith God has given them.”
He may have felt energetic, thinking, “What do you have next for me in bringing in the Kingdom of God? I am ready to go if everyone responds this way!”
Jesus knows the comfortable feelings of surprise. He shares them with us in the day-to-day grind. He wants us to bring these comfortable feelings to him and celebrate them with him.
In celebrating these emotions with him, he gives us the mercy and grace to keep these emotions from leading us into the sin of gluttony or the sin of denial.
When acting on comfortable emotions, we walk this tension of gluttony and denial.
In coming to Jesus with the comfortable emotions of surprise, he helps, through his mercy and grace, to find the balance between the two extremes.
Church, I implore you by the mercy of God to come to Jesus with your uncomfortable emotions of surprise, to come to Jesus with your comfortable emotions of surprise. In doing so, you will find the grace and mercy to help in your time of need.
