Emotions - Engaging God with All of You Part 6 - Jesus Felt Disgusted

Jesus empathizes with us in our feelings of disgust.

Jesus knows what it is like to feel disgusted.

In this sermon, we will explore how he experienced this emotion in the gospels without sinning.

Remember our key passage for this series is Hebrews 4:14-16.

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

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.

We then take courage, for Christ Jesus is with us in our emotions, giving us the empathy and strength to process our emotions for his glory and our spiritual growth.

Church, may we come to God with all of who we are.

We have all felt disgust. Let’s put words to the feeling and receive Jesus' empathy and grace so we can act for good and God’s glory.

Disgust is an emotion that causes us to withdraw emotionally and physically. Physically, we may gag or even vomit.

Disgust motivates us to distance ourselves from the cause, whether it is relational or physical.

You feel disgust when you feel disapproval of a person's or a thing’s actions, which can evoke the emotions of judgment and embarrassment.

You feel disgust when you feel disappointed with a person's or a thing’s actions, which can evoke the emotions of being appalled and revolted.

You feel disgust when you feel awful about a person's or a thing’s actions, which can evoke the emotions of being nauseated and detestable.

You feel disgust when you feel repelled by a person's or a thing’s actions, which can evoke the emotions of being horrified or hesitant.

Let’s turn now and examine how Jesus felt disgust in Matthew 23.

Matthew 23 ESV

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

In this passage, Jesus feels disgust for sin, especially the sin of hypocrisy and calling others to live in hypocrisy.

Jesus understands your feelings of disgust. He calls you to come to him with your disgust so you can use it for good and his glory.

Jesus feels disgust and compassion for the same people in this passage. He does not allow his disgust to bring withdrawal, but instead, he gives a call for them to come and embrace him, though in their hardness of heart, they will not have it.

Jesus feels disgusted by sin in general, and in this passage, the sin of hypocrisy. This prompts me to ask myself and you, “What are you disgusted by?”

This also brings up how we perceive Jesus feels about us.

If you feel like Jesus is disgusted with you, then you will not feel relationally connected to him.

Jesus is not disgusted with those whom he has saved, so stop believing the lie that he is.

Instead, embrace who he has and is making you to be, by walking in repentance and rejoicing in his forgiveness.

Jesus knows the feeling of disgust. He empathizes with the disgust you feel.

Come to Jesus with all of who you are. Come to him in lament with your disgust.

Church, I implore you by the mercy of God, run to Jesus when you feel disgusted and receive his empathy and compassion, demonstrated to us on the cross and validated in the resurrection, so that we can grow and glorify him.