Emotions - Engaging God with All of You Part 7 - Jesus Felt Sad
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Jesus empathizes with us in our feelings of sadness.
Jesus knows what it is like to feel sad.
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.
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 sad. Let’s put words to the feeling and receive Jesus' empathy and grace so we can act for good and God’s glory.
What is the emotion of sadness?
It is the emotion of loss.
Loss that comes to all through the rebellion of Satan, which humanity joined.
Loss that not only affects all of creation (Romans 8:18-25), but the Creator himself (Genesis 3:8; 6:6).
Loss that shows itself when you feel hurt, embarrassed, or disappointed.
Loss that shows itself when you feel depressed, inferior, or empty.
Loss that shows itself when you feel guilty, remorseful, or ashamed.
Loss that shows itself when you feel despair, powerlessness, or grief.
Loss that shows itself when you feel vulnerable, victimized, or fragile.
Loss that shows itself when you feel lonely, isolated, and abandoned.
Jesus knows what it is like to feel sad, for he suffered loss just as we do, yet without sin.
Turn with me to Luke 19:41-44 to look at when Jesus felt sad.
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Please turn with me to Mark 14:33-34.
And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”
Now, let's look at Isaiah 53:3-4.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
Looking at Hebrews 5:7-8, we see all his experiences of sadness summarized.
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
Jesus feels profoundly the loss of Israel’s rejection of him, their Messiah.
Jesus feels profoundly the loss of fellowship with the Trinity in his death on the cross. His sadness was overwhelming.
The prophet Isaiah describes Jesus as someone who is acquainted with grief, a man of sorrows.
How did Jesus, in his humanity, process his emotion of sadness?
How do you process your own sadness?
We read the answer in Hebrews 5:7-8. The author of Hebrews points out three things for us to take to heart.
First, Jesus knows what it is like to be sad.
Second, Jesus set us an example of lament in his offering up of prayers and supplications to the Father.
Third, Jesus learned obedience through loss, and so do we.
Do you feel sad? If you do, know that you are in good company and that God is working in and through each of the losses in your life. Trust him!
Come to Jesus with all of who you are. Come to him in lament with your sadness.
Church, I implore you by the mercy of God, run to Jesus when you feel sad 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.
