Chapter Eleven: The Emotional Life of Christ

John 11:28-37

We have in this passage a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus. He is fully human. Contrary to some heresies in the History of the Church, Jesus is God and man. He is not part God and part man (as in a 50-50 split). He is God in the flesh. He is, as John tells us in 1:14, John 1:14 “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.”

One aspect of being human involves emotions. We will address this more fully momentarily, but I want to situate this sermon within our relationship with the Gentle and Lowly Savior.

Frank Graeff, the author of the hymn, “Does Jesus Care?” pens these verses,

Verse 1

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained Too deeply for mirth or song, As the burdens press, and the cares distress And the way grows weary and long?

Verse 2

Does Jesus care when my way is dark With a nameless dread and fear? As the daylight fades into deep night shades, Does He care enough to be near?

Verse 3

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed To resist some temptation strong; When for my deep grief there is no relief, Though my tears flow all the night long?

Verse 4

Does Jesus care when I’ve said goodbye To the dearest on earth to me, And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks, Is it aught to Him? Does He see?

The refrain answers the question based on 1 Peter 5:7,

Oh yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief; When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.

We connect to these words on an emotional level. Whether you display your emotions outwardly or not, you are an emotional being. You were created to be so, as we will see momentarily. But this lesson is so important for a couple of reasons.

God is holy and righteous and all-powerful. We relish this truth of Scripture because it gives encouragement for us to pray (for if God is not powerful, why pray?). It also encourages us because God is holy and righteous, and therefore all His judgments and actions are holy and righteous. What a comfort!

But if we only view God as those, without emotions (we will clarify that), then we have a stoic, emotionless God. In other words, if God does not have emotions of some sort, then He cannot feel. If he cannot feel, then He cannot sympathize, at least on a certain level. It is true, God does not change (Heb. 13:8). But God has emotions, they differ from ours, but He does have emotions. And we will see why this is important, as we just learned from the Scripture-based song.

Jesus cares because Jesus is human and as human has emotions. These emotions, which many times get us into trouble, brings a delightful, comforting, and soul-nourishing facet to the glorious, gentle, and lowly Savior.

Emotions in the Bible- Gen. 1:26-27, Ecc. 7:29

God created humanity (male and female) and when He did He created us in His image. This image includes emotions. Originally, humanity was created innocent. We were not sinners. Ecclesiastes tells us that “God made man upright.” Adam and Eve, as long as they obeyed God, enjoyed sinless emotions. At this point, they never blew up in anger, gave way to depressive thoughts, or dealt with the host of emotional imbalances that we face today.

Christ, as a human being, had emotions like this. Christ “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), so He did not have fluctuations in his emotions. He had perfect emotions. Jesus had joy (Luke 10:21), sadness (John 11:35, Luke 19:41), compassion (Matt. 9:20-22), anger (Matt. 23:33; John 2:15-17), frustration (Matt. 17:14-20), and love (Matt. 10:21). Jesus had every range of human emotions without sin.

After Gen. chapter 3, though, the rest of humanity became sinners. Adam’s choice to disobey God brought with it a horrific mutation in God’s creation (it was His judgment, after all).

Fallen Emotions

When we all, under our head Adam, became sinners, everything about us changed. Though we are still made in the image of God (cf. James 3:9), that image has been marred. We are infested with sin, completely changed by it. Paul gives us a description of the perversion we experience in Eph. 2:1-3. Our minds are infected with sin. Our wills are as well, as Jesus tells us that anyone who sins (which is everyone) is a slave to sin (John 8:34). Our emotions are no different, they experience the same mutation as the rest of us.

Look at Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Our hearts are routinely used in Scripture to describe our entire being, our emotions, and our mind, emotions, and will. Briefly look at a few examples of how fallen our emotions are:

Cain’s anger/depression- Gen. 4:5 “but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.”

Moses’s anger- Ex. 32:19 “And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.”

Elijah’s depression- 1 Kings 19

Bitterness- Heb. 12:12-17

Anxiety- Matt. 6:24-33

Fear- Moses in Ex. 3-4

Emotions, fallen emotions, are terrible and can inflict terrible damage on human beings, including believers. Listen to Brian Borgman’s summary of our plight,

“The toxicity of sin has permeated our emotions. Our emotions can short-circuit our whole system. The system is already broken. But the emotional power-surges or insufficient emotional power currents (the equivalent of an emotional-brownout) can further damage an already malfunctioning system.” 53

So, as fallen human beings, we face a great danger in our fallen, uncontrolled and ungodly emotions. Christ, as we noted at the beginning, is perfect. So how do emotions look in His life?

Christ’s Emotions

I mentioned a few references earlier, and I want to return to them briefly before attempting to apply some truths to our lives.

Christ, as a human being, had emotions like this. Christ “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). He had perfect emotions.

Jesus had joy- Luke 10:21 “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Jesus had sadness- John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” Luke 19:41 “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,”

Jesus had compassion- Matt. 9:20-22 “And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.”

Jesus had anger- Matt. 23:33 “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” John 2:15-17 “And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.””

Jesus had frustration- Matt. 17:14-20 “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”” and love (Matt. 10:21).

Jesus had every range of human emotions without sin.

What It Means for Us

Ortlund writes, “Fallen emotions not only sinfully overreact; they also sinfully underreact.” (107)

He then makes another statement and and asks a question worthy of our pondering. “Sin retrained my emotions of compassion [referring to Ortlund seeing a leper]; what would unrestrained [by sin] emotions of compassion be like? That is what Jesus felt.” (107)

Ortlund examines Christ’s perfect emotions of compassion and anger. We have looked at an abundance of Scripture addressing Jesus’s compassion while learning about our Gentle and Lowly in heart Savior. Christ feels compassion toward you. When you hurt, He hurts. When you are tired, He feels for you. When you are discouraged, He is right there with you, like a faithful brother feels for his brother or sister in pain.

Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies (or, compassions) never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

What a comfort!

What about Jesus’s anger? How does this affect us?

Sin angers the heart of Christ. It is a righteous anger, remember, but anger nonetheless. Listen to Ortlund’s words, “While Christ is a lion to the impenitent, he is a lamb to the penitent—the reduced, the open, the hungry, the desiring, the confessing, the self-effacing. He hates with righteous hatred all that plagues you. In your grief, he is grieved. In your distress, he is distressed.” (111-112)

Connecting this to people who sin against us, Ortlund writes, “Perhaps you have reason to be angry. Perhaps you have been sinned against, and the only appropriate response is anger. Be comforted by this: Jesus is angry alongside you. Indeed, he is angrier than you could ever be about the wrong done to you.”

So, does Jesus care? Oh yes, He cares, far deeply than you could ever imagine!