Resources/Articles
An Emotional Man (1)
...He was despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and as one from whom men hide their face
he was despised;
and we esteemed him not...
Isaiah 53.3
There are pictorial images of Jesus as a tall, lonely man with a beard, long hair, smooth skin, red cheeks, blue eyes, gentle hands, and handsome, slender appearance. These images of Christ are displayed in pictures and movies, but in scripture “...he hath no form or comeliness; and we when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him...” The gospels are silent about his appearance, but his emotions are plainly revealed. They are not hidden, masked, excused, or modified for the reader. Jesus’ emotions spell out who he is due to the character he possessed. All of them are manifested without sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). All of them are involved in his desire to do the will of the Father (Hebrews 10:7).
Someone described more than twenty different emotions Jesus expressed: affection, anguish, anger, compassion, distress, grief, gladness, indignation, joy, love, peace, sadness, sympathy, trouble, and weariness. All of these we have expressed or witnessed in others. The challenge is displaying them with the right motive at the right time. Jesus never expressed these emotions frivolously or as a means of getting attention or showing prejudice. His emotions were just, genuine, and powerful. When we read about our Lord’s emotions, we cannot say God is not moved by what man does or what happens to him. Acts 17:28-29 says our God is near, nearer to be touched, nearer to feel, and more than a lifeless idol or any such thing.
His Sorrow
Besides Isaiah 53:3 prophesying of his emotion, Jesus shoed his sorrow at the death of his friend Lazarus - “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Jesus’ sadness for Lazarus comes not because there was hopelessness (He IS the resurrection, v. 25). It is his personal grief in losing someone in death who was close to him. He was experiencing what others did, who would feel the same pain from the death of a loved one (vv. 33-34). In this moment of emotion, we learn empathy from Jesus as Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.”
In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus cries for the ungodly conditions of the city of Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem is soon to come. The loss of life is certain. The wrath of God will be the consequence of their disobedience (Matthew 23:34-36). Our Lord is grieving for those lost in sin. His tears are for the spiritual death of the lost without hope. Such an emotion by Christ should cause us to ask, “Do I weep for a soul whose life is engulfed in sin?”
Hebrews 5:7 records another time of sorrow for Jesus. Prior to his crucifixion, Jesus showed emotion due to a lost humanity. It was the sorrow for what he was about to endure for the sins of the world. Jesus was about to carry the heaviest burden known to man - the world’s sin. Jesus’ sorrow was for his own death as well. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death” (Mark 14:34) - a sorrow manifested in sweat as great drops of blood while uttering these words: “My God, my God, why...”
Our God and Lord Jesus Christ grieve because of our lukewarmness, laziness, and withdrawal from righteousness, truth, and his overflowing grace (Ephesians 4:30-31). May our emotion of sorrow be like his.
His Joy
In contrast to Jesus’ sorrow is his joy. It is not being or feeling happy. It is joy.
We do not read about Jesus laughing in scripture. We do read about his joy. Joy as Luke 15:7 says, “I say unto you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth...” You understand this emotion is due to Jesus being the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14). When a shepherd loses his sheep, there is sorrow. When the lost sheep is found and returned, there is great joy. No greater sense of joy can be experienced than seeing a doomed soul reclaimed from the eternal curse of sin.
Seventy disciples returned from a preaching mission and reported their success over Satan’s forces to which the Lord rejoiced (Luke 10:21). We are also reminded of how Christ “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). Such joy in the midst of pain and agony was from actions which pleased his Father and exalted the name of God. Jesus’ emotion of joy reached a plane far higher than what is characteristic of those who know the delights and pleasures and fun of the world. Our Savior’s joy was founded upon the love of truth and righteousness.
From his emotion of joy comes the Lord’s exhortation in Matthew 5:10-12 to “rejoice, and be exceeding glad” when a disciple experiences persecution. Suffering unjustly may make living in the world a unpleasant experience. There is great rejoicing in this - “the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to usward” 9Romans 8:17). The JOY of winning over Satan by not yielding to temptation, people being saved from sin, filling the church with obedient souls, and conquering the pain of tirals with joy (James 1:2-4) is an emotion Jesus had that we need to replicate in our lives.
