Jesus was emotional.  John 12.27-36

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012.27-36&version=NLT&interface=print

Now my soul is deeply troubled…  John 12.27

I have a confession to make—I am undone by the thought of Jesus being hurt or troubled; really, I can’t stand the thought!  Yep, Jesus’ words in John 12.27 really are a ‘stopper’ for me.  “Now my soul is deeply troubled,” Jesus said, thinking of what lie ahead, his death and suffering.  And yet, this was not the first time Jesus has expressed emotion . . .

Hmmmm, I wonder what our Lord was like, on a personal level, while he was on earth.  The truth is, we do not really know what Jesus looked like—either how tall or short, how dark or light, though most of us have grown up with a rather tallish, handsome, slender Jesus.  In my home, my mother had a framed picture of him in sepia tones, with shoulder-length wavy hair and gentle eyes; that is the picture of Jesus I have carried in my mind most of my life, though Jim Caviezel as Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ” has now been worked into the visual images I carry of my Jesus. 

What was Jesus’ personality like, I wonder?  Because Jesus was God incarnate, it seems that most people think of him as austere, a little (or a lot) boring, cool, maybe even cold … right?   But the Gospels present a man who has such charisma, that people will sit three days straight, without food, just to hear him teach!*   Jesus was unafraid to express his emotions . . . and that is one of the things I love about him.  And the Gospels reveal a Jesus with a range of emotions—from sympathy to compassionate empathy to anger to grief, and finally … anguish. 

Jesus cried in front of others at least three times, unafraid to show that side of him to the disciples and others who were near.  We just saw his tears at the tomb of Lazarus . . . so moved was he by the grief of his two dear friends, Mary and Martha.   Yes, Jesus has felt and experienced every emotion you and I have; for you and I have a ‘high priest who understands’ (Hebrews 4.15)  … Jesus knows, Jesus understands.  And that is good . . . oh, so very good. 

Christine

*Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew