Jesus Experienced Human Emotions

The New Testament tells us that Jesus was not only divine, but, also, human. That is, He experienced the same kinds of challenges that you and I experience daily.  John 1:14 tells us that the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us.

Why was it necessary for Jesus to take on the form of humanity?  There are several possible reasons. First, He “walked in our shoes,” knowing what it means to belong to the human race. Second, He was tempted in all ways as we are; therefore, He experienced the same type of temptations that you and I face each day. Third, He felt the pangs of death; unless we are living when Christ returns the second time, we shall all face the shadow of death, for death in this life is universal, brought on by sin, disobedience to God’s commands.

Yes, Jesus experienced human emotions. In Luke 19: 41-44, He wept over Jerusalem because its inhabitants largely rejected Him and the salvation that He offered:  41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

In another expression of human emotions, Jesus cleansed the temple of the money-changers and merchants.  Not only did He show frustration, but perhaps a touch of anger, as well.  John 2: 13-22 reads:  “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.

18 “So the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ 19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ 20 The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,[a] and will you raise it up in three days?’ 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”

What comfort it is for us who believe in Jesus as the Source of life, to know that, on resurrection morning, that same power that brought Him from the grave shall raise us from our graves. Therefore, just as Jesus experienced the thrill of rising from the grave, so shall we experience that same joy of victory over death.

In John, Chapter 11, Jesus again expresses human emotions when He weeps over the death of His dear friend, Lazrus.  Demonstrating the He is the source of life, He calls Lazrus from the grave, allowing Lazrus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, to experience the overwhelming elation upon seeing their brother again alive and well!

Friend, Jesus knows your needs, for He walked the same road that you and I walk as humans.  I invite you to trust your present and eternal future to Him.

Until next week, may God richly bless and keep you!

©2017 Fillmer Hevener