One Easter season it occurred to me how Jesus Christ, while on this earth, experienced all the same basic human emotions and feelings as you and me! Yes, He is divine, being God’s Son, but He also came to this earth as a human. Have you really let the power and specialness of that sink in? To know that Jesus truly understands the different human emotions that we, too, experience?
The shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) Jesus wept when He found out that His friend Lazarus died. Some people say Jesus wept because He loved Lazarus so much; others say it was because Jesus knew that some of the people gathered around still would not believe He was the Messiah, even after Lazarus’ resurrection. Either way, in our humanity, we weep when our loved one dies, when our loved one isn’t following Christ, or when someone dear to us makes choices that take them down a “wrong” path.
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Did you ever stop to think how Jesus, the Messiah and King, was mocked and laughed at while on this earth? Satan tempted and mocked Jesus in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus was always empowered to return Satan’s temptations with Scripture. Many people mocked and laughed at Jesus when he was hanging on the cross for you and me! I think Jesus’ heart must have been very heavy and saddened listening to the people mock and laugh at Him. Many of the people in Jesus’ hometown did not even believe what Jesus was preaching. Sometimes, people mock us and laugh at us when we stand up for our beliefs or our faith, or when we step out to share God’s love.
Often times when trials come our way, we pray to God that they may pass us by—just like the prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested. Ultimately, Jesus knew He was sent to earth for that very moment to set us free. In our trials, hopefully, before long, we, too, can say, “God, let Your will be done.”
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Do you ever feel that God has forsaken you? There was only one moment in Jesus’ life when He felt abandoned like that—that was the moment when Jesus, hanging from the cross, took on all the sins of the world. God promises to always be there—it’s we and our sin that turn away from Him. Hanging on that cross, Jesus gave up His spirit peacefully because He knew He came to do God’s will. He knew He was called by God, led by God, and empowered by God to sacrifice Himself to set all of us free from our sin!
Jesus also left us with a great example of loving one another. All along Jesus knew that Judas would be the one to betray Him, yet He had no bad feelings toward Judas. Jesus still loved him—and, that is the love we are called to have for one another.
This Easter season may you take time to reflect on Jesus’ humanity and how He can relate to our emotions and feelings. He understands and wants us to know we can rely on God to help us on this journey. I pray you have a blessed Easter celebrating the Risen Christ and living out the empowerment we have in Him!
Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil. –Hebrews 2:14