A Meditative Thought
By Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
Friends and Brethren;
Yesterday morning as I was meditating during my time with our Lord, it occurred to me, that so many times, (at least I have thought or said), the words “ Lord you just don’t know what it’s like down here”. It was then, that I realized, that yes he does know for one must remember that although He was God in the flesh, He was still in the flesh, and subject to human emotions.
Now we may argue on what constitutes emotions, but for me, I’ve got it down to four basic ones.
1) Sadness
2) Joy
3) Fear
4) Anger
As stated above we might differ on the number, but it is felt by this writer that those four are the roots of other feelings. For example, one might say, what about hate? Well true hate is a feeling, but it is a learned one and usually stems from anger over something or even someone, or groups of people. Nobody is born hating, it is a learned behavior. Also one might ask, what about Love? Again a learned behavior. I would suggest that it comes from joy. The joy of a baby seeing his or her’s mother’s face.
But I digress. Allow friends for this writing to be based on my above comment, that there are basically four emotions. So, let us see how our Savior acted and how He likewise experienced all that we can go through at any given time.
1) Sadness
First scripture that comes to mind is John 11:35 “and Jesus Wept” While tears can come from joy, more often they come from grief and sadness. But there is another scripture that I would suggest that indicates sadness on the part of our Savior. In the Gospel according to Matthew 23:37-38 we read “ 37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as the hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your habitation shall be left unto you desolate.”
This is described as lamentation which denotes extreme sadness, that one laments the loss of something or someone. Webster’s Dictionary Ed. 1913 and 1828 defines it thus;
“An expression of sorrow; cries of grief”
So yes our Savior knew sadness, sorrow, grief
2) Joy
This one we can infer from The Gospel According to John 16:22 which reads “And ye now therefore are in sorrow: but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you.” We again see that our Savior is well acquainted with this emotion, if not how else could He say for others to experience it? Likewise it shows the above mentioned emotion of sadness.
3) Fear
One need look no further than the Gospel According to Luke 22:44 wherein we read “ But being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was like drops of blood, trickling down to the ground”. I would add here that agony, was not so much physically as it was mentally. This is to say that while severe anxiety of events about to unfold could produce a physical reaction, it is more apt to cause one to suffer mentally.
4) Anger
We all know about Christ chasing out the money changers in The Gospel According to Mark 11:17 (and likewise in Luke 19:46) “And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, Mine house shall be called the house of prayer unto all nations? but you have made it a den of thieves.” Now of course this anger was righteous anger and a judgment by Him for what they had done inside the temple. Yet it still demonstrates the feeling, the emotion.
Do not misunderstand, our Savior was easily able to overcome these emotions. Yet likewise understand that He is our High Priest as written in The Epistle to the Hebrews “16 For he in no sort took on him the Angels’ nature, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be merciful, and a faithful high Priest in things concerning God, that he might make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he suffered, and was tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.”
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