Matthew 14
This chapter has three stories from the life and times of Jesus. The first is about how John the Baptist was killed. The second is about how Jesus fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish. The third is about how Jesus walked on the water and about Peter’s attempt to do the same.
Acts 1:1-2 is Luke’s description of his gospel account. He says: In my former book, Theolophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, up until the day he was taken up to heaven… In other words, Luke’s concern in his gospel is to tell us all that Jesus did and taught including, of course, his death, burial and resurrection. What I’d like to consider with you today is another side of Jesus that is not so commonly addressed. That is, what did Jesus feel? What were the emotions of our Lord? One reason to study these things is that all of the rest of scripture points to Jesus’ suffering as the means by which we are saved. Hebrews also reflects on how it was the joy set before Jesus that motivated him to endure the cross, even as he despised the shame. 1 Peter speaks of the sufferings of Christ as our model for Christian living saying that he gave us an example that we should follow in his steps. The prophet Isaiah in the famous chapter 53 speaks of Jesus as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Psalms speak of Jesus as dealing with his enemies in wrath, and the book of Revelation says specifically concerning those who are not prepared when Jesus comes again that they cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. There are many expressions of Jesus’ feelings in the gospels ranging from anger and frustration to joy and exaltation.
One of the most common words to describe the feelings of Jesus is the word: compassion. This word occurs in reference to Jesus more times in Matthew than in any other gospel and just so happens to occur in our text for today. Matthew 14:14.
Compassion as an English word is a compound word with two parts: the prefix “com” and the root word “passion.” Together these carry the idea of sharing the suffering of someone in such a way as to be moved to help. The Greek word is splanchnizomai and it has to do with the feelings you have in your stomach when you hurt for someone who is in pain. Jesus joins us in humanity so that he can be a compassionate high priest, fully understanding our fleshly experiences in temptation and struggle. Jesus has compassion for us. He is uniquely able to bring us to know God by his identification with us.
Historically, there was a time when many in the Christian faith had great difficulty with the concept of Jesus as an emotional being. The Greek theologians who had become Christians in the first century believed that human emotions and feelings were sinful and expressed imperfection. They reasoned that since Jesus was perfect and sinless, he must not have had emotional feelings or passions. For several in the first few centuries of the church it became a goal to rise above any feelings or passions and become perfected by living a life of unemotional commitment to God. Having seen the pitfalls of the passions of the flesh, they sought a rational relationship with God that was stripped of the human fleshly struggles of the emotions. It was sort of a Spock type logical approach to faith and Christian life, for those of you familiar with Star Trek. These early Christians noted how often scriptures spoke of putting away and even crucifying the fleshly passions and desires and how these things were responsible for human failure morally and spiritually even from the beginning in the garden of Eden. I wonder what you think about that? Do any of us here have a problem with fleshly passions? Would any of us here like to be freed from some of those emotional trappings? I know for myself that my emotions often get right in the way of my service to Christ. Sometimes I would like to be free from the ups and downs of the emotional roller coaster of my heart. I really am challenged by the words of Galatians 5:25 and other passages that say: “Those that belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” James tells us that the reason we fall into sin is that we are dragged away and enticed by our own evil desires. James 1:13-15. It specifically says that this never happens with God. He is neither tempted, nor does he tempt us. Is God then, above feelings? Certainly He is above feelings in any fallen, sinful sense, but what we know about God in scripture bears out that God is fully able to experience and express emotions and feelings. In fact, God does so with perfection! He is the God of comfort, compassion and peace. He is also the God of wrath, judgment, and eternal punishment. But in none of these does God cease to be pure and holy, perfect and completely just. In fact, if God could ever come down here and show us what He looks like and feels like, what we would see is Jesus Christ.
Perhaps this does not interest you at all. Perhaps you would prefer to hear a sermon on the things Jesus did and taught without reference to what Jesus felt. Perhaps… But I imagine some of you are starving for a fuller understanding of the heart and emotional makeup of our Lord and Master. You know, like me, that you desperately need a mentor for this. You need someone who experiences ups and downs and yet overcomes them. You long for a Lord who identifies with your passions and can guide you through them to freedom and faithfulness in spite of their stormy nature. You need someone who can walk on the waters of the wild waves of the heart and not sink and drown in them. We have just such a Savior in Jesus Christ. He calls to us, “Be of good cheer! It is I, don’t be afraid!” Notice, Jesus doesn’t say, “Stop your emotions and feelings! It is I… “ He only told them not to fear because there was no good reason for it. Fear at this point was incompatible with faith. But Jesus did tell them to be afraid, did he not? Jesus taught them to have a fear that is fully compatible with faith. He said, “Don’t be afraid of those who can kill your body, but can not kill your soul. Rather fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Did Jesus have any fear? Isaiah 11:3 says that he did. Jesus was perfect and he had a perfect fear just like you and I can have. Jesus had a perfect and sinless anger. He had a perfect and sinless delight and joy. Jesus wants to give us rest for our souls in his perfect emotional strength.
The compassion of Christ is a beautiful expression of the heart of God toward those in need. Jesus shows us how to live and also how to feel as we live. He calls us to have a joy that is inexpressible, full of grace and truth. It is a kingdom of heaven kind of joy and emotion. Looking back at chapter 13 Jesus tells two parables describing the kingdom of heaven that teach this. They are small, but they speak volumes about this. Look at Matthew 13:44-46.
The kingdom of heaven is like a man motivated by joy over the great value of what he has discovered so that he gives up everything else he has to obtain that single treasure of his heart. Now that describes emotion guided by devotion.
Luke 7 tells of a time when Jesus was once eating with a Pharisee and a woman came in and wept at his feet, washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair and anointed them with ointment. This all went on in the full awareness of all who were at the table with the Pharisee. The Pharisee’s emotions were stated by his actions toward Jesus. He expressed little love toward Jesus. The woman’s emotions were also stated by her actions toward Jesus. She expressed great love toward Jesus. Jesus said, “The one that loves much is forgiven much, but he who loves little is forgiven little.”
May our Father in heaven help us all love like Jesus and live like Jesus. May our emotions be guided and shaped by our relationship with Jesus into the likeness of God’s own heart.
