Feeling Well?
Sunday 4th June 2023
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd,
he had compassion on them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Mark 6:34 (NIV)
Feeling Well?
At the recent Midlands Men’s Convention, a number of us attended a seminar with the title, “How to be men with a fully-functioning emotional life.” I can imagine all sorts of possible responses to hearing that. Perhaps, “About time, too!” or “That’s just what men need!” or “That’s not going to happen!” or even, “Who needs that?”
We began by seeing that Jesus had an emotional life and that, like everything else about him, it was perfect. Interestingly, the emotion most frequently attributed to Jesus in the Gospels is compassion (hence the quotation above), while others include sadness, anger and joy. Here is a man with a fully-functioning – indeed perfect – emotional life.
Jesus always had the perfect emotional response, and always to the right degree. Not only do we often have the wrong emotional response (for example, I might respond with jealousy rather than joy when I hear of someone else’s success), but we often respond to the wrong degree (for example, I might feel sadder that my football team got relegated than I do when I hear that someone’s mother is not a Christian).
We also saw that what we feel (our emotions) stems from what we love. For example, I might get angry when my plans for the day get interrupted. Why is that? What do I love that makes me feel that way? There could be several answers. It could be that I love being in control (because I secretly want to be God) and I am now no longer in control. It could be that I love comfort and some discomfort has now entered my life.
This is an important observation. It means that it is rarely going to be enough to try and ‘control’ our emotions. Indeed, we are unlikely to be able control our emotions without addressing our loves first. Change is needed at the level of what we love. It is because we love the wrong things that we respond wrongly emotionally.
So we can see that the reason Jesus had the perfect emotional response was because he loved the right things, or rather the right people. He really did love God with all his strength; he really did love his neighbour as himself. Surely that is why he so often responded with compassion, when he saw the plight people were in and loved them as God does?
Father, teach me to love as Jesus did, and so to feel as he did. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)