Jesus stressed out, lonely, grieved

 "Our Lord must have been greatly depressed and brought into a condition of extreme weakness by the agony of the night in Gethsemane and by the scourgings and cruel mockings He endured . . . If there be one place where our Lord Jesus most fully becomes the joy and comfort of His people, it is where He plunged deepest into the depths of woe.

"Come, behold the man in the garden of Gethsemane; behold His heart so brimming with love that He cannot hold it in. Behold the bloody sweat as it distills from every pore of His body and falls upon the ground . . . Look up and see the sorrowful image of your suffering Lord . . . Gaze upon Him, for if there is no consolation in a crucified Christ, there is no joy in heaven or earth.”—Charles Spurgeon.  

Paul writes in Philippians 2: [5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
[6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
[7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
[8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus Christ isn’t taking anything away from the Father to say, “I’m God,” because they’re equal, explains Richard Jordan.

The idea of the godhead is generally confusing to people. In my mind, my feeble brain understands it when I explain it like this. There’s a whole room of people; we’re all equally human. No one is more human than the other. But there’s a whole bunch of us. We’re one in our humanity and 150 (or so) in our individuality.

There are only three people that have the nature of God, just like there’s a bunch of us that have the nature of humanity. If you can understand that you can kind of get your mind around the idea of the godhead.

Jesus is God (there’s God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) but He’s also something the other members of the godhead aren’t. He became a man.

He didn’t strut around and say, “I’m God; I’m nothing else,” but He took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. He took upon Himself our humanity. Why? He says in Hebrews, [5] Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

The godhead had a plan and the Lord Jesus Christ took His place in that plan. When you think about who He was and the impact that He had in His earthly life, you also need to back up a minute. Don’t just see the Jewish program that He was under, but look at Him and see the humanity that’s there and how He operated in that program.

You see the personal decisions He made. You see how He chose to do the Father’s will; He chose to do what was right when He gets lost in loving people. He gets misunderstood, He gets marginalized, He gets mistreated, and yet His response . . .

I ask myself a question, “Was Jesus ever stressed out?” Do you ever get stressed out? Yeah. Was Jesus ever lonely? Do you get lonely? Did Jesus ever mourn over the loss of loved ones?

Did He know how to deal with betrayal and injustice? Did He ever have family problems? I mean, just start listing life. He had all of that! It’s fascinating.

Look at Luke 22: [39] And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.
[40] And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
[41] And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
[42] Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
[43] And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
[44] And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

On that night the Lord Jesus Christ experienced overwhelming stress. He knew He was facing arrest, torture, execution, the Cross.

He went to the Mount of Olives and His disciples also followed Him. He goes out into a solitude place that He obviously went to many times. The weight on Him would have been unimaginable. So He goes to this quiet place and He brings a few friends with Him.

It says “and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

His soul was grieved to the point—there’s a medical term when your sweat turns into drops of blood. It’s a rare condition that’s caused by acute emotional stress, when the sweat glands rupture, causing them to excrete blood. The agony of the moment; the things that He’s facing. You talk about being stressed out. That’s about as stressed out as you can get.

He washes the feet of Judas knowing that before that night’s over Judas is going to betray Him. “My own familiar friend has turned his heel up against me for 30 pieces of silver.” You talk about being abandoned. You talk about feeling lonely. When you feel like it’s just you against the world, He gets you. He’s been there.

(to be continued and new article tomorrow)