Jesus Has Feelings, Too!

I roll my eyes every time I hear sermons that preach about “You shouldn’t trust your feelings!” These people seem to forget that God gives us feelings for a reason. Sure, you can’t let feelings alone dictate your every decision, but you also can’t live without feelings.

Jesus feels too. The One with the capability to raise Lazarus from the dead wept when he was moved by the ones mourned for Lazarus. His tears were driven purely by feeling. Logically, there was no rational reason for him to weep when he knew how the story would go.

Jesus was amazed by the faith of a Gentile woman. Jesus shouldn’t have been amazed by the woman, since he knew about what’s in a person’s heart before they even expressed it.

Jesus could have gone into the temple to reason with the money changers and animal vendors, but instead, he flipped the tables and waved a whip, demonstrating what seems to be “anger.”

How dare Jesus let his feelings guide his actions!

In Acts 16, it records that when Paul and Silas were locked up in a prison after heavy beating, they prayed and sang hymns at night. But they didn’t escape even when the earthquake shook their shackles loose. Because they didn’t escape, they successfully witnessed to the prison guard that was about to kill himself. When preachers use this story to tell us to ignore our feelings, they mistakenly assume Paul and Silas didn't have any. After all, they are the role models of our faith, how could they have such things as feelings?

But feeling of fear, desperation and pain after being harshly beaten for not doing anything wrong, and being put in a prison with all the uncertainty about their fate may very well be what exactly prompted them to pray and sing in the first place. And their empathy for the prison guard may very well be the reason why they didn’t escape.

The one that didn’t feel was Saul, who persecuted and killed the Christians. He dehumanized the Christians, so he didn’t have to feel for them and feel for what he was doing. But the one that wrote a pleading letter on behalf of Onesimus, took Timothy in as his own son, and felt remorse for what he did to the Christians and called himself the chief of sinners was Paul, who feels.

Feelings are what enabled us to connect with ourselves, with the others and with God. When we are disconnected from our feelings then there is no ground for joy, empathy, adorations, and even the feeling of awe.

Sure, we can’t let our feelings alone dictate all our decisions, but we need to listen to them to build a healthy, grounded sense of self. Suppressing our emotions doesn't make us spiritual or righteous. It leaves us dangerously detached and self-absorbed rather than being like Christ. To listen to our feelings is to remain tethered to our humanity.