Eastertide Week Three: Remember His Last Words

Day One: “Let not your heart be troubled”

My granddaughter Sophie is now two. Her every need has been met from the moment of birth, the evidence of which is my daughter’s ongoing mommy-fatigue. Little Sophie’s two older siblings have enjoyed the same lack of want, and resultant lack of worry. Millions of orphans and street children have never known a parent who imitates a providing God, described by David as “The Lord is my Shepherd ... I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).

Jesus, our Good Shepherd, knows our every need. To the multitudes, He taught, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ... But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31,33). Finding all we need comes from looking to a Heavenly Father. Jesus demonstrated that He Himself lived this way, fully trusting His Father to guide and provide. It’s the kind of trust little ones like Sophie possess naturally with attentive parents.

But we don’t naturally trust as Jesus did. Why? Trust in God died when Adam and Eve rejected God’s plan for their lives. Sin altered human DNA forever, leading to death. Among other physical, intellectual and psychological changes, everyone’s emotional makeup became unbalanced.

This is why Jesus came—to redeem and restore a world full of broken sinful people to our original condition. While on earth He saw the fallout of sin with human eyes and felt the impact of damaged human emotions.

Why does this matter?

The crux of the Christian faith stands on the identity of Jesus Christ who is eternally begotten not made, one person with two natures, fully God and fully man. It matters that we know He fully feels our hurts, pains and losses. If He didn’t, our God would be distant, callous to our suffering, and unmotivated to help.

But His fully human body knew real limitations, like the need for sleep, food, and shelter. His fully human body also felt all the emotions we feel, for we are made in His image. Hebrews 4:15 (NASB) describes Jesus as: “... One who has been tempted in all things as we are [fully man], yet without sin [fully God].” Jesus understands.

He gets me. He gets you. And He longs to help.

In the last two weeks of Jesus’s life the word “troubled” is used of Him or by Him three times in John’s Gospel and once each by Matthew and Mark. First, He was troubled when standing at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:33). Why? It seems probable that Jesus, as fully God who is Love, felt deep compassion for and with Mary and all those who were loudly lamenting Lazarus’s death. He might also have been grieving the entrance of sin into this world He created which resulted in death (Romans 5:12). As a result, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Second, following His triumphal entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, an experience of great joy and celebration, Jesus began to talk again about His death and John records him saying, “Now is my soul troubled ...” (John 12:27). We call an experience of great joy followed by deep anxiety an “emotional rollercoaster.” Jesus knew that, too.

Third, Jesus became troubled over the knowledge that Judas would betray Him (John 13:21). Though He knew it was coming, He dreaded it still. He’d invested in Judas as much as the other disciples. He felt anxious and sad.

And finally, in the Garden of Gethsemane, His last minutes before His arrest, Jesus’s emotions were extreme. Matthew wrote He began to be sorrowful and troubled (26:37), while Mark wrote “greatly distressed and troubled” (14:33). Then Jesus said, “My soul is deeply grieved ...” (Mark 14:33, NASB), a different Greek word meaning terror, alarm, and anguish.

But most interestingly, in the midst of the Last Supper and before His Garden experience, Jesus twice repeated a new command to us, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me” (John 14:1), and then, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (14:27). Was Jesus speaking from personal experience? Was He saying, “I know what it’s like to be in agony, to be terrified, to be so anxious as to feel trapped with no way out?” Yes, I believe He was.

Jesus never spoke on His own initiative but only as the Father directed Him, so hear the voice of a Father in Heaven who loves you more than you can imagine saying to you: “I know how you feel, I know fear and panic and terror. You ... can ... trust Me, your Father. Because Jesus trusted Me with His life, and He endured more than you ever will, let not your heart be troubled.”

When emotions rule. When fears control. When grief seems it will never end. God is saying, believe in Me. Believe in My Son Jesus. We love you. Love is why Jesus came to rescue you.

Again, the Spirit of God repeats these words to our hearts. After the Resurrection the disciples were gathered in a room with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. Suddenly Jesus appeared in their midst and He said, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38).

Those words are for you and me today, we who are living after the Resurrection. God is calling us to live resurrected lives that trust Him like my little grandchildren trust their parents—without fears, without anxiety, without a single concern.

Today if you face emotions of discouragement or doubt or fear that threaten to take you off course, will you talk to Him about them? He knows how you feel.

May you trust the Spirit within you to give you a calm trust in God, the Three-in-One.

Because He is Risen!

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