Was Jesus Stressed?

Posted December 29, 2006

A commentary by Matthew Bates

The project deadline loomed at work—then we found the error that I had overlooked! Could we fix it in time? I wasn't frantic quite then, but I was certainly under the cloud of anxiety and worry that I had hoped to leave behind when I finished school a few months before. Blindsided again.

Why does life seem so hard? It took a while before that thought made me stop, step back and take a second look. If Jesus Christ wasn't stressed by His job, then why was I?

If anyone in the history of the world had reason to be overwhelmed by fears and anxiety, it was Christ and His trusted followers. As a human, Jesus faced all the same tendencies and temptations we face. He knew the physical impossibility of His task and what would be lost if it were not accomplished. All humanity and the eternal plan of God hung in the balance.

Christ was definitely under pressure to perform—so much so that He sweated drops of blood while praying prior to His crucifixion. Surrounded by social pressures, loved by many, hated by many, He faced demands from Jews and Romans to which He would never conform. Instead of feeling lost and helpless, He faced His tasks and struggles with a calm, divine determination.

This is the One who preached against the kind of anxiety to which we so often surrender. "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? …For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things" (Matthew 6:25, 32-34).

Christ never yelled at His disciples when they didn't understand. He never put up emotional walls and fled when bothersome people threw themselves into His life. He didn't argue when Pilate sentenced Him to death merely to please a mob.

He welcomed little children who His disciples felt got in the way. He healed an official who was wounded while trying to arrest Him, and He looked down from the cross to say, "Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children," and, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:28, 34).

Jesus Christ's emotional strength and sense of purpose were the greatest the world has ever seen. The source of His motivation is something we can share. The divine Word He studied His entire human life and the power of the Father through the Holy Spirit that energized Him can be ours to use today. To better understand the dynamic life of our Savior and Messiah, request or download Jesus Christ: The Real Story.

Pressures from our peers, families, schools and jobs often seem insurmountable. Projects end, semesters conclude and jobs change, but understanding the Bible, having God as our Best Friend and His Kingdom as our goal stand as the utmost commitment of all. He is our unshakable rock and foundation. He promises to guide us past every pressure and deadline this world can demand because He has prepared something better for us—eternal life with Him. VT