So did Jesus ever face this kind of trouble?
The answer is -- Yes!
Jesus enters Jerusalem on Sunday, the beginning of the last week of His earthly life. When Jesus enters, Luke 19:41 says, “And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it.”
The word wept here means to mourn. Jesus saw the spiritual condition of the people of Jerusalem and it caused Him to deeply mourn.
When we mourn over people we love because of their spiritual condition, Jesus understands because He has been there.
Jesus mourns along with us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about being broken over the spiritual conditions of our family, our friends, our nation, and the world.
In Matthew 26:37-38, Matthew describes Jesus as He began to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. Matthew writes, “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, ’Sit here, while I go and pray. And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and troubled.’”
The word translated sorrowful means to be greatly grieved. The word translated troubled means to be depressed.
Jesus was greatly grieved and was experiencing depression. The weight of all the sin in the world was about to be put on Him and the stress was huge.
Then in Matthew 26:38 it says, “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with Me.’”
Jesus was facing a time in His life that was not just about the pain of the physical death, but also about the spiritual agony He would endure. It was causing Him great mental anguish.
Jesus faces the deep grief of our lives with us. Jesus faces the times of depression with us. Jesus faces the times of hopelessness with us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about acknowledging our times of struggle with discouragement and depression. And realizing Jesus understands and is with us in the midst of the struggle.
When Jesus was informed that His friend Lazarus was sick, He waited four days before He went to Bethany, Lazarus’ home. When Jesus arrived, Lazarus was dead.
In John 11:33-35 John describes Jesus’ visit to the tomb. John writes, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept.”
Jesus is emotionally moved when He sees the hurt of Lazarus’ family and friends. Though Jesus knew what He would do, and Lazarus would be brought back to life, the pain in the lives of people He cared about moved Him to weep.
We also see here a deeper hurt in Jesus’ life. The word troubled means struck with terror and depression. We find the same word in Mark 14:33 and John 12:27.
Jesus fully understood what it was to experience overwhelming fear and depression.
In John 12:27 Jesus asks the Father to save Him from what was about to happen to Him, but then He acknowledges that what was about to happen to Him, His crucifixion, was the very reason He had come into the world.
Jesus then asks the Father to glorify the Father’s name.
The Father’s response in John 12:28 is, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The Father was assuring Jesus that His name had been glorified by Jesus’ obedience, and through Jesus’ death it would be even more glorified.
Jesus understands that we will face fear. He also knows that some things that He tells us to do will cause us fear as we face them. His promise is the same as the Father’s. When we obey Him, especially in fearful situations, His name will be glorified.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about obeying God even when what He is telling us to do scares us, and knowing that His presence is there with us all the way through the situation.
Jesus faced: fear, discouragement, grief, and even depression. He understands our feelings when we face circumstances that cause us to experience those emotions.
The Word of God gives us three awesome promises that will help us as we face grief or fear or depression.
One is found in Hebrews 13:5. It says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Jesus will not abandon us. He will not leave us when the difficult times come.
We are told in Psalm 34:18 that God is near to the brokenhearted. In Psalm 147:3 God heals the brokenhearted. In Isaiah 61:1 God binds up the brokenhearted.
The second promise is found in Hebrews 4:15 which says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus faced everything you and I face, but nothing moved Jesus to disobey God and to sin. He faced the fear and grief and depression but it did not cause Him to sin. When you and I face fear we don’t have to let it lead to sin.
When we face fear it does not have to lead to sin. When we face grief it does not have to lead to sin. When we face depression it does not have to lead to sin.
The third promise is found in John 16:33. Jesus says to His disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”
Jesus knows we face times of fear. We don’t have to live in the fear because He has overcome fear.
Jesus know you will face times of grief. We don’t have to live in the grief because He has overcome grief.
Jesus knows you will face times of depression. We don’t have to live in the depression because He has overcome the depression.
We sometimes visualize Jesus as living His life with no problems. But Jesus faced all the trying circumstances that we face. He understands our struggles. He stands with us in our struggles. He will empower us to overcome our struggles.
In the Struggle with Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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