Sorrow, Grief and Joy

One of the most difficult concepts to understand in the Christian faith is that Jesus was simultaneously fully God and fully man. In understanding His humanity, we may look at how He experienced the broad range of human emotions. Two of the most important emotions He experienced were sorrow and grief.

The prophet Isaiah described the coming Messiah as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). The sorrow and grief He experienced were the not consequences of His actions but of ours. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried” (Isaiah 53:4). Indeed, “Yehovah was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief…as a guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10).

The apostle Paul states that we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (Romans 3:24-25). Jesus suffered and died to make propitiation for us – to pay the penalty for OUR sins – He was sinless. The resurrection of Jesus, in part, indicated that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice.

Hebrews 2:17 explains why Jesus had to become fully human, “he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus’ actions were a demonstration of God’s love for us, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

The Bible records three times that Jesus wept as an expression of His experiencing sorrow. Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35). He also wept over His rejection by the Jewish people (Luke 19:41-42). Finally, He wept in anticipation of the grief He would experience in His crucifixion (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Jesus ultimately experienced joy in each of these instances. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43-44). He willing died for us “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). He knew that because of His death and resurrection that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26). God is “not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) so Jesus died “for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

God wants us to feel sorrow and grief over our sins so we will turn to Him and be saved, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). “For if He (Yehovah) causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness” (Lamentations 3:32).

Jesus sorrow and grief paid for our sins. The sorrow and grief we feel over sin lead us to the “joy of salvation” (Psalm 51:12), that is “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8)