Jesus is Depressed

September 26, 2011

Today’s sermon continued along our series of preaching through the Psalms mentioned in the Gospels. You can listen at the bottom of this post, or on iTunes.

Psalm 42:6,11 “My God, My whole being is depressed. That’s why I remember you from the land of Jordan and Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed? Why are you so upset inside? Hope in God! Because I will again give him thanks, my saving presence and my God.

Matthew 26:38 “Then he said to them, “I’m very sad. It’s as if I’m dying. Stay here and keep alert with me.”

Jesus is getting closer to his death, and he knows it. So after Jesus shares a meal with his disciples he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

This is a picture of the Garden of Gethsemane. It is an olive tree garden with trees thousands of years old. However, none date to the time of Jesus because in 70AD when the Romans destroyed the temple they also destroyed all the trees in the Garden.

The garden is located at the foot of the mount of olives and it is a place where according to 2 Samuel 15 David went and spent time in prayer and crying when his friends

If Jesus had a favorite place to be it was the Mount of Olives and this garden. It is recored he was there at least 8 times in his life but Luke 22:39 says “Jesus made his way to the Mount of Olives, as was his custom.”

This Garden and the whole 2 miles area of the Mount of Olives was a place of refuge and safety for Jesus. It is where he goes when he is depressed and needs comforting.

It is here that Jesus goes on his last night so that he can be near God one more time

Jesus needs to go one more time before he ends up separated due to the weight of our sin.

While Jesus is here he tells his disciples that he is depressed and feels like he is dying.

Jesus is depressed? Jesus feels so sad that his mind goes to death?

This is a dark place to be. To feel so depressed he feels like dying. That is a very dark place to be and yet that is where Jesus is.

- Jesus knows his friends are about to leave him and one of them will betray him and there is nothing he can do about it. It will happen whether he wants it or not. He even asks God to take it from him.

In this statement of Jesus’ depression he is alluding to a scripture in Psalm 42:6

When Jesus quotes this he is hinting at something bigger, something deeper, and something so powerful it must come from God.

First, David probably wrote this during a time when he felt as if God were not near. David is thirsting for God, like a dear thirsting for water. David’s soul needs nourishment from God. David writes in verse 2 that his only nourishment have been his tears….

In verse 6 David writes that he is so depressed.

- Hebrew for Depressed is Shakhah

- Means low, bowed down, oppressed, forcibly humbled. Extremely sad.

- Only occurs in Bible 21 times. Always in Old Testament and always in the context of someone else doing this to a person.

- By their actions or inactions, someone else is forcing you to be Shakhah.

Shakhah is:

When your friends have stabbed you in the back, again.
When your boss passes you over for that promotion
When you credit card company raises your interest “because of the economy”
When your spouse forgets your anniversary
When you parents forget your birthday or your kid’s forget to call on sunday.
When other people’s actions hurt you.

Goes beyond feelings and actually destroys part of your soul

In the midst of this feeling of depression it is telling how David reacts.

David does not:

Dwell on the hurt
Blame people
Blame himself
Wallow in self-pity

David Does:

Remember God and what God has done for him.

David remembers the Jordan

- Here is a picture of the Jordan River

- 2 Samuel 17:15-22 Ahithophel planned to kill David and tried to get Jonathan and Ahimaaz (David’s best friends) They hid in a well and the woman who owned the well covered the well and made it look like a feeding trough. Then the friends warned David and David fled across the Jordan with his whole Army. So David is remembering that God protected him, warned him, and he is now safe on the other side of the Jordan.

- David is remembering that in the midst of danger God is with him.

Next, David remembers the events on the mount of Hermon

- Picture of Mount Hermon

- Tall mountain, now it is the only ski resort in Israel.

- Part of Golan Heights area

- Feeds Jordan River

- Psalm 133:3 – The dew of Hermon is good

- In other parts it is called Mount Zion, Sion.

- City of Phillippi is at the base of the mount

- Book of Philippians

- Possibly the site where Jesus was transfigured.

- Legend says this is the place where heaven and earth touch. That is is the place where God resides on earth.

- David picked upon this by calling Jerusalem Mount Zion. Solomon picked up on this when he called the Temple “Temple Zion”

- Nothing in the Bible shows that David had any event there but I think David is remembering what it is like to have God near. To feel that rush knowing you are near the divine and in a place where God is next to you. Those mountain top experiences when you know that God is with you.

Mount Mizar

- Means small hill. Physically unimpressive

- Unknown location but possibly a small hill located near Mount Hermon

- Psalm 42:6 is the only reference in the whole Bible.

- David seems to be remembering a time that is spiritually insignificant compared to Hermon. A time when there was no danger, nothing special worth mentioning but that God was still there. The normal day to day living of faith that most of us find ourselves in most of the time.

So then, Jesus is alluding to what David is saying That:

God is with you when you are afraid because people are after you.
God is with you when things are going perfectly and you have nothing to fear
God is with you when things are normal.
Sometimes you have to recall what God has done to get you through what God is doing.

Other authors in the Bible pick up on this:

- Hebrews 13:5 Don’t trust money, trust the God who will never leave you.”

Are you wondering where God is? Do you feel as though God has abandoned you? Do you feel as if you can never do enough to make God love you again?

Look at verse 11. David finishes his Psalm by saying “HOPE in God.” Hope in Hebrew means expect, wait, look for, anticipate…

When your friends have betrayed and left you. Violence follows you, hate and fear surround you, death is at your doorstop and you feel utterly alone remember that God is on your side.

God has not left you.

God has not abandoned you.

God is next to you, reminding you that God has been good to you in the past and even in this hurt God will still be good to you.

Paul picks up on this in Romans 8 when he says that all things work together for God for those who love God.

God is on the side of the sinner, the pathetic, the loser, the messed up, the incomplete, the hated, and the generally so messed up that when they walk into a room everyone else leaves, God is on their side.

This is the gospel of Good news, that no matter where you are, what you are, when you are, or who you are, when you come to a place of despair God is on your side.

This is the vision and the core of how Jesus acted. Everything he did came out of this moment. Every person he healed, everyone he touched, everything he taught was a followup to this divine prouncement that God is on the side of the weak, the hurting, and the not powerful.

Jesus declares that when we feel pathetic, cut down, that we have lost it, and we have no right to anything He is on our side.

Some of you are sitting here saying that it is simply impossible for God to be with you. You have gone to far, done to much, wandered to long, and now you are too far from God for God to be near and yet all you desperately want is for God to be near you.

Check out this story from Luke 15

- There was a young man who wished his father dead so he could have inheritance and the father gives him the money and off the son went.

- This young man wasted his life on all sorts of things. One translation says he wasted his money on “Hard Booze, Fast Cars, and Loose women”

- When the money is gone and he finds himself in the lowest place possible he comes to his senses wants nothing more than to be home. So he gets up

- And while he was still a long way from home his father was waiting for him and saw him and ran to him.

- God picked up his cloak and ran to his beloved child.

- God does the same to you. No matter what you have done, when you did it, how many times you did it, or who did it to you you are not too far gone. God runs to you. God grabs you in his arms and says I love you. You are my child, I am on your side, and I am so glad you are with me again.

So maybe you need an actual tangible reminder of this. So here is what we are going to do. I have a video to show, this video is going to play and the cross is available. I also have a couple volunteers to are going to be with me and if you need to come to the cross it is open for you and we will anoint you with oil and pray for you. We have made this the last thing in the service and so you are welcome to stay as long as you like. As things start to wind down I will give the benediction and you are free to go but you are welcome to be at the cross as long as you need.

Start Video. godran.m4v

Sermon Audio

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