First Baptist Church of Herndon

Emotional Overload

Linda Soller | Apr 10, 2017

As we begin the Easter week events we often feel a bit overwhelmed. Personally, I feel like it comes from the emotions we experience starting Palm Sunday and going through to Easter Sunday. There are such highs and lows as the Easter story progresses. We can relate to what Jesus and His disciples went through because we’ve all had a week or weeks that take us from highs to lows and back in a matter of minutes. Remember that good day you were having when you got word of someone’s passing and your heart sank? What about the time you were hating your job then received a nice thank you note from someone and you smiled? These are examples of changes in events which manipulate our emotions.

Jesus and His disciples must have experienced an emotional overload starting with His triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the palm waving crowds, then the tension of His reactions in the temple. What a contrast of emotions. As the week progressed they spent time together in the busy city and settled down for a meal together. The excitement, the chaos, and the calm, all tugging at Jesus and His friends and followers. There was the scary dark reality of night in the garden, followed by betrayal, more chaos, and then He was crucified. The disciples and other followers must have been stunned by the turn of events. How did this happen, when they had entered the city to cheers? Why did it happen, even though Jesus had told them what was to come? Don’t we all hear what we want at times? Finally, what seemed to be an unimaginable tragedy at the cross ended in the supreme act of hope in the resurrection. It’s a story that yanks our heads and our hearts around.

We are so blessed to have the Easter story. Jesus provides the perfect example of how you go through the highs and lows of life and manage to move in your intended direction. It may not always seem to make sense. It may not be what you had planned. It certainly can be exhausting.  Through it all He felt joy, anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, and eventually only love. He had managed to forgive even in the depth of his own despair. He has been through the full gamut of emotions. The next time you are experiencing emotional overload, remember Jesus is there going through it with you, and at the end of the week there is always hope!

Make this a great week!  Happy Easter!    :o)  Linda