Feel It! [Part 2]

To drive positive change in our parishes that serve Jesus and his mission to make disciples, we must feel it.

Feel it includes our emotions, but it is more than our emotions. It is a deep conviction within us that we cannot accept the status quo. It is an understanding that we can always do more for the Lord. There are more opportunities to seize and problems to solve. Without the aid of our emotions and convictions, we will give up on the work of parish renewal or not have the heart to battle the opposition that inevitably comes our way. Healthy feelings and emotions properly ordered are essential to a good life and for us to fulfill the call God has put on our lives.

We are not the victims of our feelings and convictions. We can choose what feelings and convictions we cultivate. Dallas Willard writes in Renovation of the Heart, “When we properly cultivate with divine assistance those few feelings that should be permanent in our lives, the remainder will fall into place.”

So how do we choose to feel it and cultivate a conviction in ourselves and in our community? Let me offer three ways. The first I will share in this post and the other two in subsequent posts.

One, look to Jesus and what he felt. As in all things, we turn to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith for how to use emotions and cultivate the conviction we need to lead our parishes. We see in Jesus a passion and desire to bring God’s love to the world, to change the world. He cultivated and directed his emotions to throughout his ministry.

The Gospel of John tells us about Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. But before Jesus does so we’re told that Jesus wept. He knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead and yet he entered into the full depth of the human experience of loss and grief. He allowed himself to feel the pain of sin and death. Only after he entered into the grief did he say, “Lazarus, come out!”

We too must allow ourselves to feel the ravages of sin and death. Without Jesus, sin and death have the last word. Without Jesus, people are without hope. People need Jesus. They need to know the only One who can conquer our greatest enemies. Allowing ourselves to feel those moments can motivate us in our efforts of evangelization.

Jesus also allowed himself to feel compassion for people. In the Gospel of Matthew, we are told, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36) He then turned to the apostles and instructed them to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send workers for the vineyard.

On more than one occasion, Jesus feels compassion, but this one is of special note. He doesn’t do anything or heal anyone. Instead, he uses the feeling to tell the apostles to pray for more workers for the harvest. It’s a reminder that as leaders in the Church our role is not always to do the work of ministry, but to use our compassion to call others into the work and the life of the Church.

The third chapter of Mark’s Gospel gives us the story of Jesus healing a man with a withered hand. Jesus goes into a synagogue on the sabbath. The Pharisees watch him closely to see if he will heal the man or not. Jesus calls the man over to himself and then asks the Pharisees if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. They remain silent because they are jealous of Jesus and want to destroy him. Mark tells us:

“And Jesus looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored.” (Mark 3:5)

Jesus gets angry at the hardness of heart of the Pharisees and religious leaders. He shows us that it is not wrong to be angry when religious people get in the way of bringing healing and hope to our broken world. In fact, we imitate our Savior when we get angry when Church people become obstacles of God’s grace and love. Righteous anger can be a sign we are more like Christ in our character. At the same time, Jesus didn’t allow his anger to prevent him from doing good. He didn’t waste energy trying to convince the critics that they should agree with him and that he was really a good guy. Instead, he just went ahead and healed the man. Its okay to get angry, but don’t stop that from doing the good you know you need to do.
Notice in all these cases Jesus sees a problem as well as the solution. Then he allows himself to feel the emotion of the situation. He enters into it. Then he either does something about it or he instructs others on how they should act. It is the same pattern we looked at in the last post: SEE- FEEL- CHANGE.

There are many other passages in the Gospel that show the connection between Jesus’ emotions and actions. The next time you read or hear a Gospel passage pay attention to that connection. Ask God to help you feel as Jesus felt so you can do as Jesus did.

Rooting for you,
Tom