Did Jesus fight depression? After all, knowing he was going to die a horrible death sometime in the future must have weighed heavily on Jesus. The human part of Jesus would have experienced fear, anxiety, and certainly some amount of depression. So how did Jesus fight depression?
Find someone who listens without judging you. Ask for help.
And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. (Matthew 26:37)
He opened his soul to them. He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38).
He asked for their intercession and partnership in the battle. “Remain here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38).
Jesus was depressed, but he knew that God was with him. Even in the darkness of despair, where there was no light, hope kept Jesus rooted in faith with God. But knowing God was with him wasn’t enough. Jesus asked his friends to be physically present with him. Friends give comfort and offer hope when you’re depressed. It’s good to be able to vent to someone, to have someone listen unconditionally to you. Jesus knew this. He also knew that depression challenges your faith in God, so having a friend with you is the physical sign of God’s love for you.
Hope lights the way.
He poured out his heart to his Father in prayer. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39).
He rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
As Jesus descended deeper into despair, knowing death was hours away, he started bargaining with God. Take the pain away. Make the situation go away. But the situation wasn’t changing, and the pain was unbearable. In that darkness of the soul, Jesus clung to hope. Hope connects us to God. Hope is part of grace, that undefinable connection between a person and God. Jesus let hope shine its light, and he clung to hope that somehow there was a brighter future past that horrible, unbearable moment he saw coming.
He fixed his eye on the glorious future grace that awaited him on the other side of the cross. “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
Don’t give up the fight.
When something drops into your life that seems to threaten your future, remember this: The first shock waves of the bomb in your heart, like the ones Jesus felt in Gethsemane, are not sin. The real danger is yielding to them. Giving in. Putting up no spiritual fight. Lying down and saying to the darkness, “Take me away. I have no hope.” Which is a lie, because there is no person ever born who is without hope. Hope is real. It exists.
In Gethsemane Jesus shows us another way. Not painless, and not passive. Follow him. Find your trusted spiritual friends. Open your soul to them. Ask them to watch with you and pray. Pour out your soul to the Father. Rest in the sovereign wisdom of God. And fix your eyes on the joy set before you in the precious and magnificent promises of God.
What do you think? I’d like to hear from you.
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* Thanks to desiringGod.org for some of the ideas contained within this article.
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