The Emotional Jesus

By Richard Hostetler

Mastering the Difficult Emotions of Life

We think of Jesus as the all-powerful God of creation, the essence and glory of His Father, and the heir of all things. This book invites you to take an in-depth look at Jesus as Immanuel. The One who walked and breathed in a human body and experienced the ebb and flow of difficult emotions. In this writing you will see a portrait of Jesus conveying what it looks like for God to live as a man. That is exactly what He did. He left His Godly attributes in Heaven and came to earth to live in human flesh. Have you ever rehearsed the stories you have known about Jesus from the Bible and then wondered, "What would He do if He was in my shoes?"

Come along with me as we probe into scripture in order to discover how Jesus handled the emotionally charged events of life. You may be surprised at what you discover. Life was emotional and challenging for Jesus just as it can be for you and I today. This is a comprehensive look at how Jesus walked in human shoes. What would it be like Jesus to do and how would He respond if He felt completely and totally hopeless, especially when life didn't turn out the way it was supposed to? Was He ever so disgusted that it made Him sick to His stomach? What if He was overcome by sadness or overwhelmed by shame? What would He have done then? Join me as we discover how He reacted, responded and stayed true to His heart while facing the difficulties of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098310561

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Copyright © 2020 by Richard Hostetler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photo copying, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews in certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed Attention Permissions at: [e-mail]

Pastor Richard Hostetler

4430 N. Sheldon Rd

Churubusco, IN 46723

www.thrivinglife.org

Print ISBN: 978-1-09831-055-4

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09831-056-1

Printed in the United States of America on SFI Certified paper

First Edition

Cover designed by: Marek Kizer

Facial Expression Illustrations by: M. K. Liby & Richard Hostetler

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted: Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.

A Corporation Not for Profit

All rights reserved

Table of Contents

ABOUT THE PICTURE ON THE COVER

DEDICATION

TESTIMONIALS FOR THE EMOTIONAL JESUS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER ONE - THE REASON FOR AND THE REVELATION OF THIS BOOK

CHAPTER TWO - THE COLOR WHEEL OF EMOTION

CHAPTER THREE - THROUGH THE EYES OF HUMANITY

CHAPTER FOUR - SADNESS

CHAPTER FIVE - SHAME

CHAPTER SIX - ANGER

CHAPTER SEVEN - DISGUST

CHAPTER EIGHT - FEAR

CHAPTER NINE - HOPELESS DESPAIR

CHAPTER TEN - FINDING OUR WAY BACK TO JOY

AFTERWORD

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE PICTURE

ON THE COVER

I want to give David Bowman credit for the portrayal of Christ on the book cover. I contacted David and asked if I could use one of the drawings from his Expressions of Christ series for the cover of my book. The drawing I was interested in using was entitled My Child. He was very gracious and did grant permission. He also made a suggestion that I could have the face of a loved one photoshopped in place of the child in his portrait drawing. That was great news, because I had taken a picture years ago that was the perfect illustration of tenderness and joy that I wanted to exhibit on the cover of THE EMOTIONAL JESUS.

On David’s website he talks about how he sees Jesus. He says, I don’t see Jesus as a one-dimensional person, with only one, stoic look. I see Him as approachable, engaged and lovingly interacting with those around Him in a variety of ways. Hopefully these depictions can be a visual reminder of His love." The portrait of Jesus holding a young girl was exactly what I was looking for.

See David Bowman’s work at: www.davidbowmanart.com

I also want to give high praise to Robert Cohen who created the photoshop version of the picture you see on the book cover. Robert worked with me using David Bowman’s portrait and my photo to create the finished product. I highly recommend his work, and you can contact him at:

www.rcmediaservices.net/my-child-david-bowman

DEDICATION

I am grateful to Dr. Timothy Warner who was present when I first shared the concept of THE EMOTIONAL JESUS in a devotional presentation. He encouraged me to develop and write about this refreshing portrayal of Jesus. This book is the result of his encouragement and challenge.

I also want to dedicate this book to my mother Ellen, who provided me with a rock-solid foundation of belonging and an awareness of the importance of family, both of which have continued with me to this day. My mom was the glue that held our family together and the unwavering example of love and acceptance that helped give me the capacity to do what I do today.

TESTIMONIALS FOR

THE EMOTIONAL JESUS

What always impacts me, whether Dick is speaking, teaching or writing, are his wonderful stories. These stories in THE EMOTIONAL JESUS are so touching you just don’t want them to end. Every one of those life-changing outcomes is embedded in my heart and soul. You can see, hear, touch and feel God’s fingerprint on each situation. I have also embraced the new idea that Jesus is as emotional as I am. You grasp how big God is, as He weaves His thread of teaching all throughout this book as it points to yet another new level of understanding our Triune God.

Shirley Faith Souder

Christian & Clinical Counselor

LCSW/LMFT

THE EMOTIONAL JESUS is not a book you would happen across just any day. It was born out of raw human life and suffering, yet finding in the middle of that suffering the Presence of One who joins us in a profoundly personal way. What stood out to me most in reading this book was the extent to which Jesus emptied Himself of His Godly powers and became fully human. This Jesus is approachable by us as humans in our everyday untidy lives. Knowing how much He struggled in His humanity takes away the sense of a distant, unreachable God and brings Him nearer than I dared to hope He would come. Identifying with us and not being ashamed to call us family sets Him apart as a model of humility that brings my heart low in worship. Dick’s extensive study of and experience with this emotional Jesus are evidenced in his life as he joins his brothers and sisters in all kinds of joy and pain and is not ashamed to be counted with the weak or the strong. This book will challenge your beliefs and fill you with adoration.

Laura Rohrer

THRIVE Principles Leader

In THE EMOTIONAL JESUS, the One who was wounded for us comes forth, not as a super-human figure, but as a true human, with all the sensitivities and feelings that we experience. Jesus is more personal when we allow Him to be what He is, a man full of passions and angst. He is torn with sorrow, fear and anger. He also thrills with compassion, joy and peace. He experiences the complete gamut of passions and perceptions. 

Dick draws out the emotional Jesus from the Biblical narratives and from personal experiences. His writing style encourages one to pull up a chair and stay for a while. Your heart will warm at his stories and your head will tune in to his insights.

Eli Troyer

Church Leader, Teacher, Father and Grandfather

I’ve known Dick for more than 25 years, beginning when he was a pastor at my church and later as a teacher and storyteller, as director of Thriving Life Ministries (where I am now a board member), as a prayer minister, and as a friend. I’ve been privileged to sit in on dozens of Dick’s ministry sessions and have been deeply touched by his love and genuine care for the people who come to him seeking emotional and spiritual healing. I’ve seen Dick weep with clients, sharing in their emotional pain, helping them feel heard for the first time ever, and then leading them to the great Healer. I tend to be skeptical of people, so I have watched closely; and Dick is the real deal. I was honored to be able to help edit this book and to personally grapple with some of the topics he shares here as we worked through the chapters. I believe you will be blessed and encouraged and challenged as you read and absorb what Dick has written.

Cindy Stuckey

Social Worker

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

God has used three men and their ministries to greatly influence my life.¹ Through Dr. Karl Lehman, Dr. Ed Smith and Dr. Jim Wilder, I have learned valuable truths and practical skills for ministering to traumatized people. Each man was transparent in sharing life stories about how God had used difficulties and pain to teach him things he couldn’t have learned any other way. I’ve learned much from their stories, which sometimes exposed weaknesses and disappointments but also revealed God’s redemption through it all. I appreciate how these men have been painfully honest and real, even to share the realities of how ministry impacted their lives. As the Lord shaped my life and ministry, He’s helped me incorporate attributes from each of these men into my own personality, to create my own unique style of relating to others. Receiving from these men has been a huge asset to me in ministry as well as in marriage and in life.

---

1 Dr. Karl Lehman M.D., Developer & Founder of Immanuel Approach Ministry; Dr. Ed M. Smith, Developer of Theophostic Ministry; and Dr. Jim Wilder Ph.D., author of The Life Model: Living from the Heart Jesus gave You, Revised Edition (2000) by Friesen, Wilder, Bierling, Koepcke, Poole.

CHAPTER ONE

THE REASON FOR AND THE REVELATION OF THIS BOOK

Life’s journey takes each of us through a wide range of experiences, from the spring of birth and growth to the dark winter of death and separation. A single lifetime contains seasons of great joy and energy contrasted with times of despair. How we respond to these fluctuating emotions makes our life journey as unique as our own set of fingerprints.

Where’s God in the changing seasons of our lives? More importantly to most of us, where is God and what is He doing when we are overwhelmed and struggling with unmanageable emotions? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why does He allow the innocent to suffer injustice? Isn’t God our deliverer? Isn’t He supposed to be our protector? Doesn’t He care? Doesn’t scripture say He is a Father to the fatherless and a defender of those who are weak?

If you’re asking these kinds of questions or if you’ve felt abandoned and alone, you are in good company. Men and women of the Bible such as Elisha, King David, Job and the Apostle Paul also struggled and questioned. And in the last season of His life Jesus cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (See Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34 and Ps. 22:1.)

Sometimes hardship and crises in life are just way too much to handle. How then will we make it through? How will we survive? Sometimes all we can do is agree with Paul when he said, …we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; (2 Cor. 1:8b-9).² I admit that verse is not very comforting to me when I am in depths of great despair and hopelessness. But it is true; we are likely to face things or seasons in this life that are more than we can handle. Nowhere in scripture did the Lord ever promise that His children would be unaffected by the evil of a fallen world. But He did assure us that He’d always be with us no matter what we experience.

This book emerged out of my struggles over the past six years, questioning who God is and where He is in the difficulties and chaos that my clients were describing to me. They continually asked me questions that I was sure only God could answer. I wanted to help them, but in many cases I couldn’t.

As I desperately sought God’s help in ministering to these traumatized people, I began to get fascinating glimpses into the man Jesus. This was not an easy journey. The Lord took me to some horrendous, extremely disturbing places as I listened to my clients report their life stories. Imagine listening to someone describe in detail a childhood memory of how they were forced to kill another child and then blamed for that slaughter, or how they were buried alive because they didn’t obey properly! No wonder their lives were so tangled and confused. There were many times I had no idea what I was supposed to do and I wanted to run away. I was well aware they would run away, too, if they could. Eventually I came to realize the Lord was never afraid to walk with me and with my clients in this painful journey. But I’m getting ahead of the story.

I have a prayer ministry to emotionally wounded people who desperately need the healing touch of Jesus. For years clients would tell me they were emotionally stuck and no one understood. I would pray with them and encourage them to believe Jesus could make a difference where no one else could. After all, I would share, isn’t He the one Isaiah described as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and Prince of Peace? As is common in prayer ministry sessions, I would invite Jesus into their pain, to be their counselor, to bring His peace. I would encourage the hurting person in front of me to just receive His living presence with them in their painful memories.³

But the all too common responses were, Jesus didn’t have to go through what I’ve had to go through…He didn’t ever have someone sexually abuse Him…He didn’t have a daddy who was drunk all the time…Jesus didn’t stop what happened to me, so I know He doesn’t care. If He did, He would have protected me. And then a client would often conclude, I’m defective and Jesus would never want to be with me or to care about me.

I found myself time and time again in ministry situations that seemed hopeless, in which I had no idea how to proceed. Even when a client allowed me to ask Jesus for help in the session,