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TRANS FORMAT ION
Finding hope in the midst of situations that generate emotional
distress is a key message that we find in scripture. However, we should
never dismiss or diminish the intensity of the suffering that people
experience. One example in the Bible serves as a case in point.
SITUATIONAL DEPRESSION & TRANSPARENCY
Four Greek words are used in the Greek New Testament to express
stress, sorrow, and depression:
lupeo
(sorrow),
perilypos
(overwhelming
sorrow),
ademoneo
(crushing anguish, horrified, troubled), and
eklam-
beo
(deeply distressed). All four of these words can be found in two
passages, Matthew 26:37-38 and Mark 14:33, and they are all used in
reference to Jesus.
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he
began to be sorrowful (lupeo) and troubled (ademoneo). Then he said
to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow (perilypos) to the point
of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matt. 26:37-38 NIV)
He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deep-
ly distressed (eklambeo) and horrified or troubled (ademoneo). “My
soul is overwhelmed with sorrow (perilypos) to the point of death,” he
said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” (Mark 14:33 HCSB)
We face the temptation of spiritualizing Jesus and denying his
humanity—a Gnostic heresy. He was fully human and perfect. And in
his normal perfection facing the cross, he “fell on his face and prayed,
saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; neverthe-
less, not as I will, but as you will’” (Matt. 26:39). He experienced stress
and crushing anguish in anticipation of the cross, but he also provided
the model for relief in placing absolute dependence upon the Father.
But there’s something else here. Did you miss it?
Jesus would often withdraw from the crowds to pray alone (e.g.,
Luke 5:16). But this time: “He took Peter, James, and John with him,
. . .he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch” (Mark 14:33 HCSB).
Jesus did not hide his extreme emotions from others, he took three
disciples with him; consequently, we have a record of his experience and
a demonstration of shared burdens. The transparency of Jesus (and the
prophets, Paul, and the disciples) stands in contrast to the opaqueness
we find among many people in the contemporary church, where we
fear disclosure and hide our emotional distress, failing to share and to
bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2).
References
Christenson, R. M. (2007). Parallels between depression and lament.
The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, 61
(4), 299-308.
Pratt, L. A., & Brody, D. J. (2014).
Depression in the U.S. Household
Population, 2009-2012.
NCHS Data Brief No. 172. Hyattsville,
MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Accessed at https://
www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db172.htm. 26 December,
2016.
Ian F. Jones, Ph.D., Ph.D.,
is Professor of Counseling
at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where
he is chairman of the Division of Church and Com-
munity Ministries and holds the Baptist Community
Ministries’ Chair of Pastoral Counseling. With degrees in
Christian ethics, psychology and counseling, sociology,
and religion, he has taught, counseled and done family
conferences in the U.S.A., Mexico, Costa Rica, Malay-
sia, Taiwan, Korea, and Australia. He is the author of
The Counsel of Heaven on Earth: Foundations for Biblical
Christian Counseling.