I Feel Ya

The room was uncomfortably hot and muggy. The air was stale and had a faint odor, some kind of combination of mildew and the bleach used in an effort to clean it. The padded chairs had grown increasingly harder throughout the day and although the past 8 hours had been informative, the speaker was rather dry, his monotone droning made our eyelids heavy.

Those meetings that last all day can be dreadful. Especially in an uncomfortable environment. As my co-worker sat beside me, we found ourselves continually checking the clock on the wall, hoping the speaker would take notice and finally wrap things up. As we sat there, I whispered, "I am so ready to get out of here." My friend put his tapped his hand on his chest and replied, "I feel ya man."

I've always enjoyed reading, writing, and just words in general. The way language changes and the clever ways we communicate our thoughts and feelings can be fascinating. Of course, hopefully, no one reading this would think that my friend's comment meant that he literally reached out his hand and touched me. He was using figurative language, an idiom, to be precise, to be sympathetic. His intent was to state that he not only understood how I was feeling (that would be empathy) but to convey that he shared those same feelings.

In other words, we shared a common experience. To use another idiom, he was "walking in my shoes." He had been in the same uncomfortable room, sat in an identical padded chair, and listened to the same expressionless speaker, and he too was ready for the meeting to come to an end.

This morning, I was reminded that we have a God who sympathizes with us. A God who "feels us."

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

The God of all creation became a man. He would gather with his friends to eat, and drink, and enjoy their conversations. He would joke and laugh with the children that would run to his arms, sitting at his feet to hear his words. He would heal the sick with calloused hands from his work as a carpenter. He would cry at the news of the death of his friend Lazarus. He would feel the pressure of temptation. He would be betrayed. He would be mocked and ridiculed. He would feel the pain and agony of the cross.

The cross would be excruciating, but the road to the cross was no picnic. The perfect God, in a cursed world. Jesus would experience pain, heartache, rejection, sickness, and death. Whatever we might go through in our lives we have a Savior that "feels us."

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus not only tasted the curse of sin, but he also became cursed for us (Gal 3:13). So we not only have a God who is sympathetic, who has walked in our shoes and has experienced the brokenness of our world, but he did so intentionally so that he could be the remedy for our disease.

The gospel is this: Jesus is both our comfort and our cure.

Can you feel me?