Dealing with the Stress (Tenth Sunday after Pentecost)

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Every once in a while, the Gospel writers give us some insight into Jesus’ feelings and emotions.  There were occasions when Jesus rejoiced, and clearly he was happy.  There were times when Jesus got angry.  And Jesus was upset as he wept at the tomb of his friend.

But in today’s Gospel reading, for the first and only time in any of the Gospels, Jesus himself says that he, like many of us, is stressed out!  Jesus says that he has an important mission to accomplish, and he remarks, “what stress I am under until it is completed!”  And the word “stress” is really a good translation for the Greek word that Luke uses to describe what Jesus says – it’s a word that means emotional pressure and which may also have physical implications as well.

Now if your health plan administrators are anything like mine, you’re constantly being warned about the dangers of too much stress.  You’re encouraged to avoid whatever stress you can.  And you’re reminded that stress can be bad for you emotionally; it can distract you from important work you need to do; and it can have physiological effects on your health as well.

Portico, the benefits administrator for ELCA church employees, constantly reminds me of these things, and they tell me that I need to keep my stress down and under control.  In fact, they remind me of this so often, it’s become one of the things that stresses me out!

But Jesus has good reason to be stressed out!  He knows that his mission will be painful.  In fact, it will result in his death.  He knows it will cause division and stress for others, too.  That’s really the point of his warning in today’s Gospel reading.  And frequently, the very people Jesus loves and tries to help just don’t get it.  Some of them will even turn on him.

I don’t think Jesus enjoyed this stress.  I don’t think the point of Jesus’ mission was primarily to inflict stress on others.  And I don’t think Jesus is recommending stress to his followers as a great and glorious thing.

But I do think that Jesus lifts up his own stress here for a couple of reasons.  First, in a way, it’s good to know that Jesus understands our stress.  It’s one thing to know that Jesus can be happy like us and sad like us and even angry like us.  But Jesus was stressed, too.  And in his humanity, Jesus assumed the entire human condition, including knowing what we’re going through when we’re stressed out.

But even more than that, Jesus also shows us how he managed his stress.  And while Luke doesn’t directly say, “this is how Jesus dealt with stress”, he does show us what Jesus did after saying he was stressed.  Luke never says that Jesus’ stress went away, but Luke does show us that Jesus dealt with the stress by:

• Accepting that a certain amount of stress was worth it – some stress in our lives we bring upon ourselves, but some just comes with the territory; Jesus knew that he couldn’t accomplish the mission he had from God without incurring a lot of stress, but he accepted that because the mission of saving people and making God’s love a living reality in their lives was worth it…

• Moving forward and getting on with the work God gave him to do – Jesus didn’t wait for a less stressful time, or sit around complaining about the stress; he stayed focused on what he needed to do – he kept on teaching and healing and helping others – he involved himself in what he needed to do each day…

• Doing his work in the company of others – Jesus could have worked alone and been a solitary preacher.  Some others did.  But Jesus didn’t.  He did all of his work in the company of those disciples he called “friends”.  And even though his friends often didn’t understand what was going on, his friends were the community which helped him to handle the stress…

Stress is always a difficult thing to deal with. And too much stress is a problem.  And so dealing with stress in healthy ways is important.  And while Jesus never says this is easy, I think Jesus’ example can be helpful for us. 

And that’s because, for us, too, it’s important to:

• Realize that a certain amount of stress comes with the territory for anything that’s worthwhile in our lives – much of Jesus’ stress came about because he loved and cared for people who were in pain and in need.  And that’s true in my life, and probably in yours, too.  Because we care about and love other people, and want to help them, it’s often the case that we can’t help being involved in the stress of their problems and concerns.  And the stress is actually a reminder that we have others who we care for and love in our lives … I have never liked that bumper sticker that says, “Too blessed to be stressed!” After all, Jesus was stressed, and he was the source of blessing!  And often, the only way not be stressed is to remove yourself from the lives of others. But the very fact that we have others in our lives who matter is a reminder of God’s daily blessing.  It can be a reminder that we’re God’s instruments of blessing in the lives of others. And those blessings remind us that some of our stress is worth it…

• Invest ourselves in the work God gives us to do each day – often, I find that the worst thing I can do when I’m stressed is to sit around and stew about it.  But sometimes, simply investing myself in even the routine work that I know is important to daily life can be helpful.  That’s what Jesus did as well, and while it doesn’t stop the stress, it can channel the energy into the productive things that God wants and needs us to do right now…

• Be in the company of others, and not try to deal with stress by ourselves – during the months of Covid, lots of people began to realize this in ways we never did before.  Many of us had perfectly nice places to live, plenty of food to eat, and the ability to do our jobs from home.  But the isolation from other people often meant that even routine things that would have been easy to deal with when we were together got harder.  We often didn’t have people around just to talk about what we were dealing with.  And events that wouldn’t have been so stressful when we were together became more difficult to manage when we were alone.  Stress is just harder to deal with when you’re alone, and Jesus always called people into community partly because he knew being disciples, which was always going to be stressful, would be easier to manage when disciples weren’t going it alone …

Jesus probably didn’t enjoy stress anymore than you and me.  And Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel reading aren’t meant to encourage us to add more stress to our lives.

But Jesus does show us that he understands and feels what we’re dealing with each day, even and especially when we’re stressed out.  Jesus knows that there is no magic solution to make all the stress go away. But Jesus doesn’t want the stress to overwhelm us, either.

And although Jesus’ words today seem pretty harsh, they’re reminders that God is actively at work in us and giving us the mission of making his love and presence known in the world around us – a mission that’s often stressful for us, too.

Yet Jesus’ words and actions also call us to remember that some of the stress we endure is worth it, because it means we’re active agents of God’s love in the lives of others.  Jesus’ words and actions call us to invest ourselves in the daily tasks that God calls us to, instead of simply letting the stress fester.  And Jesus’ words and actions call us to be people who stick together and work together, so that through the community Jesus gives us, we never have to deal with the stress by ourselves.

Amen.