The 20th-century Presbyterian theologian B.B. Warfield wrote an illuminating article entitled The Emotional Life of our Lord in which he examines the subject from the Gospel accounts and steers clear of the pitfalls of under or over-emphasizing this aspect of the Lord’s humanity.

 Here I would like to make two observations from the article. First is Warfield’s insight into the paradoxical relationship of the Lord’s anger, indignation, and rage with His unbounded compassion and kindness. Following the quote, “the man who cannot be angry cannot be merciful” Warfield writes,

Jesus’ anger is not merely the seamy side of his pity; it is the righteous reaction of his moral sense in the presence of evil.  But Jesus burned with anger against the wrongs he met with in his journey through human life as truly as he melted with pity at the sight of the world’s misery: and it was out of these two emotions that his actual mercy proceeded.

I find that last sentence so insightful! Mercy doesn’t proceed merely from the pity-full attributes but also gains strength and resolve from the severe reality of anger and rage.  How magnificent is God’s compassion!  What a glaring need for me to cry out in absolute need but with hope in Christ who exhibited such unfailing pity and unflinching anger.

A second consideration from this article is on the value of Christ’s emotions.  Toward the end, Warfield writes, 

He subjected Himself to the conditions of our human life that He might save us from the evil that curses human life in its sinful manifestation.  When we observe Him exhibiting the movements of his human emotions, we are gazing on the very process of our salvation: every manifestation of the truth of our Lord’s humanity is an exhibition of the reality of our redemption.

And a sentence later,

When we note the marks of humanity in Jesus Christ, we are observing His fitness to serve our needs.

Now this is not meant to encourage a “self-centered, Jesus-meets-all-my-needs” approach to the Gospel.  But it is to remind us of the totality and the freeness of redemption earned by Christ.  We grapple with sin and excess in our emotions and we feel so powerless to put to death our sinful emotions.  Well, in Christ, there is perfect harmony of all balanced emotions and He impacts us with them as He deals with us so patiently and purposefully by His Holy Spirit.  This is the way to godly Christian character!