Over the centuries, folks have been tempted to think that, since Jesus was divine, he was above—beyond—without human feelings, that he could not be troubled or tempted or angry or tired or sad or delighted or any of the other things we know as part of life on a daily basis. As we acknowledge in the Nicene Creed week by week, however, Christians believe that Jesus was both fully human and a fully divine, that he experienced all the highs and lows of life that we all do.

In our gospel today, we hear Jesus say, “Now my soul is troubled.” That means, when we are troubled for whatever reason, we have a compassionate companion who knows just how we feel to be with us through the fear, anxiety, despair that we may experience. Jesus knew what it was to be troubled by his family. Remember, for example, when “he went home, and the crowd came together again, so they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ ” (Mk.3:20-21) Jesus also knew trouble in his community. Turn in our Bible to Luke 4:16-30 to be reminded of what happened when he returned to; his home town of Nazareth. When he read the scripture in the synagogue and commented on it, “all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” (Lk.4:28-29) and there’s the sadness the rejection he experienced in the capital of his country: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing!” (Mt.23:37)

Over and over Jesus faced the same kinds of troubling situations that show up in our lives. How did he handle them? Did he try to hide, run away, escape? No, he walked through the troubling situations to find peace on the other side. In today’s gospel, he see the purpose in the troubling of his soul and trusts God to bring good out of it. Elsewhere we remember he prays, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk.23:34) Trusting God and forgiving others, as Jesus demonstrates, is the way to find peace beyond our troubling situations no matter what they may be, no matter how intense, no matter how overwhelming.