Joy Nugget #9: A Clue to God's Purposes in Emotions

Feeling a bit schitzophrenic? First I tell you to rejoice, and then tell you to mourn?

Today I want to zero in on one passage that sheds great light on this quandary:

In Luke 7:31-33, Jesus rebukes the people:
"To what should I compare the people of this generation?... 'We played the flute for you (sound of rejoicing), and you did not dance; we sang a dirge (song of mourning), and you did not weep' For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, "He has a demon!" The Son of Man came eating and drinking; and you say, "Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard..."

What is He talking about here? John the Baptist's ministry was one of rebuke and calling the people to confess their sins (a ministry of mourning over sin). Yet the people did not regard him nor grieve their unrighteousness. Jesus came as the promised Messiah to bring grace and hope to sinners (a ministry of hope and joy). Yet the people criticized His rejoicing.

The problem was not that they didn't rejoice, or they didn't mourn, but they didn't do either. He rebukes them for feeling nothing...For having NO appropriate emotional responses. Not feeling grief over sin, nor joy over the arrival of the King!