When Jesus had a bad day

Ever had a bad day? You know – when nothing works out the way it’s supposed to?

When you oversleep despite the 5 alarms that you had set the previous night?

Or when traffic is worse than usual?

Or you wake up with a pimple on your nose?

Or you spill coffee on your favourite dress?

Or maybe all of them together.

Or maybe a day worse than that. Ever had one of those?

When you’ve failed an exam,

or you’ve been fired,

or you just got the medical test results saying you’re terminal,

or maybe you hear a loved one has died.

Bad days are not uncommon.

We’ve all had them. Maybe you’re struggling through one right now, as you read this.

And we’ve all just given up on those days. We’ve waited to collapse on our beds and for the day to end.

And if someone came up to us on one of those days, we know we have snapped at them without any provocation.

Ever thought about how to deal with bad days? You know – apart from wanting to jump into a tub of ice cream and passing out?

What should we be doing on our bad days?

Just like anything else in life, our model should be Jesus.

Here’s a story that many of us are familiar with – 

“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Matthew 14:13-14

Jesus had compassion and began to heal the sick.

He then realised there were around 15,000 men, women, and children gathered there, and they were getting hungry.

So He took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and miraculously multiplied them to feed the entire crowd.

He had compassion.

He healed the sick.

He fed 15,000 people.

He did what He had come to do, on His bad day.

Well, how do we know He was having a bad day?

Because the verse starts with “when Jesus heard what had happened…”

And what had Jesus heard?

That his cousin, and his friend, John, had been beheaded by a cruel and vicious ruler.

(Sidenote : If you’re wondering why John the Baptist had been decapitated, it was because he too was doing what he had come to do.)

When he heard the news, Jesus decided that He was going to go to a quiet place, to be alone…

…but not really.

Jesus went to pray. He went to be with His Father.

But then people found out where He was, and they came to Him.

And He did not snap at them.

He did the opposite.

He was filled with compassion for them.

His reaction wasn’t one of ‘oh-these-people-are-annoying-let-me-just-heal-them-and-send-them-on-their-way’ .

Instead, he felt actual compassion that caused Him to heal, and feed them.

Even on His worst days, Jesus thought about the people around Him.

And He served. He did what He was supposed to do.

What should we do on our worst days?

We should do what Jesus did.

Move to a quiet place. Meet our loving Father in our pain. Cry to Him.

And then get up and serve.

Because a time is coming when bad days will cease.

And joy will come in the morning.