Jesus and mental health: “I’m overwhelmed”
Posted by Becky Watson Lee on 12 August 2025
Are you a to-do list person? I am. There’s a special burst of joy when I tick off an item on my to-do list. I’ve even been known to put an item on my to-do list that I’ve already done, just so I can tick it off! And then, there’s the very rare moment, the utter thrill, of coming to the end of a to-do list. For me, this is very unusual, and I suspect I’m not alone. So often, as I tick off one item another task is added. And there are some days when the list just grows, seemingly uncontrollably. ‘I’m overwhelmed,’ I say.
Often, of course, I’m not. I’m just busy. And perhaps I just need to take a few breaths and work out what I should prioritise. But there have been times when I have felt genuinely overwhelmed. Like feeling stuck in a fog that you cannot see through, like being buried under a weight so heavy your chest feels tight, like being caught in the surf of a wave that keeps rushing overhead and trapping you in its current. This is not just a long to-do list.
But sometimes, as Christians, we respond to these experiences in the same way. We tell ourselves or other people that we just need to stop exaggerating and snap out of it. So we slap on a brave face. When asked at church how we’re doing, we simply say, ‘yeah, not bad, thanks’, and silently beat ourselves up for lacking joy and gratitude in our lives. Even if we mention what’s happening, we’ll say ‘but, it’s OK, God’s going to work it for good, so I’m fine!’ We worry that if we name and express what is genuinely going on in our mind and heart, it’s a sign that our faith in Jesus is not what it should be. And so we add ‘disappointing God’ and ‘being a rubbish Christian’ to the crippling weight of emotion that is overwhelming us. Continuing the pretence can lead to total denial and confusion about what it is we are even feeling. Our emotional vocabulary is stunted.
“Gethsemane is an antidote to our made-up stoic Jesus.”
Why do we do this? I think, at least in part, it’s because we seem to have fashioned for ourselves a very stoic, British, Jesus. And yet, that is not the Jesus of the Bible. Let’s remind ourselves how He speaks in the Garden of Gethsemane:
Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’
Jesus wasn’t busy with a long to-do list. He had one task, the most overwhelming task in all human history. And He didn’t put on a brave face. He didn’t quote Romans 8:28. He didn’t say, ‘yeah, I’m not bad, thanks’. Jesus named and expressed his emotions honestly and unashamedly. His emotional vocabulary is full and, most importantly, real.
God got overwhelmed. What? The omnipotent, omniscient God? Yes, God-made-man, the One who took on human frailty, got overwhelmed. Are you feeling overwhelmed right now? God gets it. Jesus has been there. And He didn’t cover it up, He named it.
“Naming what we are feeling, being honest with ourselves and with others can be the first step in moving forward.”
Gethsemane is an antidote to our made-up stoic Jesus. And it can be the antidote to our feigned stoicism too. Jesus said how He felt, truly. No minimising. And so we can say how we are feeling too. No matter how unpalatable that is for others. Naming what we are feeling, being honest with ourselves and with others can be the first step in moving forward.
You see, Jesus didn’t stay overwhelmed. He overcame. And that same power that was at work in Him is now at work in us. So take heart, if for now you are silently echoing Jesus’ words in the garden – ‘I’m overwhelmed.’ Or if you’re whispering, ‘I’m scared,’ ‘I’m angry,’ ‘I’m devastated’. Say it, name it, own it. Allow yourself to feel it. It’s OK. One day, you’ll echo Jesus’ words in shouts of praise, ‘I’ve overcome!’ (John 16:33)
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This is the second in a serious of blogs on Jesus & mental health. Read part one – “Jesus said: Get some rest.” now.
Jesus said: Get some rest