JOY to the world...
... something we need now more than ever!
I will give you a joy which no one can take from you.
It’s the greatest story ever told...
It was the most amazing comeback ever...
In the days before His death, Jesus tried to prepare the Apostles for what was to come. He carefully and gently told them that they would see days of great sadness and that a time was coming when He wouldn’t be with them.
But, He assured them, I will give you a joy which no one can take from you.
Still, they just didn’t understand. How could they? After all, they’d experienced wondrous things from the time that they began following Him. They had seen miracles. They had heard Him preach inspiring and promising sermons. They’d learned so much from the great Teacher. Plus, they’d finally realized he was the Messiah, the one all of Israel had been waiting for generations to come and rescue them.
Now that He had come, surely nothing would take Him away from them.
But something did.
One of their own betrayed Him for a bag of silver.
Temple guards came and arrested him, even though he’d committed no crime.
His own people, the Jews, demanded he be crucified.
He suffered a horrible, painful death yet he was a man who had committed no sin.
This was the most appalling miscarriage of justice and it stole their Lord right out from under them.
Can you imagine how bereft they were?
Can you imagine how utterly hopeless those days after the death of Jesus must have been?
And yet, Jesus had said: Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
And it did!
After all, this is the most amazing story ever! A great big giant revival that even the closest characters on the scene never saw coming.
He rose from the dead! Jesus Christ defeated death and returned to them!
The one overwhelming, unfailing, unequivocal emotion of the triumph of Easter is joy. But not just any joy.
The ultimate joy.
Joy that no one can take away.
Because this joy came as the result of a choice, of many choices the followers of Christ had and would make.
They chose to follow Him.
They chose to believe He was the Messiah.
They chose to see Him when he appeared to them risen from the dead.
They chose Him.
And choosing Him brings us the greatest and most lasting joy. And that joy in return is a form of thanksgiving to God the Father. Because joy from the soul spreads to others, showing them the Lord we follow, giving testimony to the promise of forgiveness He offers, and expressing our unfailing hope that He will give us life everlasting.
He paid the price for us.
He defeated death.
And by defeating death He offers us everlasting life.
He is risen!
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NOTE: This is a post I originally wrote years ago when writing an Easter-Season devotional with one of my best friends. A lot has changed since I penned these words, but when Jesus gives us a message, it is TIMELESS. I sometimes struggle to remember JOY, but our God can turn anything—sadness, despair, hurt—into something good. Today, now, I’m looking up and seeking that joy He promises and praying that my heart can turn to that in times that anger, hurt, and bitterness try to leach in.
Blessings,
Olivia