This week we reflect on the impact of Jesus’ resurrection on our lives. We are driven by many deep motivations. For some of us, it is our relationships that drive us. We long to experience the love of another. Or perhaps it is the pursuit of a satisfying career where we can do what we love and at the same time make a difference in the world. Or it could be achieving success and maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.
Underlying all of these motivations is a deeper more basic hunger to be happy. Whether we seek relationships, money, or achievement, these all stem from a longing to be truly happy. Let’s take a look at a discussion Jesus had with His disciples the night before He was crucified and see if we can discover how the resurrection can help us satisfy this deep hunger.
Read John 16.16–24.
In the context of the Disciples’ confusion and dismay about Jesus’ statement that He would soon be separated from them, Jesus promises that their “joy will be complete.” This is true satisfying happiness. As human beings we go to all sorts of lengths to find even momentary fleeting experiences of happiness.
Question: What are some ways you have sought to experience happiness that failed to deliver? How have you seen others seek happiness?
Jesus offers a complete joy—happiness that cannot be taken away. It might surprise us to find that the topic of Jesus’ discussion on the night before His death is happiness and joy. There are so many important topics He might want to enforce this one last time with His disciples. Does this value of happiness really fit with how we view God?
When we think of who God is, we might think of Him as the mysterious force that controls everything, or as the judge and disciplinarian that keeps us in line, or even as a friend who walks with us throughout life. But how about a huge party host? This may not be the first thing that comes to mind. Yet that is often how God is portrayed throughout scripture.
In the beginning of the Bible we find Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God created this paradise for them where He provided for all their needs and He told them to have fun and enjoy it. Then later in the Old Testament, when God interacted with His people, Israel, He prescribed all kinds of feasts and celebrations for them. These were meant to help them remember His provision and goodness towards them.
Read Luke 15.3–10, 22–24.
In each of these parables God the Father is represented. Notice that every time, upon finding something that was lost, He throws a great celebration. Jesus saw the Father as One who throws parties. There are also several times, including in Revelation, where the Bible refers to the wedding feast that God will throw for His bride, the Church. Unlike our often stoic, no-nonsense view of God, from cover to cover the Bible portrays Him as one who loves to celebrate. Yes, He weeps at the struggle and pain, but He also rejoices in the victory.
In light of this joy-loving nature of God, it shouldn’t surprise us that we, who are made in His image, have a deep hunger for happiness, a passionate longing to experience joy. But how do we experience this complete joy that our hearts so desperately long for when we live in a world that is filled with pain?
Question: When have you celebrated when the world wouldn’t expect it?
In John 16, Jesus illustrated resurrection joy using the concept of childbirth. For those of us who are parents, and especially mothers, we don’t need much convincing that childbirth brings great pain. And even for those who aren’t, there are plenty of stories to testify to this fact. Jesus likens His resurrection to the great joy that comes after such pain. A joy that is so great that the pain is all but forgotten. Why?
1. The resurrection makes new life possible.
Jesus says that when we put our trust in Him, the penalty of our sin is paid by Him on the cross. Even more, just as the pain of childbirth gives way to the incredible joy of new life, we are made new in the resurrection of Jesus. The pain of our past is forgiven and forgotten. We become beloved children of God, and that produces great joy!
2. The resurrection promises an incredible future.
Read Ephesians 1.18.
God says that Jesus’ resurrection victory is a preview of what every Christian will someday experience. So no matter how bad today gets, you know that you have a great future ahead of you, and that ought to produce great joy in your life.
3. The resurrection guarantees our present suffering will be redeemed.
If God can take something as dark and destructive as death on a cross and turn it into something as hope-filled and life-giving as the resurrection, He can surely do the same with our suffering.
The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1.19, “I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.” Despite great hardship, Paul had confidence in his suffering because he had experienced the power of the resurrected Christ. Likewise, no matter what we are going through, God will redeem it for our good. The resurrection can break through any barrier in our lives, and that should bring us joy.
4. The resurrection prepares the way for God’s Spirit of joy to dwell within us.
Earlier in John 16, Jesus tells His disciples that it is better for them that He leaves and goes to the Father so that He can send the Holy Spirit to them. The Holy Spirit is the primary joy producing agent in a Christian’s life.
Read 1 Thessalonians 1.6.
It is the Holy Spirit who gives great joy even in the midst of severe suffering. If we put our trust in Jesus, we are promised that the joy-producing Holy Spirit will come and dwell in our lives. We can find no greater source of happiness and joy.
Question: What pain are you experiencing that His resurrection can bring to joy?
Our only guaranteed journey to joy is through putting our full trust in the resurrected Jesus. The resurrection is bigger than anything we will face.
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