Joy to the World!

Jesus told his friends that his aim was that they should be filled with joy, but not just any kind of joy: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” According to Jesus, the problem with people is not that we are too happy for God, but that we are not happy enough. Lewis Smedes puts it this way: “To miss out on joy is to miss out on the reason for your existence.”
Jesus is the joy-bringer. We see that in the announcement on the first Christmas. We read it through the pages of Scripture. Wherever Jesus went he seemed to bring a renewed sense of joy. He gave joy to those who were fearful when he said, “Fear not, for I am with you.” He gave joy to those weighed down by guilt. He gave joy to those who were self-centered by redirecting their focus outward. Jesus is the joy-bringer.
At the end of the Gospel of Luke, we have a story of two disciples of Jesus coming from Emmaus. They were on their way home from Jerusalem after Jesus was crucified, and they were dragging along as if they’d lost their best friend. Suddenly Jesus appears and walks with them. They don’t recognize him. But he asks them, “Why are you so sad?” They reply, “You mean you were in Jerusalem and you have to ask? We thought Jesus was going to be the Savior of the world, and today he is dead.”
Jesus begins to remind them of all the scriptures that speak of the Messiah. He tells them how the Messiah must suffer and die. When the disciples reached their home, they beg Jesus to come in and have dinner with them. As the blessing is being asked over the meal, they suddenly realize who he is and he disappears from their eyes.
They were so thrilled that they can’t contain their excitement. It was dark and the roads dangerous, but that didn’t matter. They rush back to Jerusalem and tell their friends they had seen the risen Christ. They could not forget how they felt. “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he spoke,” they said. And the gospel says, “They returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”
The Jesus story starts with a joyful birth and it ends with a joyful resurrection. It is slammed packed full of joy. We can experience the joy of this message when we commit our lives to Jesus, the joy-bringer and start viewing life from this perspective.