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When we think about the countenance of Jesus, we tend to think of him as calm, composed, measured, or stoic. We rarely think of him as being outwardly joyful. But Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit with a joy that was very deep and very real. Watch this sermon as we consider Jesus’ pure joy and how we too can experience that in our own lives.

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  During the season of Lent, we are exploring the emotional life of Jesus, and here's why: Given that he was the founder of a religious movement, we might think that Jesus was an unemotional, acetic type. A kind of stoic. Someone who never showed emotion because he was primarily focused on action — doing his ministry — or perhaps because he was primarily focused on doctrine — telling people the right way to think. And we might assume, therefore, that Jesus wasn't much of a feeler. But that's not at all the portrait that the Gospels provide us with Jesus. Jesus was deeply passionate. He was a person who didn't hide his emotions but rather expressed strong feeling. And that's why Jesus is not only able to identify with us but to sympathize with us, even in all of our weaknesses, because Jesus experienced everything that we do and more yet without sin, and that includes his emotions. So we're exploring the emotional life of Jesus, not only to know and better understand Jesus, but also to know and better understand how we are supposed to handle our emotions as his followers. 

  In his book “Simply Christian,” the biblical scholar N.T. Wright recounts a story that the ancient Greeks used to tell about two philosophers. One philosopher would go out his front door every morning and he would roar with laughter. The world was such a comical place, he couldn't help it. All he could do was laugh. But there was another philosopher who would go out his front door every morning and he would immediately burst into tears. The world was filled with so much tragedy and sadness, he couldn't help it. All he could do was cry. And in a way, they're both right. We often can't make sense of the world. Sometimes it seems as if we're living in a comedy; other times it might feel like we're caught in a tragedy. And so we find ourselves either laughing or crying. Sometimes we do both at the very same time. 

  But laughter and tears, if you stop and think about it, are what really sum up what it means to be a human being. And on the one hand, it's true that the Gospels never tell us that Jesus actually laughed. And there's only one place where we're told that Jesus wept. Yet everything in the Gospels points us to the natural pathos that Jesus possessed. Everything in the Gospels, all the stories that are told about Jesus, hint at both laughter and tears. Now we've already considered when Jesus experienced a moment of deep sorrow, but today I'd like us to focus on a moment when Jesus experienced deep joy. That's what Luke Chapter 10 is all about. 

  So as we turn to the Gospel of Luke, I'd like us to consider three things: 1) The nature of Jesus' joy, 2) The source of Jesus' joy, and 3) The power of Jesus' joy.

  ¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

  ²¹In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²²All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

  ²³Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

  Luke 10:17-24

  The Nature of Jesus’ Joy 

  First, let's consider the nature of Jesus' joy. What kind of joy is this? One of my favorite authors is the English writer G.K. Chesterton, who lived at the turn of the last century. He was an unusually large man with a great big sense of humor. He stood at 6’ 4” and weighed between 300 and 400 pounds. But he wasn't just a large person; he had a larger than life personality and a quick wit. He used to joke that he was the most polite person in all of England. Why? Because when he stood up, he could offer his seat to not just one but three ladies. During World War I, an elderly woman got upset with him because he wasn't fighting for his country, and so she scolded him and asked, “Why aren't you out at the front?” And he said, “Well, my dear madam, if you would just step over here, you will see that I am out at the front.” His profile looked like a giant capital letter P. He was a man with a great big sense of humor. Philip Yancy once dubbed him the prophet of mirth, and Chesterton once said himself that there's something about the modern age that is marked by a certain kind of sadness, that therefore calls for a new kind of prophet. Not like the prophets of old who would remind people that they're going to die, but rather a new kind of prophet who reminds people that you're not dead yet.

  Now, he wrote a spiritual autobiography entitled “Orthodoxy,” and I'd like you to consider how he ends that book, because it speaks to the nature of Jesus' joy. He says that stoics, both ancient and modern, are proud of concealing their tears. We might say a grown man is never supposed to cry. But not Jesus. No, Jesus showed his tears plainly on his face. And yet Chesterton suggested that there was something that Jesus concealed. He goes on to say that statesmen and diplomats are proud of restraining their anger — don't let other people know that they've gotten to you. But not Jesus. Jesus freely expressed his anger, especially when people made a mockery of God's temple. And yet Chesterton suggests that there was something that Jesus restrained. He concludes the book by saying within that shattering personality of Jesus, we find a thread of what he could only call shyness. Jesus showed so much of himself, and yet Chesterton wonders if there was one thing that Jesus hid from us, and he fancied that perhaps it was his mirth. That Jesus had to hold back on showing us his mirth, his joy, his laughter. 

  Now he might be on to something, but on the other hand, I'm not so sure, because the New Testament, it’s true, never describes a time when Jesus laughed, and this is the only place — Luke 10 — where we're told that Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. And yet at the same time, we must remember that Jesus' birth was heralded as what? Good news of great joy. His birth brought joy. When he began his public ministry, what did he do? He proclaimed the good news, the glad tidings of the Kingdom. And it's hard to imagine that Jesus would go around announcing the gospel of good news with a sad and dower look on his face. 

  Let's also remember that Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunk. Now, how do you win a reputation like that? Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunk not because he ate and drank more than he should have, but rather because he was hanging out with people who ate and drank more than they should have all the time. And it made people mad. Some people asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples fast and pray like John the Baptist’s disciples?” In other words, what's wrong with you and your followers? Why don't your disciples fast and pray? And do you know how Jesus responded? Why don't Jesus' disciples fast and pray? Because I am here, he said. Because I'm here. And that's cause for celebration, like a wedding. A wedding is not a time to fast; a wedding is a time to party. 

  So no, Jesus was marked by a deep joy. But what kind of joy was this? Some scholars over the years have suggested that this was nothing more than a naive, blissful zest for life, for just the joy of living. But no, Jesus' joy went so much deeper than that. He brings good news of great joy. What he brings is gospel joy. And you see, there was a deep, powerful, everlasting, resilient, durable, joy that marked Jesus' life, regardless of what the outward circumstances might have been. And he came to share that joy with us. In fact, he promises that if we would only ask, he would make our joy full. And so you see, if you don't have a deep undercurrent of joy in your life — despite what the outward circumstances of your life might be — well then that suggests that you don't have the gospel. And if you don't have the gospel, it will only lead to despair eventually, inevitably. 

  The Source of Jesus’ Joy

  But in order to understand that, we need to consider the source of Jesus' joy. So what exactly caused Jesus to rejoice in the Holy Spirit? Well, take a closer look at the context. Jesus had previously determined that he was going to go to Jerusalem. He set his face to go to Jerusalem even though he knew exactly what was going to happen to him when he got there. So as he's making his way to Jerusalem, he sends out 72 of his followers to go ahead of him to represent his power and his authority. And so when we pick up the story here in Luke 10, now the 72 have returned, and notice they returned with joy. Why are they so happy? Why are they so joy-filled? Because they can't believe it. They can't believe the power that they have. They say even the demons are subject to them by merely speaking the name of Jesus. But Jesus responds to all of this by saying something really weird. They respond with joy, and Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

  Now what is going on here? What is Jesus referring to? Well, we need to remember who the “Satan” is in the Bible. Unfortunately we've been far too influenced by mythological and medieval depictions of Satan based on the popular imagination rather than the Bible itself. But in the Scriptures, “the Satan” in Hebrew — especially when it is preceded by that definite article “the” — refers to literally the adversary or the accuser. That word is translated in Greek as “Diablos,” which is where we get the English word for devil. But he is the Satan, the accuser. Now this mysterious figure first shows up in the Book of Job. He appears as the chief prosecutor in the heavenly court, meaning in the presence of God and of all of his angels. 

  And so the biblical commentator F. F. Bruce has written that every court needs a prosecutor, but this prosecutor enjoys his work so much that when he can't find a suitable candidate for prosecution, he makes stuff up and accuses people of things that they didn't do. Or he might tempt people to do something wrong just so that he can have the pleasure of prosecuting them. So, the Satan is a prosecutor first and a tempter second. In the New Testament, he is described as the father of lies as well as the ruler of this world. Because he has deceived so many with his cunning, he takes delight in distorting the truth, twisting the truth, perverting the truth.  And that's why I think Baudelaire got it right when he said the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist.

  But in his great final act of rebellion against God, Satan seeks to disrupt God's plan to rescue the world. And that's why Satan bookends Jesus' public ministry. Do you realize that? See, the Satan first shows up in the desert. Jesus goes into the desert for 40 days before he begins his public ministry, and Satan tempts him to try to turn away from the mission that God has entrusted to him. So he's right there at the beginning, and then he shows up at the end, when, through Jesus' finished work on the cross, Jesus casts him out. See, in John chapter 12, when Jesus knows that the hour has finally come where he must go to the cross, how does he describe that hour? He says, “Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” So the Satan bookends Jesus' ministry. 

  But what does all this mean? With this background, let's ask the question: When the 72 return and Jesus makes this odd statement, what is it that Jesus sees and what does it mean? Well, when Jesus sent out the 72 to represent his power and his authority, Jesus received something of a vision through prayer, and it echoes some of the ancient prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures that speak of the ultimate defeat of God's ancient enemy. And so it's almost as if when Jesus sends out the 72 to go before him, he's scanning the horizon, he's waiting for something, and then he sees it. He sees Satan fall from the sky like a flash of sudden lightning. 

  But what does this mean? Well, what Jesus is suggesting here is that he wants his followers to know and to be assured of the fact that when we participate in Jesus' mission in the world, when we proclaim the good news of the Kingdom through both our words and through our actions, we are participating in the victory that began in the desert and will be completed on the cross. In other words, this is the sign that the Kingdom of God really is conquering over the kingdom of evil, even though — especially though — not everyone can see and recognize it yet. But what's even more surprising is that when the 72 return with joy, knowing that even the demons are subject to them in Jesus' name, Jesus suggests that their joy is misplaced. Did you see that? 

  Now look, this is so far beyond the experience of most of us: Satan, demons, spirits. We don't even know what to make of any of this. But just try putting yourself in their shoes for a moment. Imagine that you were to walk through those doors this morning, and to your own shock and surprise, you could set people free from the inner demons that plague them simply by speaking the name of Jesus. What would you think of that? You would think that was pretty cool. You would be astounded by that power, and that would probably fill you with a sense of elation, give you a little uplift, put a little spring in your step. But notice that Jesus says don't rejoice in that. 

  Let me personalize this for a moment. When I preach, when I teach, when I counsel people, when I tell people about Jesus, sometimes — not all the time, but sometimes — I can tell that I'm helping someone, and that makes me feel happy. But what Jesus is saying here is don't rejoice in your spiritual power or your spiritual achievements or in your spiritual accomplishments; rather rejoice in the gospel. In other words, don't rejoice in what you can do for God; rather rejoice in what he has done for you by sheer grace. Rejoice in the victory that Jesus achieves through his cross. Rejoice in the fact that your name is written in heaven. In other words, that should be the source of your true joy: knowing that Jesus has done everything that is necessary to secure a place for you, to guarantee your ultimate future. He has RSVP'd on your behalf. He's reserved a spot for you, and that's what should cause you to rejoice. 

  And let me tell you why this is so important. It's possible for us to experience a counterfeit form of joy. Think of fool's gold. Fool's gold might look like gold because it's shiny and metallic and pale yellow in color, but it's worthless. It looks like gold, but it's not. And there is such a thing as fool's joy. It looks like joy, but it's not the real thing. So what's counterfeit joy? Well, counterfeit joy is the feeling you get when you rest in your blessings rather than in the blesser. It's that feeling of uplift or elation or happiness you get when you rest in the gifts that are given to you rather than in the giver. 

  So you might feel a kind of elation, you might feel a kind of happiness when something happens to you that you think is gonna make life great. You make a new friend, you fall in love, you get into a school, you land a new job, you get a raise, you get a promotion, and you feel like a million bucks. You've got the world on a string. And you don't just feel good; you feel that you are good, right? Because this is happening to you. You're a success. You're one of the happy ones. You're one of the good ones. You're a good person. But what happens when the friendship dies, or you fall out of love, or you get rejected by the school, or you don't get the job, or you're passed over for the promotion or the raise? You don't just feel bad; you feel like you are bad. You feel like you're a bad person. And that's when the accusations come in. Do you know what I'm talking about? The accusations inside your head that say, look at you, you're a nobody. You're a zero. You're a failure. Look at everybody else. Everyone else is smarter, happier, more successful than you are, what's wrong with you? Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you heard those accusations? Have you heard those lies?

  See, that's why Jesus says that we have to rest not in our blessings but in the blesser. We have to find our rest, our identity, our value, our security not in the gifts that we have but rather in the giver. Because that's the only thing that won't change. People change, situations change, relationships change, jobs change, grades change, the stock market changes, our health changes. But God doesn't change, and the gospel doesn't change. Your name is written in heaven. That's never gonna change. And so you've got to make the gospel the source of your joy, because when you do, then you have a source of joy that is untouchable. It doesn't fluctuate or change. It's fixed. It's stable. And no one, no thing can ever take it away from you.

  The Power of Jesus’ Joy

  So you see, we need a source of joy that is untouchable. But what I want you to see here is that actually the joy that Jesus gives us is even better than that. I want you to see the power of Jesus' joy. See, not only is this joy stable, but this joy is a little bit like a diamond, because this joy grows under pressure. 

  I wonder if you've ever seen Superman III back in the ‘80s. Christopher Reeve plays the role of Superman, and he takes a piece of coal, and then he just crushes it in his hand, and then he opens up his fist and there's a diamond. Now, wouldn't that be nice? Actually it doesn't work that way. But it is true that if you place carbon deep underneath the earth's surface, and then you crank up the heat, you crank up the pressure, and you give it enough time, that carbon will turn into a diamond. And you see, that's the kind of joy that Jesus offers us. Jesus has a joy that, you crank up the heat, you crank up the pressure, and that joy grows. Now that seems so counterintuitive to us, because most people think, well, the closer you get to suffering, the closer you get to sadness, as the heat and the pressure are cranked up, we experienced less joy. But it was the opposite for Jesus. The closer he got to suffering, the closer he got to the cross, the more he exalted in joy. So the joy that he's offering is not like anything we've ever seen in this world, because the joy that he offers us grows under pressure. 

  Now, this doesn't make a lot of sense, because we assume that the opposite of joy is sorrow. And therefore we can't experience true joy unless we get rid of everything that is causing sadness or sorrow in our lives. But it actually doesn't work that way, because God gives us a joy that not only overlaps with our sorrow,but actually overwhelms it. And that's what we want. That's what we need. We need a joy that is so strong, so powerful that it not only coincides with experiences of sadness and sorrow, but eventually it will overpower the sadness and the sorrow. And you see, that is why the Bible consistently tells us that while we might be living through a dark night of the soul right now, there's joy in the morning. And that's why Jesus himself, in John 16, likens the joy that he provides to a mother going through the pains of childbirth. As a woman is giving birth to a child, she might experience excruciating pain, but Jesus says as soon as that new life is born, the mother doesn't even remember the anguish anymore. Why? Because the joy is so much more powerful. It overwhelms the sorrow and the sadness. You can't even compare the two. And so the joy that he offers us not only overlaps with sadness and sorrow, but it overpowers it. And that's why nothing in this world can touch it.

  In Hebrews chapter 12, the author of Hebrews tells us that for the joy that was set before Jesus, he endured the cross, scorning its shame. Now, you've heard me ask this before: What was the joy that Jesus had not yet experienced? If Jesus was the second person of the Trinity, the one and only son of God, what joy had he not obtained, and what joy could he only experience by going through the cross? What was it that so animated his mind and his heart that enabled him to not only endure the cross but to treat it as nothing? And the answer is you. You were the joy that was set before him — the thought of being reconciled in relationship to you. That thought filled Jesus' heart with so much joy that he could treat the cross like nothing at all. And so the closer he got to the cross, the more it magnified his joy, and that's what propelled him to keep going. And that's the kind of joy that we need.

  Jesus didn't just experience joy instead of suffering; he experienced joy in the midst of suffering. And you know why? Because the opposite of joy is not sadness; the opposite of joy is hopelessness. The opposite of joy is not sadness; the opposite of joy is hopelessness. And you see, the gospel gives us hope because we know how the story ends. We might be going through a dark night of the soul, but there's joy in the morning. And that's why, in Romans 5, Paul can say that as Christians, we can rejoice even in our suffering. Now, he doesn't say that we should rejoice for our suffering. No, suffering is never a good thing. Paul's not a masochist. He's not telling us to rejoice for suffering, but he's telling us to rejoice in suffering. And why is that? Because he says suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope will never disappoint us, because God has flooded our hearts with a sense of his love. See, when you embrace the gospel, Jesus floods your heart with a sense of his love. Now you've got this deep sense right down to your bones that God loves you and is never gonna let you go. Look at the lengths that he's gone to in order to make you his own. And when you've got that as the engine driving your heart, then you know that you've got a hope that is absolutely unshakeable, and therefore you can rejoice even in the midst of suffering. Because suffering only ignites your joy. It kicks it on and lifts it up to an even higher level.

  So that's what we want, that's what we need: a source of joy that is stable, that doesn't fluctuate or change, that is fixed, but even better than that, something that overlaps with our sadness and sorrow and eventually overpowers it. Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you know what Jesus is offering? Have you experienced this? Have you received this for yourself?

  In J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” Gandalf, the old wizard, is sort of a Christ figure. He represents something of Jesus. And so here is Gandalf: He's on a mission to rescue the world from falling under the dark power of evil. And as he makes his quest, he's got the whole weight of the world on his shoulders, and he's just getting closer and closer to Mordor, the heart of darkness itself. He's going right into the fire. He’s going right into the fight. And there's one particular scene where one of his companions — one of the hobbits named Pippin — makes a statement, and then suddenly out of nowhere, in response to this statement, Gandalf begins laughing. They're right there, just miles from the heart of darkness, but Gandalf starts laughing, and it's a laugh from deep, deep within his heart. And Pippin is confused by this. And so Gandalf puts his arm around him and starts gazing out the window. And Pippin looks up at Gandalf's face, and he's trying to understand what is going on with this man. And at first, all he can see are lines of care and sorrow on Gandalf's face. Right? He's carrying the weight of the world. He’s weighed down by the stress and the strain of this mission that they're on. But then Pippin keeps looking, and he perceives something at a deeper level, and he realizes that underneath all those lines of care and sorrow, there is a great joy. He calls it a fountain of mirth that could set a whole kingdom laughing if it were to gush forth.

  You see, I think Tolkien is right. He's giving us a picture of Jesus. Jesus, as he makes his way to the cross, probably did have lines of care and sorrow on his face, and yet underneath it all, there was a great joy, a fountain of mirth that could set a whole kingdom laughing if it were unleashed. And that is what we're called to be as Christians as well. Once we have the gospel in our life, we have joy — a joy like nothing the world has ever seen. It is something that will come gushing forth if we would only let it, regardless of what our circumstances might be. And so G.K. Chesterton was right when he said that for the Christian, sadness is only temporary. It's just a temporary interlude. But joy should be the permanent state of affairs for any Christian. And the reason is because, in his great essay “The Emotional Life of Our Lord,” B.B. Warfield said we are accustomed to thinking of Jesus as the man of sorrows, but we should know him best as the man of joy. Because Jesus didn't enter into this world to be broken by the power of sin and evil but rather to break the power of sin and evil. And that's what we celebrate at this table.

  And so my final question then for us is how do we receive this joy? How do we get it? And the answer is right here in this passage. Did you see it? Look again. Why does Jesus exalt in the Holy Spirit? What is it that fills him with joy in this moment? You know what it is? It's the gospel of grace. What causes this joy to just bubble up from Jesus? It's the realization, the remembrance, that you don't have to be wise and understanding to receive this gospel. It doesn't matter how smart or accomplished or influential or powerful you are. It doesn't matter what status or how much wealth you have. No, the gospel is simple enough for a child to receive it, and in fact, you have to be like a child to receive it. Because all you need is need. All you need is to acknowledge your need, and then like a child, put your simple trust in Jesus that he's the one that has done everything necessary to achieve the victory through what he began in the desert and through what he completed on his cross. And when we receive what he's done for us by simple faith, then we can rest assured that our name is written in heaven. You see, the secret to joy is the assurance of salvation. That's what Jesus is talking about. He rescues us by sheer grace, and if we put our simple trust in him, we will have a joy that nothing in this world can shake. And if you take that truth deep into your heart and into your life, you will never be able to keep a lid on it.

  Let me pray for us.

  Father, we thank you that we might know Jesus as the man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief. But help us to know him more truly as the man of joy, because he did not come into this world to be broken by the power of sin and evil but to break it. And we thank you for the victory that he has achieved through living, dying, and rising again for us. Thank you for the assurance of salvation that we receive, that by knowing, through simple trust in Jesus, our name is written in heaven, and nothing can scratch it out. And therefore help us to find a deep, lasting, permanent, everlasting, durable, resilient, powerful joy. Despite what sad circumstances or difficult suffering we might face, give us that joy that could set a whole kingdom laughing. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.