The Joy Set Before us

Hebrews 12:1,2

The writer of Hebrews described the cross of Jesus as the “Joy set before him.” How could so much pain and suffering be approached by so much joy? Jesus looked beyond the suffering and shame and saw the redemption and reconciliation of mankind back to God.

Redemption is what the Christmas story is all about. To redeem something or someone means to buy it back. There was a price to be paid for sin and that was death. This death for sin is universal to all of mankind and so everyman needs to be redeemed. That’s why the message that night was good news to all men. Jesus took it upon himself to be that redeemer and the only way it could be accomplished was through the cross.

This great work of redemption began with Christ coming to earth through the virgin birth. Not only was his death complete suffering, but even in his birth and life he endured hardship and affliction, taking upon himself the sins and sickness of mankind. But yet in the midst of it all he did it with joy. Pain and suffering can either be central in our life or peripheral. G K Chesterton said “To the believer joy is central and sorrow is peripheral. But to the unbeliever sorrow is central and joy is peripheral.” How a person deals with it is determined by what he or she focuses on.

Jesus focused on the triumph that would come by way of the resurrection. In times like these we are experiencing suffering and affliction like we have never seen. To many it has caused fear and despair but to some it has created a longing for the triumph that will come when Jesus comes again. 

So let us, as we travel towards our heavenly home in this valley of tears, keep looking unto to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. The good tidings of great joy that came in the darkest hour of the night in that first advent is the same glad tidings that are still being proclaimed in this dark advent season as well. In this present darkness let us be reminded that “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy will come in the morning!” (Psalms 30:5)

Pastor Robby