Apr 1
The Joy of Jesus! - Emma Davis
When Jesus was talking with his disciples at Passover, he was very specific when telling them about the kind of joy and peace they will experience. His own. At such a confusing, terrifying time for the disciples, their incomprehension of Jesus’ meaning might be justified!
‘These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.’ John 15:11
“My joy”. One meaning of this word joy is ‘calm delight’. I resonate with that. It conveys a wholesome, stable contentment and gladness. This universal desire can only be found in Jesus Himself. Galatians 5 lists joy as a fruit of the Spirit, a fitting image as this passage is about producing spiritual fruit by abiding in the true vine.
The more I read this passage, the more I have wondered why knowing ‘these things’ (ch 15.1-10) would give me His joy.
Jesus is saying that there’s a time coming very soon when knowing Him deeply will infinitely surpass mere human proximity. His death and resurrection mean that through his Spirit we have access, we are invited into the very relationship mankind was always destined for! Unity with the Father and the Son. Christ’s joy becomes ours the deeper we treasure His words and are willing to be transformed by them. But it gets better, because He Himself becomes our joy, and that joy can never be taken away. It branches out like a vine into every crevice of our lives. Our every-day may be mundane, but when every day is filled with constant, soul deep connection with Jesus, our Maker and Saviour, our every-day is a holy offering. As His joys, pursuits, plans, interests begin to eclipse our own, we behold the glory of the life that abides in Jesus, yielding much fruit to the glory of God the Father.
Emma Davis
