Sorrow & Joy

Good morning Immanuel. There is one place in the universe where joy and sorrow lead to hope, and that is at the cross of Jesus.

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2)”

Photo by Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash

Real life is a mixture of experiences where joy and sorrow may find themselves tugging at the same heart, sometimes at the exact moment. For example, the joy of seeing your kids leave home to start a career may be at the same time be mingled with the sorrow of their absence. So often, we face the tension of competing emotional dispositions. But the Bible never asks us to flatten one out with the other. It doesn’t imagine that we should be stoics, nor does it leave us to despair. Instead, the Bible validates both our grief and our joy. Even more, the Bible shows where joy and sorrow are held together perfectly. We see that in Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah identifies Jesus as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Is. 53:3). Jesus tasted the deepest sorrows imaginable. And at the same time, he tasted the deepest joys. Both of these realities came together at the cross in his experience— for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. At the cross, Jesus experienced both grief and joy together. There was the felt joy of saving us. And there was the felt agony of God’s wrath. His joy was real but did not insulate him from pain. His pain was real but did not hinder his joy. At the cross, his joy and sorrow worked together for our sake. For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. His joy and endurance gave us life. So, there is one place in the universe where joy and sorrow lead to hope: at the cross of Jesus. Look to him. He knows. He sympathizes. And He cares.