Joyful Obedience

Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross… (Hebrews 12:2)

For Jesus, obedience was not an option. It was the only choice. He knew that within his life, he held our future. In the mystery of God, he even knew the agony that was ahead, and what it would feel like, what he would endure, what he would suffer, what he would lose. None of that deterred him. He chose to obey.

And he did it with a perspective of joy, as the text says in Hebrews 12:2. It wasn’t joy while he was being smacked around and nailed up on those wooden posts. You don’t read a record of him laughing or smiling, or saying, “This feels good! Bring it on! Is that all you’ve got! I’m still here! Still happy!” He wasn’t some kind of masochist taking twisted pleasure from the pain. He was brutally suffering and freely expressing his deep and penetrating agony. You hear the cry of a thoroughly broken man, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!”

I believe that the joy he was longing for was related to his knowledge of the ultimate outcomes that would be pleasing to his Father. These were outcomes that He could see in his spirit, and which were worth dying for. Namely, the cross meant that the “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice” (as the Book of Common Prayer states in the liturgy of the Eucharist) was now made complete. The Lamb of God was taking away the sin of the world. The Eternal Son of God was making a new covenant, as He had told his disciples at their last meal together. He was providing a way for  his brothers and sisters to have life, knowing that their outcome would be victory over the evil one. Truly, heaven would be opened for all who would believe. He knew this truth, he could grasp it fully, and he was able, somehow, to keep the ultimate and eternal joy of his people before Him. Because he could “see” it, he obeyed, and was willing to suffer the disgrace of the cross. The actual experience of the cross was the absolute opposite of joy; the eventual and eternal results of the cross brought joy. And those certain, future results motivated him, I believe, to keep going.

These few thoughts touch on the meaning of the words “the joy set before Him”. The simple thought of his joyful obedience leaves me thankful and speechless.

“Father, grant us joyful obedience in following you, as Jesus modeled for us, and demonstrated to us.”