Share in joy of Jesus' victory

Just imagine your favorite team in the Super Bowl.

In the run up to the big game they went undefeated, beating every team by at least 30 points. Even before the championship game everybody was ready to crown them as champs as nothing could stop this invincible juggernaut.

When the game is finally played this unbeatable team gets crushed by its opponent. They take a tremendous beating and embarrassed in every facet of the game. Trailing by 35 points at halftime, most of the team’s fans leave the stadium and they are left alone in their humiliation as the other team and its supporters are hurling insults at them.

For a sports fan such a scenario would be heartbroken, now put it at a more personal level and try and understand how the followers of Jesus were feeling after Jesus gave up his life on the cross. Even before Jesus went to the cross he knew the deep sadness that would be felt by some, and the rejoicing by others.

“Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” — John 16:20-22

The Bible is not clear about the disciple’s state of mind during those three days Jesus laid dead in the tomb, but we have a good idea of the grief they were feeling.

They had given up everything to follow Jesus. They had left family and friends to be with the one who they believed to be the Messiah, now he was dead and worse yet, he suffered humiliation on the cross.

They were thinking all those things Jesus had told them were not true. They were thinking Jesus had brought them a false hope and they were ready to toss the last three years of their lives aside and go back home to their old lives.

The gospel according to Luke gives us the best look into the minds of the followers of Jesus when we are told about the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Emmaus was a town about 7 miles from Jerusalem, a roughly two-hour walk. We know from the account in Luke it must have been late in the day when they got to Emmaus as they urged Jesus not to keep going as evening was approaching.

As they were walking, Jesus came to them and heard their discussion, and though they did not recognize him, Jesus walked with them.

“He asked them, ‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’

“They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’

“What things?’ Jesus asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.’” — Luke 24:17-24

Then, Jesus reveals to the disciples God’s redemptive plan from the beginning of time and he points out to them, starting with Moses (Genesis in our reckoning) and outlines through all the prophets that God had a plan and the culmination of this eternal plan was the cross on a hill called Calvary.

Then finally, as Jesus sat down to eat with them and broke the bread his disciples recognized him. In my feeble mind I imagine Jesus traveling with them, walking along in His glorified body, with maybe a cloak over his head. The men are grief stricken and hardly pay the looks of the stranger any mind. Then finally when Jesus sits down to eat with them he removes the cloak from his head and grabs the bread with two nail-scarred hands, and it is at this moment the two disciples begin to realize what they were seeing.

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’

“They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.” — Luke 24:30-35

Their champion was back and they could no longer hold it in, so they ran back for two hours to Jerusalem to share in the victory.

Jesus had left the disciples in Emmaus in a hurry, it seems he had to get back to Peter, as Peter also had seen the risen savior, then while they were talking Jesus came to all of them and ate with them.

Truly, their grief had turned to joy. Today, there are many people grieving. The causes are innumerable; even followers of Christ can be and are overcome with heart-rending grief.

Many times the grief is unbearable because we let it come between us and our Savior, others grieve without understanding because they do not have Jesus in their life.

There is comfort in knowing the cross was not a defeat, but a victory not just for Jesus, but for all who believe on him; still we sometimes ask, “What is that doing for me now?”

Well, everything. The entire history of the world pales when held up to the cross.

Remember what Jesus told them in the gospel of John? Jesus told them he would see them again and they will rejoice, and no one will take away their joy.

Over the course of the next century there were many who tried taking away the joy of the disciples — even unto death. In spite of that cloud hanging over their heads they never lost their joy.

That joy is there for us as well. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave is as real today as it was that day nearly 2000 years ago. Time has not lessened the victory of the cross.

Their joy was muted that morning because they did not understand the cross, but Jesus revealed to them “The Plan.”

The cross had to be there, because without the cross there would not be the joy of the resurrection.

“The whole of the tremendous debt was put upon his shoulders; the whole weight of the sins of all his people were placed upon him,” the great preacher Charles Spurgeon taught. “Once he seemed to stagger under it: ‘Father, if it be possible.’ But again he stood upright: ‘Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.’ The whole of the punishment of his people was distilled into one cup; no mortal lip might give it so much as a solitary sip. When he put it to his own lips, it was so bitter, he well nigh spurned it — ‘Let this cup pass from me.’ But his love for his people was so strong, that he took the cup in both hands, and ‘At one tremendous draught of love He drank damnation dry,’ for all his people.

“He drank it all, he endured it all, he suffered all; so that now for ever there are no flames of hell for them, no racks of torment; they have no eternal woes; Christ hath suffered all they ought to have suffered, and they must, they shall go free. The work was completely done by himself, without a helper.”

We are rescued by the cross and because of it we can share in the joy of Christ’s resurrection.

On this Easter, forget about bunnies and eggs and instead think about the joy this day should bring for all believers. Remember the victory and the righteousness given to us by way of the cross.