No One Can Rob You Of This Joy

No One Can Rob You Of This Joy

You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy when you see me again. You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. –John 16:20, 22

Life is fragile. Our lives can change in an instant when a driver swerves on the interstate or the phone rings in the middle of the night. Very little in this life is secure, and that can make us feel very vulnerable. Into the insecurity and instability of this world Jesus comes, offering us a promise with amazing absoluteness rooted in his resurrection: “No one can rob you of that joy” (John 16:22).

Jesus was speaking to his disciples on the night before he faced the Cross. He was trying to help them understand what was ahead for them. “In just a little while I will be gone, and you won’t see me anymore. Then, just a little while after that, you will see me again” (John 16:16). He knew the disciples were going to be sad when they lost the leader they loved, but he wanted them to know that the pain would pass, he would rise from the dead, and he would “see you again” (John 16:22). Jesus makes the promise of unending joy to those whose hearts rejoice in being with him. And if you do not rejoice in being with Jesus, then this promise is his invitation to you to make him the center and source of your joy. Jesus is the only permanent joy in this world and the next. If your joy is not found in Jesus, then your joy can be taken from you. And the truth is, we make so many other things the source of our joy, don’t we? We lose a job, a romance ends, our youth fades, and we think we can never be happy again.

The reason our joy is secure and will last forever is because Jesus has been raised from the dead and will never be cut off from us again. By defeating death and holding the keys to death in his hands, Jesus will never die, and we don’t have to die either. The resurrection of Jesus means that not only will he live forever as the source of our joy, but we also will live forever if he is the source of our joy. This solid joy enables us to say, “Disease can destroy my health, another lover can steal my spouse, a business failure may take my life’s savings, but because my joy is not rooted in these temporal things, nothing can take my joy.” This is freedom. This is rest. This is forever joy.

Source of joy, your promise gives me confidence in a world where so much has been and can be taken from me. Your resurrection assures me that no one and nothing can take away the joy I share with you now and forever.

DIGGING DEEPER