I am on the road this week and so this edition is written in a bit of a hurry and without the usual efforts of proofreading, Please forgive the errors you find.
What Makes Jesus Happy?
The middle of Luke 10 has sort of an enigma right in the middle. The chapter begins with the 72 being sent out on the preaching/miracle tour. When they return from the tour they are amazed and report to Jesus. “Lord, even the demons were subject to us in Your name.” v. 17 The disciples were operating at a pretty high level of spiritual warfare. This is pretty heady stuff. The disciples were in awe of what the name of Jesus was going through them. I can imagine that there was quite the buzz among the teams as they got back together.
But Jesus tells them that walking “on snakes and scorpions” and having power over all the powers of the enemy is not the occasion for joy. Rather, the reason for rejoicing is that their names are recorded in Heaven. We can buy into that, our salvation is greater than even the most remarkable miracle. After all, casting out demons in this life is rather pointless if we are doomed to spend eternity with these same demons separated from God for all eternity.
Then comes the enigma, a verse about which I have never heard a sermon, teaching or lesson. “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit,...” v. 21. What does that mean? I looked at a number of commentaries, none of which were hyper specific. All three persons of the Godhead are present here, the Son having joy in the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father. I don’t think we can be very specific since our limited minds are not capable of comprehending the vast, nuanced and complex relationships within the Trinity. But there is at least one thing this passage clearly shows us.
In context Jesus tells the disciples how great it is that they are seeing what they are seeing. It is so grand that prophets and kings of the past wanted to see these things but didn’t get to. These things are not for the intellectual elites, in fact it is hidden from them. As if to prove the point the intellectual lawyer asks Jesus a question which leads to the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is really critical that as we read this passage and hear these stories we do so in the whole context.
Getting back to our original question: “What makes Jesus Happy?” What gets Jesus juiced up, pumped up, besides Himself with ecstasy? It is people having their names recorded in Heaven and that reality working itself out in daily living, from high levels of spiritual warfare to simple acts of kindness. Great worship services, fantastic teaching or sermons, great buildings are all fine but they are at best secondary.
So whatever is that which gets Jesus juiced up, ought to be that which is a priority in my life as a disciple. Forgive me if this is too familiar but I want to do that which will cause Jesus to come running toward me for a big high ten chest bump. I want to make Jesus Happy.
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