WHAT Joy?

• Hebrews 12:2-3
  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
  
  This weekend, our extended family gathered for a little campout at the grandparent’s house. Sitting around the campfire, I posed a question that comes from that verse up there. “What was the joy that inspired Jesus to endure the cross?” This wasn’t just idle curiosity or an invitation to an intellectual exercise to me. As my writings here have revealed, I need to know why I should endure whatever comes in the future, and more immediately, deny myself now. I think Jesus walked in the hope that he intends us to walk in also, so it matters WHY he did what he did.
  
  The group was comprised of an eclectic sampling of older and younger, conservative and charismatic, strong in faith and some who feel far from God. Here are some of the answers, paraphrased:
  
  “I think we are the joy that Jesus was seeking. I don’t really know any Biblical support for that, but that’s my impression.”
  
  “He was looking forward to the Bride. He desired the intimacy of restored relationship with his people.”
  
  “It was for glory that Jesus obeyed his Father and went to the cross. He didn’t do it because he felt like it, but because his Father said to. Jesus bought a Kingdom with his blood.”
  
  “He was inspired by looking forward to making all things whole and complete. His death and resurrection laid the foundation for creation to be healed and restored. His joy is the perfection of all things.”
  
  Then Great Grandpa said he thought that Jesus expressed his motivation well in his prayer in John 14:
  
  [I pray that] all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
  
  "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
  "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
  
  This blows me away. Aspects of all the motivations mentioned were there, and at least one more as well.
  
  First of all, Glory. Since that was kind of an empty word to me, I went to my study tools to see what I could find. I was not surprised to see glory described as a bright shininess or overwhelming power or honor. I was more intrigued by the primary meaning, though, which went back to the root of “to seem” or to make apparent. The glory of Christ was that the Father’s BEING, His Essence, was IN Him (Col 1:19). The Glory of God is not just an ethereal shining, but it is everything that He truly is: Good, Loving, Strong, Noble, Just, Merciful, Eternal, Powerful, etc. And Christ shares his glory with us: not just his power or right to rule, or the glow of righteousness, but the I AM that was within him is now IN us! The Essential God—the “I AM that I AM” has been shared with us, planted in us: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”(Col 2:9-10)
  
  
  The cross of Christ was a benevolent act, to give us something we lacked. And check out what it is: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.” He went through this to share his being so that we could have fellowship with one another and with him? It must be really important to God, this ability to belong to one another and live in peace and connectedness. The Kingdom of God that Christ establishes must be in essence one of unity of believers, because He is Love.
  
  Some people have emphasized the aspect of the glory of God that is his authority, power, and justice. This is accurate as far it goes. However, the Glory of God that is put in us is much, much more. It is the very Holy Spirit in us, the indwelling, and it is primarily given for relational purposes: that we may be one with one another, and with God, sharing in His very nature, in ALL its fullness.
  
  
  Col 2:9-15
  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
  13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.