Joy Comes From The Cross

Joy comes from the cross. That may seem like an oxymoron, but this truth is essential to the Christian’s identity. We cannot experience the joy of Christ without also experiencing his cross. In a world that encourages us to do all we can to avoid anything that even remotely resembles suffering, this truth is essential, as we hear in John’s Gospel.

John 16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,

while the world rejoices;

you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.

When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;

but when she has given birth to a child,

she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy

that a child has been born into the world.

So you also are now in anguish.

But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,

and no one will take your joy away from you.

On that day you will not question me about anything.

Amen, amen, I say to you,

whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

Gospel Analysis

Jesus has told his disciples that he is going to the Father. Yet, the disciples still do not understand what he means. They are grief-stricken and want Jesus to explain what he means. Jesus describes the difference in the time before and after his hour by contrasting the difference between joy and mourning. Note how he contrasts the joy that the world will initially experience with the grief that the disciples will experience. The world is joyful because they are rebelling against God. However, the grief of the disciples will turn to joy after the resurrection, and they will see the Lord again.

To illustrate this, Jesus provides the disciples with an example. He uses the image of a woman giving birth. She is in labor, a common image used in the Bible to describe the end of days, and she is in anguish. The disciples are also in anguish because of the impending death of Jesus. However, as the woman gives birth, that anguish turns into joy, and the mother no longer recalls the pain but rather is filled with joy at the sight of her child. So too will the disciples’ grief turn to joy when they see the resurrected Lord, which provides them with new heavenly life in communion with the Father/.

Jesus’s resurrection with usher in a new state of affairs. “On that day” includes the entire post-resurrection time of the Church. The disciples will not only be filled with joy but will no longer question Christ about anything. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, they will truly understand the meaning of the cross and its significance for them.

Daily Application

The Lord reminds us of two important things in this Gospel. First, the life of the Christian is counter to the world. We will mourn when the world rejoices and rejoice when the world mourns.

Second, there is no Christianity without the cross. Just as you can’t have the joy of a newborn baby without the pain of labor, so also we can’t have the joy of the resurrection without first suffering the pain of the cross. The world tells us that suffering, of any kind, is evil. It also tries to offer solutions for all our suffering. Going through a rough patch, there is a pill to help you with that. Find yourself with an unplanned pregnancy; there is a procedure for that. However, when we attempt to live a life without suffering, we rob ourselves of the grace that can be found amid that suffering.

Now, I am not arguing that one should intentionally seek suffering. That is wrong. Nor am I stating that when we are sick or are injured, we should not seek medical care. We should certainly seek care from a provider who cooperates with God’s plan of creation. What I am saying, though, is that even when we seek assistance, suffering will still be there. And this suffering we should embrace, unite it to the suffering of Christ, and allow him to use it to mold and shape us. When we do, we will often find that those times that we thought were the darkest in our lives were the most important for forming us into the men and women Christ wants us to be.