Thursday, April 11, 2024

Eastertide Laughter | Jesus Gives Us His Joy to the Fullest


Visual of Revelation 3:20 and Jesus Laughing from The Chosen

Jesus' life and ministry
are marked by joy,
and His resurrection,
as Patrick Kavanagh describes it,
is a kind of 'laugh freed
for ever and ever.'
Jesus is the supremely joyful one.
+ David Taylor,
Open and Unafraid


When the LORD brought back
the captives to Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us, and
we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes again, LORD,
like streams of living water in the Negev desert.
Those who sow with tears will
reap with songs of joy.

Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow, will
return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves of blessing with them.

+ Psalm 126

Psalm 126 has been the psalm I've memorized, recited, prayed, and carried with me the most the past few years. And I think God has given it as a gift to carry into the next decade of ministry with Emmaus City Church as we finish our first decade in 2024 as Eastertide (50 days of joy) leans into Pentecost (the gift of the Spirit whose fruit is joy).

I want to continue to grow into someone who dreams with the help of the Spirit of God (see also Acts 2:4, 17-18), whose mouth is filled with laughter, whose tongue is quick to sing songs of joy even as I'm honest and true with my tears, ready to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. I want to go out weeping carrying seed to sow that will result in blessing others and this world with joy. Four additional verses throughout the Scriptures have helped my focus on this even more as I pray through them each day:

This day is holy to our Lord.
Do not grieve, for
the joy of the Lord is your strength.
+ Nehemiah 8:10
(pray at 8:10 a.m.)

Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news that will
cause great joy
for all the people.
+ Luke 2:10
(pray at 2:10 p.m.)

I have told you this so that
My joy may be in you
and that
your joy may be complete.
+ John 15:11
(pray at 3:11 p.m.)

The LORD is my strength and shield.
I trust Him with all my heart.
He helps me, and
my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
+ Psalm 28:7
(pray at 7:28 p.m.)


To welcome Jesus' joy into my heart and life, and into the hearts and lives of those connected to Emmaus City Church, I'm committed to praying for His joy 4x each day based on the Scripture passages above. I have set my phone alarm to ring at 8:10 a.m., 2:10 p.m., and 3:11 p.m., and 7:28 p.m. to remind me to pray that ECC will receive and give Jesus' joy in 2024 based on these Scriptures.

Experiencing Joy When Laughter Is Scarce

In a similar part of the Story of God in the Bible that Psalm 126 alludes to, when Israel was being a swallowed by the judgment of a time of captivity and sadness, these words were shared by a prophet to remember how the Lord of heaven and earth comes to offer us delicious joy ... 

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.  
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to Me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. 
Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for My people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see. The Lord has sent this message to every land: “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. See, He brings His reward with Him as He comes.’” They will be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.” And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place” and “The City No Longer Forsaken.”  
+ Isaiah 25:6, 55:1-3, 62:10-12
For Israel to receive such powerful and prophetic words during a time of great darkness, joy would seemingly need to be not only a gift they tasted and received, but a choice they made against the hollowness inside them and the desert exile around them. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about joy:

Joy is an act of resistance
against all the forces of despair:
violence, war, debt, death ...
all of the things that can cause us
to think life in this world is not worth living.

Cultivating joy
is an act of resistance
to any person, event, or system
that would have us believe
that death has the final word on our lives.


So how do we make this choice of joy in the face of the frightening and unknown? Can we sit with God today in our everyday stuff of life and welcome His presence in such a way that we can cry out to Him while we also laugh with Him that sorrow and evil will not have the final word? 


Laughing Wine Jesus (Isaiah 25:6, 55:1-3, 62:8-12) by Rochelle Walden, 2018 A.D., similar to Jesus Christ, Liberator (often referred to as Laughing Jesus) by Willis Wheatley, 1973 A.D.

Jesus Laughs; He Doesn't Hold Back His Joy


What attracts me to the Jesus Christ, Liberator artwork by Willis Wheatley (similar to the painting, Laughing Wine Jesus, above by Rochelle Walden) is the image of Jesus' head thrown back, with his eyes closed and his mouth open in unrestrained laughter.
Jesus laughing with joy. 
Too often pictures portray Jesus as expressionless, staring off strangely into some distant horizon ... looking apathetic about being on earth as he stands rigidly among a crowd of people. But this picture is different. This picture is human. Sometimes I look at the picture and imagine what would have made Jesus throw his head back and laugh so hard. Maybe it was the children who ran to Him (Matthew 18:1-5; Luke 18:16-17) ... Maybe it was sitting with His friends around a table, and the conversation went as conversations go, and everyone was laughing (Matthew 9:9-13, 11:19; Luke 12:37, 14:23, 24:41). ... Maybe He laughed like this after His resurrection when He appeared in Jerusalem and "they still did not believe it (was Him) because of joy and amazement" (Luke 24:41).

Jesus' face is full of emotion in this image. He isn't stoic; He is filled with a joy that cannot be contained (Luke 10:21; Psalm 126:2; Hebrews 12:2). The closed eyes and wide smile suggest a comfort and freedom with expressing his emotions. In every one of the possible reasons for the laughter, I can relate — and this blows my mind — to God through the very human Jesus. This is the beauty and profundity of the incarnation (John 1:1, 4-5, 14). ... The holy otherness of the ineffable God became tangible and describable in the humanity of Jesus (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1-3).

The Recovered Image of Joyful Humanity

Humanity needed a human, fully alive, to show us God's intended design (1 Corinthians 15:48-49). Through His relationship with God, interactions with others, and action in the world, Jesus shows what a human looks like when they are fully restored, sanctified, and freed from the brokenness brought about by sin (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). 

Jesus, as the model for both men and women, calls all toward one singular end, namely, Christlikeness (Romans 8:29). Men and women are to embody meekness, gentleness, self-control, and humility (Galatians 5:22-23), as well as strength, courage, resolve, and boldness, as they grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). Jesus is more complex and more human than we can imagine, which is why both men and women can grow into His likeness (Romans 8:29). God incarnated Himself in Jesus to restore humanity — both men and women (Genesis 1:27; 2 Corinthians 3:18). 

Jesus, then, becomes our focus. We follow Jesus to become like Jesus (John 13:14-17, 34-35). His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). He defines reality, how we should live, and what we should do. ... So if we want to know what it means to be a son or daughter of God, we look to Jesus (Romans 8:29). ... If we want to be free with joy and laughter, we look to Jesus (Luke 10:21).

I love how Andy Crouch describes learning and receiving joyful laughter from Jesus when He arrives in the story of God:

"(Jesus') arrival in the story sets us free to flourish. And the mark of His arrival is not the hero's grim shout of triumph or the victim's grim cry of despair, but the distinctive sound of those surprised by joy: laughter (see Psalm 126:1-2 above). 
If you want one last picture of authority and vulnerability together, laughter will do the trick. To laugh, to really laugh out loud, is to be vulnerable, taken beyond ourselves, overcome by surprise and gratitude. And to really laugh may be the last, best kind of authority – the capacity to see the meaning of the whole story and discover that our final act, our only enduring responsibility in that story, is simply celebration, delight and worship. After we have borne our hidden vulnerability, even after we have descended to the dead, after we have been rescued from our suffering, our withdrawing, our exploiting – we will be raised up, restored to our rightful place. And we will laugh." 



Rejoice in the One Who Gives Us Freedom 

What if we gave up our independence in exchange for dependence on Christ? What if we saw our dependence on Christ as a reason to be interdependent with each other? What if we found a reason to be sacrificially concerned with the cause of others with hope and joy in the Spirit (Philippians 2:1-5)? Maybe we would find the freedom to throw our heads back in laughter ... We might look like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Let's step into 2024, rejoicing and laughing together. Why? Because Yeshua is the King whose love is big enough to give freely.  And He's the King who was free enough to laugh when He came and will make our joy complete when He returns.

I have told you this so that
My joy may be in you
and that
your joy may be complete.
+ Jesus
(John 15:11)
I choose His joy.
The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust Him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
+ Psalm 28:7


Bonus post:

"... I wonder if joy has the potential
to be the most countercultural aspect
of God’s people.

Our age is characterized by anger,
resentment, fear, blame, and cynicism.
So joy seems strange, or even inappropriate —
at the very least, not fit
for the seriousness of our predicament.

But joy is stealthy, carrying a secret power.
After all, it exists at the center
of God’s trinitarian relationship.
It’s why C.S. Lewis called joy
“the serious business of heaven.”
Joy is potent, in its ability to speak
to our deepest longings and
as fuel for our greatest desires.
Because joy is rooted in God,
it is a persistent longing of all people. ... "

May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.
Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne,
que sa volonté soit faite.
愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。
Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.
Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino!
🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan


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Location: Worcester, MA, USA

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