Key Bible Verse: He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward (Hebrews 12:2). Bonus Reading: Isaiah 50:4-11

Jesus says, "Rejoice!" But the joy he demands isn't chipper. It's not joy-lite. It's not superficial. That's the mistake of too many people and too many churches. They think that Jesus' demand for joy is a demand to tell jokes or weave slapstick into Christian corporate life. I don't smell the Jerusalem-bound Jesus in that atmosphere. Something has gone wrong.

What's wrong is that the aroma of suffering is missing. When Jesus demands that we rejoice, he hasn't forgotten the kind of world we live in. It's filled with suffering. And he promises that some of that suffering will fall on us as his disciples because we are identified with Him. "When that happens," He says (in Luke 6:23), "rejoice! Yes, leap for joy!"

For Jesus, the demand for joy is a way to live with suffering and to outlast it. Therefore, this joy is serious. It's the kind you fight for by cutting off your hand, selling your possessions, and carrying a cross with Jesus to Calvary. It has scars. It sings happy songs with tears. It remembers the dark hours and knows that more are coming. The road to heaven is a hard road, but it isn't joyless.

—John Piper in What Jesus Demands from the World

My Response: Am I starting to savor God's deep joy in the face of adversity?

Thought to Apply: God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.—AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (Roman bishop and philosopher)

Adapted from What Jesus Demands from the World (Crossway, 2006) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Keep me, Lord, from resenting the tests You bring to bear. Help me accept the toughening process You've prescribed for me.

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