Article June 8, 1899 Issue

The Joys of Jesus

BY WALDO PONDRAY WARREN

So much has been said and written about the sufferings of Jesus that many people imagine his earthly career must have been one perpetual thrill of pain. But this is certainly far from true, and the contemplation of the Christ-life from such a standpoint must necessarily cloud the sense of the omnipotence of Love, and hinder the demonstration of it.

While it is well known that Jesus suffered many things, going as he did directly across the evidence of the senses and the established creeds and opinions of the world, yet the possession of such a priceless understanding of the allness of Truth and the nothingness of error as made possible his marvelous works must certainly have made his life far more joyful than the world has been accustomed to think. He lived the precepts which he taught, and he taught that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," "rejoice always," "my yoke is easy and my burden is light," "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world," and referred to himself as the "Son of Man who is in heaven." These sayings, and the necessary presence of that spirit of triumphant joy which inspired them, put to flight all doubt but that his life was bathed in joys of which the world has not yet tasted. In his prayer to the Father (John, 17 : 13), he said, "These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."

Love slapped in the face by the beloved—this was the suffering of Jesus. The distrust and misunderstanding of those for whom he labored, the meagre appreciation of his message to mortals, and the bitter censure from those he sought to inspire with the joys of a higher life,—this filled his cup.

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