Happy Jesus -- Part 2
At first I thought the whole ‘Happy Jesus’ thing was a bit lame, but now it’s growing on me a bit. Yesterday I ended the post with an invitation ‘to think about a happy Jesus and if the thought of Him being happy stirs something in you’. Well, did you do it? If you didn’t, maybe you could pause for a few minutes and think about it. Did it stir something in you? I hope at least something. Ok, hold those thoughts for a second as we make some slight variations to the question…
Does the thought of a loved one (spouse, parent, child, sibling, close friend) being happy stir something in you? Why? Is it because you really care about how they are doing or because it makes you feel better? Or perhaps you gain something from their good mood? Should someone’s happiness even be what we are aiming for or is that just a selfish pursuit? These aren’t easy questions to answer. Let’s go back to Jesus…
It’s a lot less complicated with Jesus. For starters, He’s perfect. He’s already part of a perfect union with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He lacks nothing. Therefore, we are not the source of His happiness in any way. That should be reassuring to us for a couple reasons. First of all, if God’s happiness did depend on us in any way, then He would cease to be God, since we’d be able to somehow affect His mood. Good thing that isn’t the case! Secondly, we are free from any pressure when it comes to this relationship with Jesus. That’s much different from our relationships with flawed human beings, where the things we say or do, how we say or do things, or even why we say or do things can have a big impact on each other’s happiness or other feelings. However, this reassuring fact (we don’t affect God’s emotions) can also lead us to apathy when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. After all, since His happiness (or His anything for that matter) doesn’t depend on us, then who really cares how we act? He does!
I’ll admit, this is a tough thing for us to wrap our minds around. We don’t affect God, yet He really cares about how we act? Yes. Again, this is unlike any earthly relationship we will ever have. Yes, that’s the point. Nobody is capable of loving us with a perfect, selfless love. Nor are we capable of loving someone in that way. Putting aside the great lengths Jesus went to show us His love for us AND the many blessings He has bestowed upon us (both amazing in their own ways), just the pure commitment to faithfully loving us speaks volumes. We know how much effort this takes from our own failed attempts to consistently display a selfless love to our loved ones. Yet for Jesus post-resurrection, this is no effort at all. It’s simply His essence. Not only is it what He does, but it’s who He is! How? Truthfully, I don’t know.
So what does all this have to do with a ‘Happy Jesus’? Good question. Instead of thinking of happiness like an emotion, perhaps we can think of what is pleasing in God’s sight. For example, obeying Him would be something that is pleasing to God, while sinning is not. Desiring the things God desires is pleasing to God, but desiring our own interests above His or desiring things that are antithetical to what God desires are not pleasing to God. If we genuinely love Him, why wouldn’t we desire to please Him? That’s the question I’ll leave us with today…