For the Joy

“For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.” What joy was this? How could it be that on the cross…..during that excruciating time when his life was being snuffed out by the weight of our sins….He felt joy? Maybe as He hung there suspended between earth and heaven, as he blinked his eyes to clear them of blood…as he struggled to reposition himself for a brief moment to be able to breathe, he went back in time to the memory of the form bent at His feet. Instead of the blood trickling down his nail pierced feet, he felt again her tears falling on his feet like rain. Instead of the nails impaling him, he felt her hair gentling drying his feet, cleansing them with her gratitude. Maybe instead of the taste and smell of blood, for a brief moment he was enveloped again in the scent of that expensive perfume that she had poured out on his feet that had spoken with an eloquence about her depth of love in a language that had defied words. The joy of saving Mary from the life she had lived is the same joy that He knew he would experience as He stood before all those whom his death would redeem from the clutches of hell and the evil one. Yes…the joy of seeing my face there before Him one day…my face…your face… is what made Him able to endure the cross. His heart was broken on the cross, but it will burst with joy when he hears all the saved singing His praises in a land made new. For THAT joy…for the joy of eternity… an eternity where there will be no more suffering, tears, or death…for the joy of seeing YOU, he endured the cross.