of it fjiven by His forerunner or nni, i; ■ ide. In
any case, the statement here attrilpiil . <l i'> i.Imi im Baptist stands alone, and is not characterit.li. ,,i J.is ^cin-ial attitude or of the question which, according to Ml. and Lk., he addressed at a later time to our Lord Himself.
In the parables in which the secret of the King- dom is itself set fortli liy our Lord, wc meet the word 'joy' several tinu-s. In tin' intiTiuctation of the parable of the Siiwn- Mr ;iiv toM : • lie that was sown upon the rcnky )il:Hr>, tlii> i^ be that heareth the word, .-iiiil >li:ii-lii \\ :i v witli j(iy re- ceiveth it' (Mt 13="), :i. sliikm.u .li.'i'r.'i.lri i/,'il ion of the temper of those win. r.i-.i ly ,i.l.i|i| .■! ^\,•^\ idea, but are just as ready tn cm li;uirc' it im m.ihc more recent fashion. It is a temper that our Lord de- scribes in another place, when, discussing the ministry of His forerunner. He says : ' He was the lamp that burneth and shinetli, and ye were willing to rejoice for a season in liis light' (Jn 5'*). Joy of a deeper and more permanent character is that of the man who found a treasure hidden in his field, and ' in his joy he goetli and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field ' (Mt 13"). This is the true and evangelical temper of a proper recep- tion of the gospel message. In Lk 15 joy is given a liigher place and a yet more sjiiritual .sifjnificance. In the three famous' paralilcs that lill tli:if rlmpter, the joy of God's own heart is m'I tuiili \iinlerthe images of the shepherd with lii- >luiii, tlir woman with her precious coin, and the father with his restored son. Joy, says our Lord, in the two former cases, fills all heaven, even increasing the gladness of the angels in sympathy with their King; while the cxnbornnt picture of the joy of the household at tlie priHliL'-.-il's return gives a still more tender and torn hin- piilme of the Divine Fatherhood. Tlie rew.ir.l pLimised to the faithful servant in the iiarable of the Talents is to enter into ' the joy of his Lord ' (Mt 25='). The meaning of this is (il)viously that the servant should be par- taker in the richer and fuller joy that is his Lord's portion, ^^hich may probably be the joy that comes from tlie exercise of higher responsibilities, and the opportunities of fuller usefulness (see the Comm. in loco).
904
JOY
In tlie iiaiiiitive in Lk. descriptive of tlie return of the seventy disciples from their mission in Galilee, we read (10") that they 'returned with joy, saying. Lord, even the devils are subject unto us in thy name.' It may be that our Lord re- garded this as too much akin to the shallow joy which He had exposed in the parable of the Sower, or, at any rate, as detrimental to the more serious thought with which He wished their minds to be tilled ; for He replied (v.'™) : ' Howbeit in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rejoice that your names are ^\Titten in heaven.' The keynote thus given to the real joy of the disciple is the assurance of his belonging to the Kingdom of God, a joy, therefore, that is ' with trembling.' According to Lk.'s account, it is at the same moment that we read of Christ's rejoic- ing, but the parallel in Mt. does not bear out the same historical connexion (cf. Lk 10-' and Mt 11=5).
In Lk.'s narrative also there is the unique expression, ' He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.' \Vhat exactly is meant by this phrase it is most difficult to say, and some have even supposed " ' ' forestalling of the strange experiences of the
I these works themseh
In the passage in which Lk. gives his setting of the Beatitudes, he puts very strongly the blessing of sutt'ering for righteousness' sake, the words being, ' Rejoice in that day, and leap : for, behold, your reward is great in heaven ' (Lk 6^).
In Jn. there is a very striking use of the verb ' rejoice ' in a passage of great difficulty (8=*). It occurs in the reported controversy of our Lord with the Jews, where He tells them, 'Your father Abraham rejoiced {iiyaXKtiiaaTo) to see my day : and he saw it, and was glad ' {^x'^p-n). The force of the Greek implies that Abraham 'exulted that he should see,' that is, presumably, in the promises that were made to him, while the actual seeing of it, of which the Lord speaks, is possibly an asser- tion of Abraham's living >vith God, as in Christ's similar use of the text, ' I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,' to prove the reality of the doctrine of the resurrection.
We must next turn to a class of passages con- tained in the closing addresses of our Lord to His disciples, as recorded in the Fourth Gospel, where much stress is laid upon our Lord's own joy and the disciples' share in it. The clear declaration of His commandments is to effect the purpose of their partaking in His own joy of obedience, and to secure the permanence and completeness of their o^^^^ glad following of the Divine will (Jn 15"). Again, the natural sorrow at His approaching de- parture is to be a sorrow like that of a woman in her birth-pangs, — a sorrow, that is, which is not only full of purpose, but is a necessary element in a great deliverance ; and the joy that will succeed not only causes forgetfulness of the previous suffer- ing, but abides, while the pain is only a passing and comparatively unimportant experience (16^-").