UNSPEAKABLE JOY

By, Max Lucado

No man had more reason to be miserable than this one-yet no man was more joyful.

His first home was a palace. Servants were at his fingertips. The snap of his fingers changed the course of history. His name was known and loved. He had everything-wealth, power, and respect.

And then he had nothing.

Students of the event still ponder it. Historians stumble as they attempt to explain it. How could a king loose everything in one instant?

One moment he was royalty, the next he was in poverty.
His bed became, at best, a borrowed pallet-and usually the hard earth. He never owned even the most basic mode of transportation and was dependent upon handouts for his income. He was sometimes so hungry he would eat raw grain. Or pick fruit off a tree. He knew what it was like to be rained on, to be cold. He knew what it was like to have no home.

His palace grounds had been spotless; now he was exposed to filth. He had never known disease, but was now surrounded by illness.

In his kingdom he had been revered; now he was ridiculed. His neighbors tried to lynch him. Some called him a lunatic. His family tried to confine him in their house.

Those who didn’t ridicule him tried to use him. They wanted favors. They wanted tricks. He was a novelty. They wanted to be seen with him-that is, until being with him was out of fashion. Then they wanted to kill him.

He was accused of a crime he never committed. Witnesses were hired to lie. The jury was rigged. No lawyer was assigned to his defense.. A judge swayed by politics handed down the death penalty.

They kicked him. He left as he came-penniless. He was buried in a borrowed grave, his funeral financed by compassionate friends. Though he once had everything, he died with nothing.

He should have been miserable. He should have been bitter. He had every right to be a pot of boiling anger. But he wasn’t.

He was joyful.

Isaiah 53:1-2 He was wounded and crushed for sin.

Isaiah 53: 3 He died among wicked men-though he was innocent.

Isaiah 53: 5 As a man, Jesus lacked his heavenly beauty and majesty.

Isaiah 53: 7 He was beaten down and punished-yet he didn’t retaliate.

Isaiah 53: 8 He was treated like a criminal.

Isaiah 53: 9 People hated and rejected him.

Isaiah 53: Jesus never had children of his own.

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Experiencing the Heart of Jesus, © by Max Lucado. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. P. O. Box 141000, Nashville Tennessee, 37214, page, 98