I'm not a big fan of Bible movies. I've already mentioned my feelings about the Ten Commandments flick. Well, the Jesus movies usually have a sad, droopy Jesus. He's so serious that He's scary.
Let's think about this: People were always following Jesus. Crowds wanted to be around Him. Kids liked to hang around Him too. Now what crowd or kid, especially, wants to be around a gloomy Gus? Not I. Most normal people are probably attracted to happy souls.
Psalm 45 is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. In verse seven it says:
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. nkjv
Because of Jesus' choices, God anointed Him with more joy than anyone else. That is such a cool verse. It lets us know who He really is and what He was like on earth. Another scripture says He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Isaiah 53:3. These words are not a contradiction of Jesus having joy. We've already established that sorrow and grief are temporary. Joy is eternal. There are sad times in life, but joy is still in you and gives you strength through difficult seasons.
Despite what Jesus endured, He had the most joy. Now, the story gets cooler still. As His people, we are the body of Christ. He is the head. If He has the oil of joy on Him . . . ah, you see where I'm going with this. If He has it, we have it. If the head is anointed, the body is anointed. I pray that we will live like we have that joy and gladness in our lives.
To me, the Visual Bible version of the Gospel of Matthew shows the joy-filled Jesus.
Prayer: Father God! Help us to exhibit your joy. I pray that the oil of gladness that is on Jesus will pour down on us, His body -- that we will be contagiously anointed with joy. Amen – so be it!
