I still remember the shock I felt when I first watched “The Gospel According to Matthew,” starring Bruce Marchiano. It was not the first film about the life of Jesus that I had seen, but it was entirely different from anything I had known before.
Director Regardt van den Bergh chose to base the screenplay exclusively on the text of the Gospel of Matthew, using a well-known and widely loved English translation—the New International Version (NIV). What struck me most in that film was the joy in Jesus’ eyes. For the first time, I began to seriously wonder whom Jesus more closely resembled: the intensely serious, contemplative figure with monastic overtones portrayed in classic films about Him, or this joyful, enthusiastic character?
I do not believe there is today a definitive image of Jesus—a model capable of fully capturing the uniqueness of His way of being. Still, I would like to outline a few reasons why I believe Jesus had a radiant countenance and a contagious enthusiasm, that He was joyful and happy, even though He lived bearing the burden of the sins of an entire world. This reality gave strength to His message and made it credible in the eyes of His contemporaries.
Jesus enjoyed singing
We do not have many references in the Gospels to the hymns He may have sung, but we do know that before setting out for the Garden of Gethsemane, in the upper room together with His disciples, Jesus sang “hymns of praise” (Mark 14:26). The final conversations in the upper room seem like a mixture of light and shadow. The disciples do not understand why Jesus tells them that in a little while they will no longer see Him, and their hearts are filled with sorrow (John 16:22). And yet, it is striking how often Jesus speaks of peace and joy just a few hours before His arrest and condemnation. In this context, it is no longer so surprising that He ends that memorable evening with several hymns of praise. From there, Jesus sets out toward the cross; crucified between heaven and earth, among His last words are the verses of a hymn by David—a hymn that also ends on a note of praise and trust, just as His entire life did (see Psalm 22:1, 25, 26).
He was loved by children
Jesus was a joyful child and knew how to draw children to Himself. How do we know this? The Bible says that He “grew in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). A child who is “well liked” is never a sullen or dissatisfied child. And Jesus remained this way even after beginning His public ministry. Some may think that the children brought to Him for blessing were urged or even compelled by their mothers, but surely no one forced the child who brought the five loaves and two fish to remain near Jesus and the apostles, so captivated that he forgot his own meal—and then willingly shared it with Jesus and His companions. In the end, Scripture tells us that there were several thousand men present, besides women and children—a detail that also appears in the account of the second multiplication of the loaves (Matthew 14:21; 15:38). So, this was not the only child who was happy to be near Jesus. The fact that children were drawn to Him shows that He knew how to speak their language, how to be close to them, to encourage them, and to inspire trust and joy.
Jesus was surrounded by people who had been healed
It is almost impossible today to imagine a hospital from which all patients are discharged healed—where there are no deaths, no hopeless cases, no patients sent home in a terminal condition. Wherever Jesus went, tears of pain were transformed into tears of joy. People were so happy that they told everyone about the miracle they had experienced. Do you think anyone could remain sad or melancholic among such people? Jesus did not merely spread hope wherever He went; He was hope itself. He did not only speak about the Kingdom of Heaven; He brought a corner of heaven to earth. How much joy must have shone in the eyes of someone blind from birth, suddenly gazing in wonder, for the first time, at the faces around him and at the splendour of nature. How a paralytic healed by Him must have leapt with excitement. Jesus carried with Him a wave of joy the world had never known before—a genuine joy, far more desirable than the “laughter of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:6) with which many had previously tried to season their daily pain and sighs.
People left everything and followed Him
When Jesus called the twelve apostles, they were absorbed in their everyday responsibilities. James and John were washing their nets with their father, Matthew was sitting at the tax booth, and Nathanael was meditating beneath a fig tree. Do you think they would have left everything to follow Jesus if He had been a somber or melancholic figure? Not to mention that they were very young. Jesus was generally surrounded by young people, and young people follow those who are enthusiastic—those with a contagious vision they can identify with. What is more, after His ascension, the disciples would set out with courage to proclaim to everyone the news of His resurrection, carrying forward not only their Lord’s teaching but also His way of being. The apostles knew how to be solemn in their preaching, yet also how to convey the joy Jesus had when He healed people and called them to follow Him.
He was in constant communion with the Father
Paul twice describes God as blessed (1 Timothy 1:11; 6:15). Heaven is a place of genuine joy, and where God’s presence is, there is joy. Jesus told His disciples just before His arrest, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Clearly, Jesus could not leave His disciples something He Himself did not possess.
The joy of Jesus contained nothing frivolous, nothing selfish, not a trace of pretense, and it left behind no regret or remorse. It was pure in its purpose and had healing effects. At the beginning of His ministry, after forty days of fasting, when His strength was diminished, the devil came to Him with the temptation to turn stones into bread and with the offer of the world’s counterfeit joys. He refused them. At the end of His life, the Jewish leaders “mocked Him among themselves” (Mark 15:31)—a form of joy as they saw it. Faced with these substitutes, Jesus chose to love to the end, “for the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2).
Day by day, I find myself increasingly fascinated by this joy—a joy I long to experience fully and to share, like a round loaf of bread, with those who yearn to partake in the feast of joy that does not fade.
Adrian Neagu describes the many facets of the joy embodied—and passed on—by Jesus, the One who bore the pain of our world alone, without allowing Himself to be consumed by it.
