Grief Turned to Joy

Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
John 16:20 (NIV)

These words, spoken by Jesus nearly 2,000 years ago, have been a lifeline for countless people facing sorrow. Today, let’s think about the first ones who clung to them: his disciples.

Jesus spoke these words on Thursday of Holy Week in the Upper Room. By Friday, he was crucified, and the world rejoiced in his death. Then came Saturday—a day of grief, confusion, and silence.

Perhaps the disciples were back in that same Upper Room, their tears breaking the quiet. Did the words from Thursday echo in their hearts? “You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”

Did they dare believe it?

When Jesus said this, he wasn’t offering wishful thinking. He was declaring a truth written across the story of God’s people. From Abraham’s journey to Israel’s exodus, God had always turned grief into joy. It took time. It often involved ...

“Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city...