Crushed by Joy

There’s a paradoxical phrase that expresses both the way and the reason Jesus gave His life: crushed by joy.

I don’t think I’ve encountered a more realistic, honest, brutal, and compelling phrase to describe what Christ did on the cross.

I came across the phrase just a week ago as I was nearing the end of It Is Finished: A 40-Day Pilgrimage Back to the Cross by the award-winning novelist Charles Martin. In the Epilogue, Martin reflects on the experience of writing the book by concluding, “I’ve been crushed by a joy I’ve never known.”

The juxtaposition of “crushed” and “joy” is inspired by a verse in the book of Hebrews, where the writer provides an explanation for the reason Jesus died:
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He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. (Hebrews 12:2, NLT)

Crushed by joy.

I’ve been a Christian a long time and have experienced dozens of Good Fridays and Easter Sundays. I’ve concluded in my own theological understanding that the reason Jesus died can be summed up in one word: love. That’s a pretty good answer, and there are multiple verses to support it—including arguably the Bible’s most famous:
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For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NASB)

There’s no question that verse is uncomplicated and compelling: God gave us Jesus because He loves us so much, and Jesus died so that love could be fulfilled. But after reading Martin and thinking about his phrase, my understanding of what it meant for Jesus to die and why He willingly gave His life has been challenged and deepened.

‍Crushed by joy.

Martin’s use of the word crushed is from a famous passage in the Old Testament that describes the physical agony Jesus went through on the cross:
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He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. (Isaiah 53:5, NLT)

The word crushed stands out. The Hebrew behind it is me·duk·ka, and it has several meanings, with each one progressively more brutal: crumble, beat to pieces, destroy. And there’s one more word in the definition of crushed that doesn’t look like it belongs, but it absolutely does: humble.

‍This is the essence of Jesus, the reason why He came to earth in the first place, full of humility, emptying Himself, willing to be crushed in the process of being crucified.

Crushed by joy.

This brings us back to Hebrews 12:2. Here we learn that joy was both the motivation for and the reason why Jesus endured the agony, the humility, and the crushing of the cross. The key is the context of these verses we all know so well:
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Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. (Hebrews 12:1-2, NLT)

The athletic imagery in this passage points to a future state of joy that awaits the person who trains for a race and endures rather than gives up.

I’m not an athlete and have never had to subject my body to a strict training regimen characterized by discomfort and pain, but I know something about hard work. When you give something your all and you finish the task, there is great joy in the outcome. For me, writing a book offers this experience. It’s a painful process, but once the manuscript is done and submitted to the publisher, there is great joy. Choose your own adventure. Whatever the endeavor, if you do it right you will experience pain and suffering. And yet without the pain, you won’t have joy.

But now magnify the pain by a hundred. A thousand! Maybe by a million: crumble, beat to pieces, destroy, crush. This was the experience of Jesus as He took on the punishment for sin for all time—yours and mine and tens of billions of others—absorbing and satisfying the wrath of God.

On our behalf.

In our place.

He did it for you and for me and for the joy He knew would be His afterward.

PRAYER

Jesus, my soul aches when I try to imagine

how brutally You were crushed by Your crucifixion.

You suffered for me, for my sins. You were crushed because of me.

But when I realize You were willing to die because of the joy

You knew would be Yours, my soul rejoices and my sorrow turns to joy.

Because You were crushed, I am forgiven, restored, and welcomed

into Your Father’s eternal Home, where I will forever be with You.

Amen.