Pastor's Commentary

April 2008

He Said We Could Be Happy
The Gospel According to St John 13:17 “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

It is right here in black and white, or depending on the exact Bible you carry, it could be in red and white. Jesus gives away the secret of happiness. It is not so secret at all, is it? It is very plain, actually. He said we may be happy, if we are first knowledgeable of His Words, and then if we put those Words of His into practice.

So, how do we do it? How do we “know these things” of which He spoke? The way to knowing Jesus’s teachings is of course only possible by becoming deeply committed to the daily reading of Scripture. We need to let the Word of God sink deep down into our hearts. Do you have a Bible you read from every day? Maybe it was one that belonged to a relative before you, or perhaps it was one that you bought somewhere or received as on your wedding day or something. A cherished Bible can become like an old friend, a trusted friend, and one you look forward to spending time with every day. It is in the Bible that we encounter the very living Christ! Knowing the things He teaches is essential to really living the Christian life. The Bible’s role in our spiritual development and spiritual formation must not be underestimated. We need never look further than the Word of God, if we want to know the very words of God! If I could be so bold, let me ask you something—it is what we might call “gut check time”—are you happy? I don’t mean by asking that to see if you are pain free, or problem free, because those things really do not have to interfere with our spiritual happiness. We can have the joy of our Lord in our hearts and still be in the midst of great turmoil and even tragedy. Yes, we can have His joy even in times of grief and sorrow. So, we ought to ask ourselves, are we really happy? Surely real happiness cannot be found apart from reading and knowing God’s Word. As Jesus put it here, we must strive to “know these things.”

A parallel to what Jesus is saying is found in Psalm 119. That Psalm starts out “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. ”

That word “blessed” is 'esher in the Hebrew, which could also be translated “happy.” Do you see how it fits together now? “Blessed (happy) are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.” What was it again that Jesus said in John 13:17? He said “If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them.” Sounds a great deal like Psalm 119:3 to me…the key to happiness is to know the Word of God, and then put it into practice in our day to day life. That is what Jesus said. That is what Psalm 119:3 says.

Happiness—He said we could have it. Happiness, that elusive goal that the whole world seems to be seeking after, that they would give almost anything to experience, can really be ours. We can really, truly be happy, but we have to accept the terms that Jesus gives us here. We have to know His teachings, live by them, and trust and believe in Him as our personal savior if we are really, truly going to experience it.

If you are not happy in the Biblical understanding of the term, I hope you will give some deep consideration to what our Lord has said here in John 13. If you don’t feel happy, then in sincerity ask Him to grant to you His kind of happiness.