What causes sorrow in you? Can you be described as primarily a “happy” person? If No, why not? Acts 18:9-18; Jn 16:20-23

Jesus explains in these verses how the disciple’s sorrow will turn to joy. The metaphor of child birth is used to explain the in-breaking of God’s kingdom. Just as the birth of a child turns the pain of the mother into joy, so the in-breaking of God’s kingdom will turn the disciples’ sorrow into joy. Jesus’ appearance to the disciples after his death will be the cause of their sorrow turning to joy. This joy will not be temporary, but permanent, and no one or event will be able to take it away. This is because the whole of life’s perspective will change and the disciples will become a new people, a new creation. On that day, all the questions of the disciples will cease because nothing will need to be explained. It will be as clear as it needs to be.

Sorrow and joy are common everyday experiences of all humans. Sorrow is caused when things do not go the way we expect them to or when people do not respond in the way we want them to. When our expectations are not met, we feel sad and upset. However, after the resurrection of Jesus and his presence among us in his Spirit, sorrow can never be an enduring experience for a believer. It is always temporary. Joy is permanent. This joy is not caused by the happening or not happening of events, it is not caused by our expectations being fulfilled, but by a realization that, in Jesus, God always wants what is best for us and will never do anything that is not for our good and for his glory. It is a realization that, in Jesus, we are loved unconditionally by a God who is Father and who always wants what is best for his sons and daughters.