Do you think Yeshua enjoyed life?  The Bible said He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  It is indisputable that He suffered, was persecuted, was treated unjustly, and lived a very simple life with no possessions.  Is a happy life dependent on possessions?  Can a person suffer injustice and persecution, but still enjoy the good things and blessings of life?  Is life itself a gift of God?  To all these questions, I believe the answer is – Yes.

Yeshua, is the one and only Messiah, God’s Son.  On more than one occasion God vocalized, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:17; 17:5).  Yeshua taught frequently that He and Father God were of a single mind and purpose.  He explained how deep was His relationship with Father God saying, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” (John 14: 10-11). Yeshua knew the glory that was His before He came to redeem Israel to God. Yeshua knew his purpose and accomplished it everyday in every way.  Can you imagine what satisfaction and ecstasy there is in knowing and being loved as God’s one and only Son?  Are purpose, fulfillment  accomplishment, and approval important elements in a life enjoyed, of course.

Yeshua was in relationship with his small inner circle of apostles, Peter, Andrew, James and John, the full group of apostles, the broader group of followers, and close friends like Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  He met people whom He was able to help in the most dynamic manner: healing incurable diseases, curing blindness, physical impairments, spiritual and mental derangement.  He felt and demonstrated compassion on the infirmed and afflicted crowds of people brought to Him.  He fed thousands miraculously because of the compassion He had for the crowds who followed Him. He made it a rule that the little children were not to be prevented from coming to Him.  He held the children in His arms and blessed them.  Is it important and essential to have meaningful relationships in one’s life?  Is it possible, even reasonable, to experience with empathy, celebration, joy and happiness in and through the good fortune of others?  Of course, we all feel happiness in the blessing and success of our loved ones.  Most parents would agree that they would prefer to see favor obtained by their children than themselves. Yeshua, wept over Mary’s loss of Lazarus; He experienced the full range of human virtues.  To enjoy life is to participate in it, not as a spectator, but as a friend and brother.

I believe Yeshua’s prayer at Gethsemane for the cup to be removed, if possible, was because He knew fully the pain, burden of sin, and cruelty of death which He faced as the sacrificial Lamb of God.  I also believe that Yeshua enjoyed life, the life that was given to Him by His Father and the life He lived through His Father.  After Yeshua prayed angels came and ministered to Him.  Father God heard His prayer and answered it with angels from heaven.  Of Yeshua, John said, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1: 3-5).  The light and life of mankind, Yeshua, is joy personified.  Death could not hold Him, life sprang back up in three days.

I was viewing a short video I had put together with pictures from our favorite vacations. It included green meadows and falling mountain streams, lush forests, lazy rivers, crystal clear and aqua waters of the Caribbean, puffy white clouds amid a deep blue sky, snow-covered mountain ranges at the top of the world, and the salt and mud of the Dead Sea at the bottom of the world.  These pictures reminded me of the goodness and glory of God’s beautiful creation and it humbled me to think how great is His blessing of life – life on this physical earth and life in the Spiritual realm that is far more than glorious and eternal in His presence. Suggesting that Yeshua enjoyed life is a great understatement. It’s like saying, “Water is moist.”  Moisture is the slightest hint of water upon something else.  Yeshua is alive with everlasting, abundant, radiating, shining, illuminating, transforming, penetrating, overflowing joy of life.  Today, may you enjoy life, the life which is found in Yeshua alone.