What Was Jesus' Best Day?
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 NKJV
When we think about someone's "best day" we associate it with something good happening – a great adventure, a rewarding experience, or a joyous occasion. Winning the lottery, receiving a prestigious reward, becoming the champion, falling in love, getting married, giving birth to a child, or taking the trip we've always dreamed about are some of the things we associate with living our "best day."
When we think about someone's "worst day" we associate it with something bad happening-a great tragedy, a devastating experience, an unexpected setback or loss. The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the failure to make the team, the refusal of a marriage proposal, plans falling through, dreams shattered, or betrayal by a close friend are some of the things we associate with living our "worst day."
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What was Jesus' best day? Was it at the wedding in Cana when He performed His first miracle? Was it in the countryside when He fed 5000 hungry people? Was it when He healed the man who was blind from birth? Was it when He raised Lazarus from the dead? All of these moments were filled with awe and wonder, happiness and celebration, blessing and delight, but none of these moments compare with the joy that was set before Him.
What was Jesus' best day? His best day was not a "most fun" day, but the day of His greatest suffering. His best day was the day He went to the cross. Can that really be true? Wasn't the cross Jesus' worst day?
From a human perspective, everything about the cross looks like His worst day. His beaten body, the pain of the nails being driven into His hands and feet, the agony and the shame, His blood poured out – all of these point to seeming failure and defeat if we do not understand the reason for His suffering. The events that preceded the cross only seem to heighten the sense of failure – the betrayal, the false witness brought against Him, the illegal trial, the mockery, the spitting, the pulling out of His beard, the lashing of His flesh, the crown of thorns.
But from a divine perspective, the crucifixion, with all its horror, was Jesus' best day. It was His best day because prophetically this truly was "the day that the Lord had made." It was the day that would cause us "to be glad and rejoice in it." All of Jesus' life on earth pointed to this day. Regarding His death on the cross, Jesus said, "It was for this very purpose that I have come to this hour." The prophet Isaiah tells us, "It pleased the LORD to bruise Him."
The cross was Jesus' best day because He did the will of His Father, because He glorified and pleased the Father through His obedience, and because He finished and fulfilled the work the Father sent Him to do. The cross was His best day because it meant the day of salvation, the day of redemption, and the day of our eternal hope.
Jesus' death on the cross has made it possible for this day to be your best day.
Jesus was:
Despised, so you could be accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6);
Rejected, so He could make His home with you (John 14:23);
Sorrowful, so you could receive fullness of joy (John 15:11);
Forsaken, so you could be called His friend (John 15:15);
Afflicted, so you could be healed (Isaiah 53:5);
Acquainted with grief, so you could be comforted (Hebrews 4:15-16);
Chastised, so you could be given perfect peace (John 14:27);
Judged, so you would not need to live in condemnation (Romans 8:1);
Numbered with the transgressors, so you could walk in the freedom of His mercy (Isaiah 53:12);
Put to death, so you could live your life fully for Him (2 Corinthians 5:15);
Buried, so you would have the hope of the resurrection (Romans 6:5);
RESURRECTED from the dead, so you could walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4)!
Eternally welled in God's infinite heart was the love that constrained Him to spare not His own Son so that He could spare you. –Octavius Winslow
