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This is our exceeding joy — the gladness of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Yet it is not a matter of which we often think. The Man of Sorrows is much more familiar to us than the Saviour anointed with the oil of gladness. He was the saddest of men, but He was also the gladdest. This is not contradictory. The capacity for grief is the measure of the capacity for gladness. The depth is the height. He who never sinks never soars. The keen sensitiveness to sorrow is also and necessarily the keen sensitiveness, in every healthy soul, to joy. The perfect human nature of our Lord, having every faculty developed perfectly, had this in its completeness — the faculty of gladness.

1. In the character of Jesus Christ there was nothing that marred or lessened in any wise His gladness. We are rent and torn by a score of distractions. It is as if the strings of the soul were some of them broken, and some were all unstrung; and on the others a dozen diverse players to contend for mastery. What a strife and horrid discord is life with many.

2. Think, too, of the sources of gladness in Himself. All the beatitudes were His and His perfectly. And all the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace and all the rest, all of them the elements of a perfect gladness.

3. Then think of His gladness arising from His relationship alike to heaven and earth. "The Child grew and waxed strong in spirit; filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." And yet again, says St. Luke, "the Child increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." The perfect love of heaven and earth meet in Jesus. Count up all sources of gladness; there is none that can compare with the consciousness of God's favour. To walk hand in hand with Him is Paradise restored.

(1) And He grew in favour with man. Never was any so gladdened with the love of earth as was our blessed Lord and Master. Whilst it is true that the world hated Him, and the Pharisees and Scribes took counsel against Him; yet it is also true that the inner circle of His acquaintance yielded Him a devotion such as none else ever knew. Men and women, and little children gladdened the heart of Jesus. And we can help to make Him glad. We do so when we bring to Him our gratitude, and love and trust. Think of the gladness of His youth. He was no melancholy boy of whom we read that He grew in favour with men; no mysterious dreamer whom none could understand. Never, surely, was there upon the earth a sunnier boyhood than that of the holy Child of Nazareth. Take the story of the wedding at Cane of Galilee. Take another instance — "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." The word means literally that He "danced for joy." It is an instance of a joy which could not either be restrained or uttered. And the source of it may well suggest the thought that it was not a single or exceptional event in His life. Then, think of the gladness of Jesus in His work — its purpose, its objects, the poor; His fitness for it, His power in it; see His miracles. See the parables of Luke 15. as showing His joy.

(Mark Guy Pearse.)

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KJV: Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

WEB: You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.