The great Christian writer, G.K. Chesterton, once commented that “Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian.” If this is true, why is Christian joy a secret? An old prayer reads, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation.” Why does the joy that proceeds from one’s Christian faith need to be restored? Where did it go? Why is it not always present in the life and on the face of Christians?

Some Christians look like they have been baptised in lemon juice! Of all people on earth, we Christians should be the most joyful. We have peace with God through the forgiveness of sins, our eternal destiny is prepared for us by God’s grace, and we daily live in the presence of our God and Savior. So why aren’t Christians more joyful?

When we read the New Testament, we see the joy of Jesus in the stories he told and in the conversations he had with people. We can almost hear his laughter when he described to the crowds the difficulty of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. It’s easy to imagine Jesus’ laughter at the sight of timid Zacchaeus up in a tree watching the parade pass by.

As a preacher, I love to include humorous stories in my sermons. It gives me joy to make people laugh. Humor relaxes the congregation and expresses a common humanity with hearers as well as expressing the joy of our salvation..

For example, my favorite true story is about a little girl who had a pet turtle. Her father, a circuit court judge in South Carolina was asked to give the graduation speech at the university at which his daughter was graduating. The judge described how his daughter as a little girl had a pet turtle. She loved her turtle–fed it, cleaned its bowl, petted it, and loved it. One day the family came home after a few hours at the mall. The little girl noticed that the turtle was not moving. Her daddy examined it carefully and told his upset daughter, “Honey, I’m afraid your turtle is dead.”

The little girl was distraught. She wept and wept at the news. Her father, trying to console her, promised, “Sweetheart, I know you’re very upset. You loved your turtle very much. But I’ll tell you that we will have a “wake” for the turtle. You can invite some friends and we’ll get a nice cake and ice cream and balloons and play some of your favorite games. I’ll even rent a pony for you to ride around the yard. We’ll make it a wonderful celebration of the turtle’s life!”

Just then as they looked in shock, the turtle moved.

The little girl looked up at her father and said, “Daddy, let’s kill it!”

I have used this wonderful story at Easter to illustrate the Easter story of the resurrection of Jesus, the most joyous event in history.

The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, a critic of the Christian faith, once said to Christians, “If you want me to believe in your redeemer, you’ll have to look more redeemed.”

Lord, restore to us the joy of our salvation and let us look more redeemed!