Word of the Day: Joy (χαρὰ)
In the Gospel of John, there are nine references to joy spread fairly evenly throughout the book (John 3:29, 4:36, 8:56, 11:15, 14:28, 15:11, 16:20-24, 17:13, 20:20).
The specific theme of joy “is developed along what can be called a temporal and a (revelation-) historical line, which starts with the joy of Abraham prophetically seeing the coming Christ ahead of time, continues with the joy of John the Baptist, who saw the Christ in the fullness of time.
From there it expands to the joy of the disciples in the presence of Jesus on earth (before his death), their joy when seeing him as risen Lord (after his resurrection) and their joy in hearing him intercede for them at the Father (a preview of Christ after his ascension)… joy is presented as an aspect of faith that is rooted in Jesus Christ himself, especially in seeing him as the promised Messiah.”
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Jordaan, G. (2015). The Joy of Seeing Christ: A Thematic Study of Joy in the Gospel of John.