Speaking of Joy
By: The Rev. Pete Martin
Have you ever had to wait for something? It could be a job promotion, a vacation or maybe something that you wanted to own but could not afford it. I remember being sixteen years-old and seeing an electric guitar at Woolworth’s. Now, it was not a named-brand guitar. In fact, it was only $35 but even that small amount was a lot for a kid in 1973. So, I saved my money. I had an allowance, I mowed lawns in the neighborhood and I had a paper route. Back then, Woolworth’s offered something that you never see anymore – layaway. I could have the store hold my treasured guitar and I could make payments on it, until I paid for it and took it home. That day came on my birthday. I had paid for $27 of the $35 and as a birthday present, my parents paid the rest. I was thrilled! I ran home and played that guitar day and night more months afterwards. The reward was worth the wait to me.
In today’s reading, we hear the word “abide”. It is not a word that I hear often, so I checked the definition and the dictionary stated that it means to bear, endure or wait. However, that presents another question and that is “What are we bearing, enduring or waiting for?”.
This is where context matters. For example, if I see you after the service this morning and ask you “How are you doing?”, it has a very different context than if I am paying you a pastoral visit at the hospital and ask you how you are doing. In the same way, today’s gospel reading has two contexts. First, is the story of Jesus Christ. The words he said and the life he lived. This narrative offers the story of Jesus as told by John. The second context is who John is writing to. The gospel of John was the last gospel written in the Bible and was written during a time of great suffering and persecution of John’s community during this time.
So, let’s look at both of these. First, from the story of Jesus’ life, we have a continuation of the themes of fruit and love that began with the gospel reading two weeks ago. Jesus repeats his commandment that we are to love one another and that we should abide in God’s love. However, it is not just about love but Jesus also speaks of joy in the gospel reading. Jesus states that he speaks of love so that his joy may be in you and that our joy would be complete. In saying this, Jesus is saying that we should always be willing to express joy. Whether it be with others or celebrating personal joy. We should never be too busy, too serious or too self-involved to allow joy in our lives. However, there is a passage that takes this message of joy in a very different direction. When Jesus says “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. The interesting thing about this passage is that Jesus says this right after he speaks of joy.
This leads us to the second consideration. That the community of John was facing peril and persecution when John wrote this gospel. Most biblical scholars say that this gospel was written in its final form between 90-100AD. This is a community living in modern-day Palestine that had been excommunicated ny the Jewish comminty there. As a result, they had become enemies of both the Romans as well as the Jews in the area which made them targets for persecution. This could explain why John wrote of laying down one’s life for their friends. In this passage, John is both comforting his faith community through words of joy and love but also challenging them to accept the hardships that they are living under and await a better future.
Which brings us full circle to the word abide and the question I asked in the beginning “What are we bearing, enduring or waiting for?”. The connection of both perspectives is found in the quote “You did not choose me but I chose you”. I take that to mean that we are chosen. Chosen to abide in Jesus’ love. Chosen to abide in the joy that Jesus instills in each of us but also to chosen to abide in the trials and tribulations that go with carrying our cross as Jesus required us to do.
In today’s world, we are faced with many challenges and difficult situations but we can also experience periods of great joy and love as well. In both experiences, Jesus asks us to abide. To bear, endure and wait knowing that God is with us both in our suffering and difficulties as well as our joy and celebration. As Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr often says, both are gifts from God and both belong. Amen.
