BCP Communion 1 Peter 2: 11 – 17; John 16: 16 – 22
“I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
These are Jesus’ words at the end of our Gospel reading this morning. Here Jesus is speaking, before His death, to His puzzled and worried disciples. His image of the woman in labour reflects the transforming quality of what is to happen in His death and resurrection. Just as a new parent can’t help feeling joyful, no one will be able to take away their joy. As international events continue to be so grim I’ve been very struck this year by a quotation which I’ve seen ascribed both to Saint Augustine and to Pope John Paul II. Perhaps the Pope was quoting Augustine. Here it is:
“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”
Jesus promised his disciples a joy that could not be taken away. We are indeed Easter people. Easter isn’t just a long weekend some time in the Spring. Easter is ongoing, and it involves a continuous transformation of our hearts and our lives. So, are we Easter people? Do we live in this joy? What would it mean to do so? Is it even right or possible when we’re aware of so much suffering in the world?
First, let us think a little about what we understand by joy. It certainly isn’t a kind of enforced pious jollity. I’ve occasionally come across people (not in Hampstead Parish Church) who insert ‘Praise the Lord!’ somewhat randomly in conversations. I wasn’t suggesting this sort of thing, or that we start singing ‘happy clappy’ choruses – or singing at all at 8:00 a.m.
Joy suggests to me something far deeper. It’s certainly also deeper than happiness; it’s not dependent on immediate circumstances because it comes from deep inside us. It’s so deep that it can bubble up even at times of great sadness. I was at funeral last Monday where the person’s life had been so fully and joyfully lived that some of that joy carried over even amidst the great sadness at having lost her much too soon.
Jesus has been described as ‘the joy of God’1 because in His life and ministry and supremely in His resurrection He embodies God’s joy. Compare the ministry of Jesus with that of John the Baptist. John was an ascetic who called people to repent. The keynote of Jesus’ mission of healing and forgiveness is release, liberation and joy. And Jesus was disapproved of for spending so much time eating and drinking with unsuitable people. Jesus is always breaking down barriers and bringing joy. By his Resurrection He demolishes the last great barrier – death itself. Jesus dies trusting that violent and overwhelming as the dark powers are there is a deeper truth. Ultimately, at the heart of things there is not violence, but the joy of the Trinity, three persons in an intimate relationship of love. The Resurrection stories show us how Jesus brings joy; a number of them involve sharing a meal together just as Jesus did when He was alive. When we experience Jesus we too experience joy.
“and your joy no man taketh from you”. Jesus is our joy. He is its foundation and its substance. No one can take Jesus from us because now that He is risen He is always with us. As one writer puts it: “Perhaps one way of thinking about the Resurrection would be to see it as the transformation of Christ into pure communion.”
This is the joy we experience supremely week by week as we receive Jesus in bread and wine. Jesus is our joy. We can be Easter people.
Amen
1. Joy, the meaning of the sacraments – Peter Waddell
2. Timothy Radcliffe in Joy, the meaning of the sacraments