Joy is a strange topic for this moment.
Nothing is joyful today: an escalating pandemic in many states, an ever-expanding death toll (120,000 Americans and growing) and protests forcing racism into our national consciousness.
Yet this is the perfect time to think about joy, as Jesus describes it in John’s gospel (John 15:11). Jesus promises:
“I have said these things [i.e. about staying at home with me) to you so that my very special joy can be right there in the midst of your community and so that your own personal joy can be filled to overflowing.” (Bruner translation)
Jesus mentions joy a great deal in John’s gospel, indeed nine times (more than any other New Testament book); seven of these occurrences are here in his final Upper Room talk with his disciples.
So much talk of joy is all the more surprising when we remember that Jesus’ crucifixion is only a few hours away and overshadows everything Jesus says in John 15-17.
In what is often called Jesus’ high priestly prayer for his disciples, we find these words as Jesus looks ahead to his cross and resurrection in John 17:13:
Now [Father] I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them. (The Message)
Jesus “talked up” joy the night before his death. Why? Because of what lay beyond his death, for himself and for all who trusted him with their lives.
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:2, NIV)
How does my joy fit with the cross?
Times like these are filled with heavy crosses that many carry.
- I have not lost a loved one, a friend, or even someone whose name I know to Covid-19. Yet I can mourn with those who have lost someone. I can empathize with leaders whose communities have been decimated by rising rates of infection.
- I have rarely experienced racism first-hand, yet I can listen carefully to the voices of people just like me who have been denied their humanity, dismissed as inferior, or physically threatened simply because of their skin color. I can see ways in which their pain and suffering is not their fault, not because they lack intelligence, moral fiber, or personal ability.
Every time I try identifying with others’ pain, I take a small step toward the cross.
You might say, “But wait! The cross is spiritual. You’re talking about disease and racism.”
I would reply that on the cross Jesus was absorbing not only your and my personal sins, but sin with a capital ‘S,’ the deep, chaotic brokenness of God’s good creation that has become horribly warped and riddled with evil (far beyond any of our personal sins).
The Protestant Reformers like Calvin and Luther were adamant that the redemption accomplished on the cross impacts all creation, not just individual human beings. This is why the Kingdom of God is always biblically described as a “new heaven and new earth”–a new, redeemed creation, not just forgiven people.
When I take any step toward suffering in our world, I join Jesus in his own journey, where, “for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.”
British evangelical scholar and bishop NT Wright puts it in clear perspective for me:
“If we are to be kingdom-announcers, modeling the new way of being human, we are also to be cross bearers.
This is a strange and dark theme that is also our birthright as followers of Jesus.
Shaping our world is never for a Christian a matter of going out arrogantly thinking we can just get on with the job, reorganizing the world according to some model we have in mind.
It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point…
As [Jesus] himself said, following him involved taking up the cross…we should expect that to build on his foundation will be to find the cross etched into the pattern of our life and work over and over again.”
So, I ask again: How does my joy fit with the cross?
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Heroes are those who run towards danger when everyone else is running away from it.”
I know I’m not a hero. But as a follower of Jesus Christ, I do want to run towards “sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world.”
Why? Because this is the direction Jesus is running.
However, I heed NT Wright’s warning:
“Shaping our world is never for a Christian a matter of going out arrogantly thinking we can just get on with the job, reorganizing the world according to some model we have in mind.”
Rather than assuming I have all the answers, I need to take steps towards sharing the “pain and puzzlement” of others in humility. “Puzzlement” is sometimes harder to bear than pain! Puzzlement requires me to enter into spaces that challenge my pre-existing worldview and that is never comfortable.
If you haven’t seen the movie of the true story The Blind Side, you should. As you may know, Sandra Bullock got an Academy Award portraying a wealthy southern woman who takes a homeless black teenager into her home and raises him as her child.
There’s a classic scene where she’s talking with her wealthy women friends in a swank restaurant about taking this poor boy into her home.
They can’t believe it! She’s actually visited the projects on the other side of town where decent people never go? She’s stepped outside their social norms? She’s not “one of us” anymore?
You really need to watch the movie to see how she reacts to their challenges to “come to her senses.”
Here’s the point: just as the woman Sandra Bullock plays in the movie, we all begin, not by wanting to change the world, but by taking a small step outside our own comfort zones.
We step out into a small way into “sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world.”
What might this look like for you? Where do you see pain and puzzlement around you? How might you take a step toward it, instead of away from it? It’s that simple.
And if we’re not careful, one step might lead to another step, and then another, until, unexpectedly, we find the cross “etched into the pattern of our life and work over and over again.”
Yet even small steps are difficult! It is far easier to preach, discuss, debate (or write about) “taking up the cross” rather than actually doing it. Doing something demands that we step outside our comfort zones.
Why would any of us even try? Jesus promises (overflowing) joy when we “stay at home” (abide) with him. Together with him, we can take steps toward the cross.
Might you join me on this journey?
