Joy

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 9, 2021

6 Easter B 

          Markie was the mother of one of my dearest friends.  She would have been 100 years old this year and was an incredibly faithful, joyful, loving person to the very end of her life.  Markie always treated me like part of the family when we were together, and she had an abundance of love to share.

          The last time I saw Markie was at her daughter’s funeral in 2008.  Markie was such a radiant person that one could easily think that she had born no grief and carried no sorrow.  Yet nothing could be further from the truth.  In addition to losing her daughter, Markie had been widowed three times over the course of her 90 years.  So much loss, and yet Markie was never without a genuine smile.

          I asked Markie once how she could keep on loving as she did when she had experienced so much loss.  She answered with her characteristic smile. The joy and the love outweigh the pain of loss and once that has been proven true the first time, you know you can trust that love in the future.  I am also sure that the joy and the love sustained her through each loss as well.

          I think about Markie and her joy when I hear Jesus say to his disciples “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love….I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”  Abiding, love, and joy.  What could be easier?

          Jesus’ words this morning come from what is called the Farewell Discourse in John’s gospel.  Despite his impending betrayal, trial, and crucifixion, and all the challenges that are ahead for the disciples, Jesus tells his followers that they are to love one another as he has loved them so that his joy may be in them and their joy may be complete.  Clearly, given the circumstances, joy is not the absence of hardship or suffering, nor is Jesus talking about the kind of joy that wears off after a while, like chocolate joy, sunshine joy, covid-vaccine joy, or even holding a baby joy or finally spending time with loved ones joy.  If Jesus’ joy is to be in the disciples, that joy must have something to do with being connected to Jesus.  But what?

Jesus also says to the disciples “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”  What Jesus has commanded the disciples is that they love one another.  At that moment, Jesus’ command probably sounds pretty easy.  Why would they not love each other?  But what the disciples will soon learn is that obeying Jesus’ command means loving each other even on the worst day of their lives as Jesus is crucified, loving Judas despite his betrayal of Jesus, and loving each other as they figure out how to make a gospel difference in the world without Jesus’ physical presence in their lives. 

But what does Jesus mean when he says that the disciples are his friends?  Clearly the disciples are not Jesus’ peers, nor are they just some fun people that Jesus hangs out with.  Jesus is calling the disciples his friends in the deepest sense of the word.  The disciples are the people with whom Jesus can bare his soul and be vulnerable.  Jesus can speak to the disciples about abiding in his love, not as a master demands his servant do something, but as a friend implores someone to do what is best for them.  The disciples are now connected to Jesus in a new way, as trusted friends rather than as servants.

The joy Jesus wants for his disciples is the joy of being fully connected to Jesus.  That joy is not the absence of pain or suffering, but instead is a joy that makes us vulnerable to both God and the world and willing to risk pain, just as Jesus was willing to be vulnerable.  Jesus’ joy is a joy that takes risks for the gospel as Jesus did.  We see Peter, one of the disciples, taking a risk for the gospel this morning in the reading from Acts as he orders the baptism of all on whom the Spirit has fallen, whether they are Jew or Gentile.  While that action may seem fairly obvious to us, the baptism of Gentiles was a bold and risky move at the time, one that spread God’s love in new ways and expanded the horizons of Jesus’ friendship circle in ways that were not always comfortable. 

This morning, we will baptize Ashton and Stratton Parker.  The joy and power of baptism does not mean the absence of any pain or suffering.  The joy of baptism means being washed in the deep abiding love of Jesus so that these boys can abide in God’s love and experience the kind of love and joy that my friend Markie knew-the love and joy that is worth the risk of vulnerability and pain, and the love and joy that will see them through whatever life sends their way.  Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he loves them so that Jesus’ joy could be in them and their joy could be complete.  Our promise as the church, as those who say that we will support these children in their new life in Christ, is to obey that command and be that love, to abide in that love as a community, and to be deeply connected with Jesus.  Through our love for each other, and the way our loves spills out these doors and makes a gospel difference in the world, we will show Ashton and Stratton the power and joy of abiding in God’s love.

                                                                             Amen.