sl8n Baccalaureate: Love -> Joy
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”
Jn 15:9-17
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete…” And what is “this”? “This” is to love. Jesus told us to love so that our joy can be full.
I want to tell you a story. Some of you have heard this story before. A few of you even listened and understood my bad Spanish, but I hope you will let me tell you again. You are under no obligation to believe me, but I give you my word that this is entirely true.
A million years ago, at the beginning of the 1990s, I had just graduated from high school, and I was frustrated with God. I was even a little bit angry with God. For me, God was Lord. I was a fundamentalist non-denominational Christian, but I was really more like a follower of Islam, who sees Allah as master. I wanted to please God, so that God would not leave me or forsake me, but would stay with me, and be pleased with me.
My image of God was all messed up because my image of fatherhood was all messed up. If you are a parent, or you will be someday, let this be a warning to you as you live out that calling and choose who you want to share it with. Our children form their understanding of God by how we treat them – how we love and care for them. Are we distant, distracted, and busy? They will see God that way. Are we absent for good reasons or for bad? They will see God that way. Are we present and loving, and also firm and just? They will see God that way, too.
Anyway, I was complaining to God one day, because I wanted to be pleasing to God, and had no idea how. I didn’t know what to do with my life, and that made me angry.
Wait wait wait… I was complaining to God one day.
Yes, and that is OK. It is OK to complain to God. David often complains to God in the Psalms. It is good to be honest with God, even if we are just complaining. Do that. You’re gonna be frustrated, disappointed, and even angry sometimes. Be honest with God.
So, I didn’t really know what God wanted. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with my life, and that was frustrating to me. I told God that he was not treating me fairly, because the one thing a superior owes their subordinates is clear expectations and instructions. It is terribly unfair for a boss, a master, a parent, or a God to only tell us when we’ve done it wrong, but not tell us what they actually want. Clearly, I thought, God owed me a very clear set of instructions for the path I should choose in life. I ranted on for a good long while.
After I complained to God for a while, I finally shut up for a moment. I kinda wondered if maybe I was going to be struck by lightning.
Then God said something to me in a voice as clear as if it were spoken aloud in the room.
God said to me the same thing that Jesus tells us in that scripture.
“I mean for it to be joy.”
“I mean for it to be joy.”
Joy. That is what God wants for me. That is what God wants for you.
“I mean for it to be joy.” These seven words changed my everything. I’d never really thought of God as someone who desired that my life would be full of joy. I’d never thought of God as something to enjoy. I expected service, sacrifice, slow sanctification, and such, but not joy. I guess I knew it in my head, but I didn’t really “get it” that it was joy that God desired to give me. Not just fire insurance. Not just a better life. Not even “just” the joy of heaven. But joy in this life.
When I say joy, I don’t simply mean happiness. Joy is… something deeper. It is not merely situational, although we certainly experience deep happiness approaching joy in the situations of our life.
Happiness is situational. Joy can persist through difficult times, and even through suffering. It is not simply excitement or satisfaction or the result of achievement. It is not a smile we put on our faces. It is not merely biochemical. Joy is a response of a heart that sees Christ. It is a fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the result of love.
Often, we pursue happiness because we confuse superficial happiness with joy. We think that our deepest joy will come when we get what we want. It will not. That is a lie from the pit of hell.
The truth is in Jesus’ words, and I think it is fair to paraphrase Jesus in today’s Gospel as: “I have told you to love so that you can have joy.”
Jesus wants for us to have joy, and provides us with the path to joy. That path is love.
Lasting joy does not spring from getting what we want. Many times, it is fair to say that looking out for ourselves and trying to get what we want causes more misery than happiness. Now, to be clear, I am NOT saying we shouldn’t pursue happiness. Do that. Set goals. Strive to attain them. Seek happiness. But always remember that only loving others will give us the deepest and most profound joy and happiness.
In our hearts, we already know this is true, don’t we? It doesn’t matter how many gifts a child receives, it is never enough. “Is that all?” they ask. But how much joy we receive when we show love to someone.
It is lovely when someone gives thanks or appreciation, but joy does not come from receiving thanks or appreciation. Your teachers and your parents appreciate your thanks, but their real joy comes from loving you. Their joy comes from loving you. The fact you are appreciative of their gifts of time, talent, and treasures both tangible and intangible is icing on the cake. Likewise, many of you will receive gifts you appreciate, but I hope your real joy will come from knowing you are loved, and from yourself loving the giver.
Loving others is our source of deepest joy, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. We read that Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross. Loving others can be costly, but it is the path to joy.
There is no path of getting that will lead to ultimate joy, except perhaps the path of receiving and grasping completely the love of God for us. And even that, we cannot fully grasp without loving others, because, as Saint John says, “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”
Do you want joy in your life? My advice to you is very simple: love.
Love your neighbor. Love your family. Love that weird kid and your freaky coworker. Love your teachers. Love your friends. Love your home town. Love your country. Love this amazing creation where we live.
God and all of us who love you desire that you find joy in your life.
Love is the path to joy. Wherever you go, and whatever you do… love, and you will find joy.
