Surprised by Joy

The Last Supper (1886) by Fritz von Uhde

One of the challenging things about becoming an adult is the diminished capacity for surprise. Spend a little time around a child and it is hard not to be impressed, and often amused, by the sense of wonder they have for all that is around them: they are amazed by the phenomena of the natural world; the simplest game or trick can entertain them for hours. It is a bit hard not to be jealous of the simple wonder of youth.

The good news is that, while they are a bit fewer and farther between, surprises do not disappear completely with adulthood. I often find that spending a little time in nature reawakens in me a sense of surprise. Spend a little time gazing at a tree or a flower and you can’t help but be amazed at all of the wondrous things around us. You may have to look for them for a little harder, but life still offers plenty of surprises.

In the Gospel today, Jesus surprises his disciples. He calls them “friends.” We might gloss over these words and miss their importance, because we would tend to think, “Of course, the disciples are his friends!” It is true that Jesus lived with his disciples, spent his time with them, and shared everything with them. But it is also true that they were not until this point friends in the way we typically think of them; he was the Teacher, the Master, the Rabbi, and they were the disciples. For Jesus then to call him his friends implies a change in relationship. Their following him is no longer about following commands – it is about understanding the mind of the Master, and as his friends, doing what he has done.

Jesus says to them, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and your joy might be complete.” We might think that Jesus has come to teach us obedience, or devotion, or piety. But instead he says that his true purpose is to fill us with joy, and to make our joy complete. Indeed, he wants to give us his joy – the joy that comes from knowing the Father, and from being loved by the Father as the eternal Son. When Jesus invites his friends into his joy, it is a joy that cannot be taken away by any sadness or pain or suffering. Jesus spoke these words at the Last Supper, when he himself was at the brink of his own suffering and death – aware that in just a few moments one of these men whom he had called a friend would betray him and the rest would abandon him – and yet he was filled with joy because of knowing the Father’s love.

A few weeks ago, Pope Francis wrote a letter to every Christian entitled “Gaudete et Exultate” – “Rejoice and Be Glad”. I have been reading through it a bit lately. It is a series of reflections about the way in which God wants to inspire each of us to love, about the call to holiness that he calls each of us to. Pope Francis notes that too often we tend to think of holiness as piety, devotion, an overly strict sense of religiosity, when in reality it is simply living in authentic joy and holding on to that joy so that we can love more deeply. “Keeping,” he says, “a heart free of all that tarnishes love: that is holiness.”

As we come to the end of a semester at the university, perhaps it is a good time for each of us to reflect upon where our joy comes from. Do we feel the authentic joy that comes from knowing God, knowing of his love for us, and keeping that love free from tarnish? Or are we searching for something lesser? The Christian writer C.S. Lewis once wrote that the joy which comes from love is not the same as pleasure or contentment; those things are much more commonplace and unremarkable. True joy, he said, doesn’t come from “security or prosperity” or the satisfaction of any desire. Rather it is a feeling of childlike delight: it “jumps under one's ribs and tickles down one's back and makes one forget meals and keeps one (delightedly) sleepless o' nights.” True joy cannot be duplicated or bought or faked; it is authentic.

Friends, we may struggle at times to experience surprise as we get older, but there is one thing that should never cease to surprise us: that Jesus has made us his friends. Jesus invites us to share in his joy, to make our joy complete by the knowledge of the Father’s love. More than obedience of piety or devotion, the Lord wants our relationship with him to be one of friendship, one that is rooted in the joy of love. God’s love is given to us freely without cost, so that we can respond freely to love him. When we know the mind of Jesus as our Friend, then we can act as he did, and love as he loved. The holiness he calls us to is nothing other than loving, joyful friendship, and who does not want that? May the Eucharist that we will celebrate in a few moments be a confirmation of the Lord’s great love for us, and a foretaste of the authentic joy of the heavenly kingdom.
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