Receiving Joy

 

 

“I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.”  (John 15:11, CEB)

 

One of my spiritual heroes, if you will, is Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa (pictured above on the right).  As a follower of Jesus, he stood courageously against the racism, cruelty, and injustice of South African apartheid using only the non-violent love of Jesus.  Although he saw and experienced great suffering at the hands of the apartheid system, in the days post-apartheid Desmond Tutu led the nation in healing through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  He received the Nobel Peace Prize for all of his work.  

 

When I visited South Africa with a contingent of United Methodist Clergy a few years ago, I almost had the opportunity to meet Desmond Tutu.  Our host in Cape Town was another Bishop, Peter Story (pictured on the left above), a man with a powerful story and witness of his own.  One day we were driving in the car and I asked Peter if he still kept in contact with Archbishop Tutu.  I shared how much I admired Desmond Tutu and his work and would love the opportunity to meet him some day.  Peter immediately picked up the cellphone, dialed a number.  When he hung up Peter said, “I’m so sorry, Desmond is travelling right now.”  So close.

 

One of the things that I have long admired about Desmond Tutu is his sense of joy even when the world and life can be its cruelest and most unjust.  Although he has experienced the worst, it has never tempered his inner joy which flows through so many pictures like the one above, which incidentally was captured during some of the cruelest days of apartheid.  Recently Archbishop Tutu wrote a book with the Dalai Lama titled The Book of Joy:  Lasting Happiness in a Changing World.

 

Joy is important in the Christian life.  It is evidence of God’s spirit at work in a person, one of the “fruits” of the Holy Spirit, according to Paul (Galatians 5:22).  Joy, according to the above passage from John, is something that Jesus wishes to give us so that we will be complete.  Think about that simple truth. Without God’s joy in our hearts, we are incomplete.  

 

Further, joy is different from happiness.  Happiness is a feeling or an emotion we might experience when things are working out as we would like.  Happiness often comes and goes depending on external things happening in our lives and the world.  We easily mistake happiness for joy.

 

Joy, though, is different.  It remains regardless of surrounding events.  It reminds us that God is at work even though things may be falling apart.  It sustains a sense of faith, hope, and love when they seem the most improbable things.  This is why Desmond Tutu was able to retain joy even through the violence of apartheid.  

 

Joy, though, is not something we produce by ourselves.  Joy is a gift from God when we are still and attentive enough to let God’s grace fill our lives.  Jesus wants to give the same joy he finds in God to each one of us.  We do not have to earn it or prove ourselves worthy of it.  We must only be willing to receive.

 

Well, I suppose receiving is not all.  There is a cost.   We will have to relinquish our attitudes of despair and hopelessness.  We will have to move away from self-defeating ideas that lock us into notions that just because the world is changing nothing will ever be good again.  We will have to trust even when we can’t see clearly ahead and also look for the best in people, refusing to condemn them to our worst images of them.  We must hope and pray for joy to take hold in others, friend and enemy alike.  These are just the ways and costs of joy.  Still, the benefits of joy far outweigh the costs.  

 

What attitudes prevent you from receiving God’s joy right now?  What events are happening in your life today that need joy, not just happiness?  Are you willing to simply ask Jesus to give you some of his joy?  Are you willing to receive?