Christian Joy. John 20 19-31, 1John 1 1- 22

Sermon for Sunday 23/04/06 @ 1045am

1 John 1 verse 4. “We write this to make our joy complete.”  That is the summary of why the writer of this letter makes the effort to write the letter. Some of the ancient manuscripts have “to have your joy complete” but most scholars believe the word our to be correct.

The letter is written so that everyone’s joy may be complete, the writer of the letter and the whole community to which he writes, that he considers himself also to be a part of. That is his meaning, “We write this to make our joy complete.”  The letter writer, we refer to as John, summarizes the Gospel, the coming of Jesus, his life, death and the meaning of his message which includes the justification that the resurrection meant, and describes his purpose as being to make the joy of the community complete. I want us to reflect upon the Gospel story of the appearance of Jesus to the disciples to understand something of what we mean by the idea of “joy” - “Christian joy”.

Newcastle is, - I’m sure you know a city of culture - at least those who are promoting its bid to be European City of Culture 2008 are presenting it as such. One of the new buildings opened near the centre of Newcastle is the Baltic Centre for contempory art. Some weeks ago Mary and I visited The Baltic. On the ground floor there was an exhibition by an artist called Chad McCail. He described his collection of cartoons as “developing a cartoon world of zombies, robots and wealthy parasites to reflect a simplified class system and, at the same time an ideal world against which the other can be measured.” I have to say that for me it was his cartoon world that didn’t measure up!

What particularly struck me though was his assertion that the primary motivating factor in life was “the pursuit of pleasure.” It seems to me that there is a strand in contemporary life that does indeed see the pursuit of pleasure as being the most motivating influence upon us, the thing that gets us going, but I would suggest that it is fundamentally anti-Christian, and that the view of life put forward by McCail was consequently shallow and unattractive. I want to suggest that the Christian view of life is so much better than this and that we need to be much better at making it known today. Not doing so sells the Gospel short. Fundamentally Christianity says that life is based upon joy, itself an outworking of love. I want to join the writer of the letters of John in saying “I preach this to make our joy complete.”

The word “joy” as it is used in the bible is a word of great depth. In the Old Testament there are thirteen roots found in twenty seven words used primarily for some aspect of joy or joyful participation in worship. Joy is something that is felt, a happiness deep within us, but it is also something that is expressed in dance, song, shouting or verse. Joy is found through prosperity, for example in the opening verses of psalm 1 but only when that prosperity reflects dedication to the God who gives true prosperity. Feasting and celebration expresses joy again especially when they reflect faithfulness and devotion to God and his way. Joy also comes however in the relief of  suffering, or sickness. Psalm 31 verse 7 says “I will be glad and rejoice in your love for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” the words translated “glad and rejoice” here come from the word joy in Hebrew. Joy is not simply an emotion expressing superficial happiness, it is as much a quality of the mind as it is a feeling of the heart.

In the New Testament the same ideas come through, but joy fundamentally becomes linked with God’s salvation. In this sense it is a quality found in the being of a person whose relationship is right with God. In part it expresses God’s shalom, the peace God offers to each of his disciples, but it is also found as a result of a persons relations with others, joy is not simply an individual’s state, but it is also found through being at ease with the community around you. Hence Joy is found in the community of believers, and the writer of the first letter of John can rightly speak about his writing as “making our joy complete.” Peace and joy belong together.

Bearing that in mind turn your attention again to the resurrection appearances. Earlier we read the account John tells of  the two appearances in the upper room. They are accounts of  the risen Jesus appearing to a considerable group of people. We can imagine how the group of disciples had been feeling after the death of Jesus and it is not surprising that when Jesus appears to the group of disciples, not including Thomas, John describes them as being “overjoyed”. They had heard what the women who had been to the tomb had said, and what Peter and John had said, the day must have been spent in wondering what it all meant,. Seeing Jesus for themselves, his being their with them again as they had known in the past, and that they had given up all hope of knowing again, left them understandably “overjoyed”. Suddenly all the thinking, wondering, uncertainty had been resolved through seeing for themselves. Notice though that the emotion of Joy is once again associated with the experience of coming through suffering. Make no mistake the disciples had suffered - the feelings of failure, of letting their friend down, the feelings  of loss, the feeling that all they had given up to be with Jesus during his ministry had been lost for no reason now, the feeling of fear of the authorities who could come for them at any time. Then, suddenly, its all reversed - Jesus is there with them, and through the suffering they have come into a new and wholesome relationship with Jesus and through him with God- whether or not they realized that as yet. Thomas with all his doubts himself came to this same joy. You can imagine the scene when Thomas had met up with the other disciples after the first appearance. They were really excited, he was doubtful, they were trying to tell him that it really had happened, he true to his character, was playing it down and not accepting what they said, but after the second appearance he was as joyful as the others, “My Lord and my God” was in part a statement of commitment, but it was also an acceptance of the right relationship he had found with God, and the joy that results.

But the joy that Thomas expressed, the joy that the disciples knew was common to the church as a whole, and was the same joy as the writer of the first letter of John knew and wanted to share with all who read his letter. It is an infectious joy because it is a joy that comes from God who wants us all to know this joy. It is not a simple happiness, it’s a lot more than that. It is in part what we mean by satisfaction in life. It is in part a reward of faith, but it is most of all a fruit of the amazing events of the first Easter morning. Its not to wonder that John describes the disciples encountering Jesus in the upper room as overjoyed,  he meant that very literally - they were over joy - beyond it - the happiness, the pleasure, the vindication, the triumph all these things were added up. They knew pure unadulterated joy. Yes there is a great deal of suffering in following the way of Christ, life lived for him is not intended to be a bed of roses, unless we remember that roses have thorns - a bed of roses is a pretty painful place. Life with Christ can be painful, but it is also very very joyful. This is not superficial happiness, not some pursuit of pleasure, it’s a lot more than that. It is the fruit of loving as Jesus showed. Two people deeply in love know of a joy. That doesn’t mean that they will never know difficult times, or passionate suffering, C. S Lewis described suffering and joy as two sides of the same coin. Two people in love know Joy but even that is almost as nothing compared to the joy we can know in encountering for ourselves the living Jesus. In that encounter there is as Charles Wesley says in one of his great hymns, joy unspeakable,  it reflects both the communal aspect of Christian joy and its overflowing nature

                        “We all partake the joy of one

                        The common peace we feel

                        A peace to sensual minds unknown

                        A joy unspeakable”

You too are offered that joy in your life. We are offered it into the life of the church, your church here at Overend. Indeed we need to reflect it in the church and then also enable it to be known by others. It is one of the really attractive things about Christian Life. It is a gift of God but one which I sometimes think the church doesn’t want to receive, sometimes we act in the church with great suspicion of the emotions, and joy receives more suspicion than most! There is a deep and wonderful gift in joy.

Life is not primarily motivated by the pursuit of pleasure, that is an illusion, but joy delivered through love is a gift of God. Let us all discover that joy anew and share it with all whom we meet. 

Amen.

John Howard, Chair of District

© 2006