Joy

Be joyful at your Feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. (Deut. 16:14 NIV)

For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. (Ps. 92:3-5 NIV)

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:21-23 NIV)

I've been reading Walter Wangerin's "JESUS." This is a novel telling the story of Jesus' life from perspectives of his mother Mary, the Beloved Disciple John, Simon "Rock" Peter, and others. I've found it a fascinating way to look at Jesus because it makes him very human.

I'm up to the section on the last week of Jesus' life and recently read the "Wednesday" chapter. In the church we usually focus on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, and then celebrate Easter Sunday! I've never thought too much about what would have happened that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, though.

In this novel, the Jews were preparing for the Passover to begin, and Wednesday night was a night to clean out of the home all remaining traces of yeast - from bread loaves to crumbs left in baskets. But Wangerin goes a step farther - he suggests that for Jesus' group, that night became an unexpected party. He suggests that the women of the group, who were making preparations, would have sensed the "differentness" of Jesus' mood and that a no-holes-barred feast and dinner celebration was the result. In this retelling of the story, friend Mary bathes Jesus' feet in the expensive nard perfume and mother Mary watches her son ("Yeshi") laugh wholeheartedly.

What JOY!!

Where is your joy? Where are the moments in which you are aware of this fruit of the Spirit in your life? When do you just look around at your friends or loved ones and praise God for the joy they (and He!) give you?

Joy is not equal to happiness; we can be joyful in the midst of suffering and affliction. Joy is a spiritual state - a blessing by God.

Let us pray...

Joyful God, Laughing "Yeshi," Fruit-giving Spirit,

Thank you for the gift of joy in our lives. Thank you for the moments where we are aware of what you are doing and how it is a pure representation of your joy. Help us be even more aware...and even more grateful. Help us seek out your joy, not the "happiness" of the world, and to help others to seek first your Kingdom, live fully the fruits of your Spirit, and honor you with our lives.

In the powerful name of the laughing One we pray...Amen.