Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts
15:7-21; John 15:9-11)
In today’s
gospel Jesus tells his disciples to keep his commandments. In this way, he says, his joy will be in
them. The joy that he is referring to is
the exultation of completing his mission and experiencing the resurrection. To appreciate the wonder of this joy, it is
helpful to compare it with pleasure, its counterfeit.
Many seek
pleasure and count it as happiness. But
joy is a much better approximation of the happiness people desire deep within. Pleasure is superficial. It is a phenomenon of the sensual faculties
that lasts a moment and then clamors for more sensation. Joy, on the other hand, is spiritual satisfaction
that pervades one’s being. Gained only with effort, it lasts a long time and gives
continual consolation.
Jesus’
promise to share with us his joy implies that we follow him. In all likelihood, our discipleship will not
cost us our lives. But it will entail our
sacrifice of self in love. This is a meager
cost for the exultation that his joy brings.
