Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“Joy-filled suffering” (John 13:21 – 32)
What do jumbo shrimp, liquid gas and the living dead all have in common? They are all examples of oxymoron’s. Today- Wednesday in Holy Week- in our Gospel reading from St. John, Jesus speaks to his betrayal, which elicits many not me’s from the disciples. Even as Judas is identified as the betrayer, the other eleven still do not fully understand. The only person in the room who truly understands is Jesus Himself, who says to Judas Iscariot, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
At this point in the passion narrative, I don’t picture Jesus being happy, yet I cannot imagine Him being anything but joy-filled. Happiness comes and goes based on circumstances, yet someone who is joy-filled can be so, even in the midst of suffering. Jesus knew the anguish and suffering that awaited Him. He even pleads with the Father for another way than the cross He was to bear. Although Jesus knew in His spirit that this was the only way, He also knew the joy that would be known by the whole world because of the sacrifice of love He was called to endure. I believe it is with joy-filled suffering that Jesus says to his disciples, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.”
Many Christians today and throughout the ages have lived out the same oxymoron modeled by their Lord and Savior. Those who have endured ridicule or pain because of their belief in Jesus; lost friends, family or career, standing for the Truth of the Gospel; or even lost their lives for the sake of Jesus, have done so by the grace and strength of God and the indwelling joy of the Holy Spirit. Even when our happiness fades away, the truth of the Gospel is that the joy of the Lord is always nearby. May we, as our Lord and countless Christians before us have done, walk through this life with that same sacrificial love, grace and joy, praying that God the Father would “give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed.” Amen.
The Rev. Christian Maxfield
Rector
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Prairie du Chien, WI
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