Luke 24:13-35
Don’t Hesitate - Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
Today’s word is Joy. Which leads me to write a sermon about how Joy is always possible, even when life is the pits. I was going to start by creatively listing all the hard things that happened to me this week, just so you would know that I understand completely that there is no logical reason to be joyful these days. I have a very long list this week! But then I realized that your list is probably longer and harder. And after all, it is my job to write a sermon even on hard weeks and it’s a pretty cushy job, all things considered.
The disciples of Jesus walking to Emmaus had had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week, so to speak, and were happy to tell the stranger who joined them about how their best friend and leader had been executed, just for starters on life falling apart. They didn’t expect to get a lesson in scripture for their trouble, but they did. And since the week was terrible and the stranger was pleasant, why not invite him to dinner… There in that simple meal of bread, because they had been travelling and couldn’t cook, he breaks the loaf and they recognize Jesus. He disappears, but their grief is now joy and they run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others.
In our world a lot of very bad things have happened this week. We can’t count the bombs that have fallen and the lies that have been told and the bad news dispensed at doctor’s offices and airport ticket counters and job service and all those other places we’d rather not hang out. And yet, I heard lots of joy this week. I said yes to a car repair without any red tape at all. I saw young actors and musicians do a bang-up job in a school play. The Bergeson garden catalog came, full of garden possibilities. Around the world a whole lot of babies were born, meals shared, projects completed. Even if the news is pretty bad, the stuff that’s not at all newsworthy can be pretty good.
I suspect that someone put “joy” on our word list because it’s joy that gets us through when the job seems overwhelming and we don’t really feel much like doing it. Mary Oliver reminds us that the best thing to do when joy shows up is to enjoy it. To receive it like a gift and expect it to overpower all the gloom, or at least push it back for a while.
Experts tell us that joy and happiness are not the same. Happiness depends on circumstance. We’re happy when good things happen, when people are nice to us, when we win the door prize. Happy is a good thing, but joy is better. If happiness is a reaction to positives, joy is a world-view that expects positives, Joy is what can surprise us when there’s no reason to be happy, because we’re willing to see what’s good in the middle of life being messy and real. To watch for almost-hidden signs that the mess isn’t the whole story.
I believe in joy because I believe that deep down, under all the muck, the world is beautiful and the world’s people are good. Not perfect, but doing what they can each day to be kind and responsible and all those other things we’ve been lifting up. I believe God is, and God is good, and love is possible. So if we look even a little bit, we’ll find something good peeking through the clouds and casting rainbows. And since those bits bring joy, we may as well embrace them. If we focus on the joy, not pretending life can’t be hard, but insisting that joy can lift us up anyway, then joy does just that. It lifts us up and gives us strength and determination to keep going. Joyful people make life better, just by existing. They show us the presence of God, who is always present. They remind us that Jesus comes to break the bread, whether we expect him or not. If we look for God and Jesus and joy, we find them.
So… tell me where you have seen joy lately!