DAILY GRACE
May 27, 2020, Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Scripture: John 17:11b-19
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“‘. . . so that they may have my joy made complete . . .”
Sharing his joy with us is important to our Lord. In this earnest petition to his Father, Jesus prays that his disciples share his joy. He wants us to share his joy. So, what is the joy of Jesus? What does he mean by “have my joy made complete”?
We experience one kind of joy from things such as beautiful scenery, lovely weather, sumptuous food, and so forth. These things are a source of delight to us; they are gifts of God, and Jesus is delighted that we find joy in them. Like us, Jesus knew these joys in life. He found joy in sailing across the Sea of Galilee, in eating with his friends, in seeing fields of grain and meadows of flowers. But when he prays for us to share his joy completely, Jesus is not talking about these kinds of joy. He is speaking about a deeper, more complete joy. Psalm 4, a prayer of trust in God during tribulation, says, “But you have given my heart more joy than they have when grain and wine abound” (v. 8). This is a profound joy that comes from communion with God deep within, even in the midst of trouble or in the absence of material joys. This is the joy that Jesus has and wants to share with us.
The joy of Jesus comes from his relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit. His participation in the communion of the love of the Trinity brings the joy of loving and of being loved. A bottomless well of this deep joy overflows in Jesus’ heart. No suffering can overcome it. It drowns out all pain and sorrow. It lasts forever. This is the joy Jesus wants to share with us. . . . in this time of pandemic and always.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank you for this glimpse into the deep, inexhaustible well of joy that flows from within you. I want to share in it completely. Give me this deep joy of loving and of being loved. You spoke of this joy in the face of your passion. I ask you to touch me with in, in this time of suffering, when I need reminding.
Contemplation
You are the God of my joy.