Easter 44 Fruition

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. [John 15:11]

In John's story of Jesus, we have this moment in his long address to the disciples just before he goes out to the garden to meet Judas and his betrayal.

John paints a picture of Jesus as someone in complete control, as someone who is doing what he came to do and if he's not exactly making it happen himself, he's certainly walking into it. John's Jesus knows the cross is his fate. This is why I tend to gravitate to Mark's story of Jesus, who seems more swept up by events not of his making, but I digress.

But within the context of John's omnipotent Jesus, we find Jesus talking of joy even as he prepares for the cross.

That there's some crazy talk.

And also it tells us that what Jesus brings to us isn't smooth sailing on clear sunny days, but a joy that is made complete, anyway.

I'm going to say I don't have a solid idea of what that means. I think I've had a taste now and then, but I've yet to say it's "complete."

Here, in this last week of Easter, I repeat what I confessed at the beginning of this discipline of celebration: Joy does not come easily to me.

I trust that it will come to fruition in Christ. As we say in the liturgy, we receive a foretaste of the feast to come. For me, it is enough. The promise that this joy will be complete is enough.