Day 25: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete
Still smiling, Jesus straightens up and adjusts his cloak. He leans towards John, and as he looks deliberately around at each face, catching every eye, his body follows slightly until he is leaning to his left, looking at James. As he slowly looks back around the group, his grin gets even bigger. The disciples smile in spite of their weariness. Somehow, when Jesus grins, it makes everyone smile! Like a preacher, he puts both hands out, palms open and turned down, to emphasize his next words. He might have even said, “Listen!” causing the disciples to lean in.
“I have told you this,”
I have told you about the joy of obedience, about remaining in the vine, about fruitfulness,
“so that my joy may be in you,”
The joy I experience with the Father, you can experience it too.
“and your joy may be complete.”
Your joy will be full, like how full your nets were the first day we met, remember that? Remember the joy of that incredible, impossibly-full net of fish? Ha! Jesus laughs out loud, eyes twinkling. The disciples laugh too, and conversation breaks out about that moment of joy. Perhaps there is other conversation about moments of full joy, like when Lazarus came walking out of the grave. Jesus lets the conversation run for a while. The disciples are awake now and energized by the idea of this kind of joy.
Vineyard Metaphor
There is nothing more exciting in the vineyard than veraison (ve-ray’-zhun).
After a long, hot summer of slow growth, veraison changes everything. Veraison is the onset of the ripening of the grapes. During the roughly two weeks of veraison, the skin on the grape berries thins, and the grapes change color and start getting plump with juice. If we were to walk in a Zinfandel vineyard during veraison, we would notice the clusters would be multicolored in shades of green, purple, and red. Curiously, not all the clusters on one vine go through veraison at the same rate, but eventually, all the clusters will have transformed from hard, green berries to luscious, plump, purple grapes. It’s a beautiful transformation. Once veraison starts, wineries know that, depending on the weather, harvest is about six weeks away. The countdown to harvest begins with veraison.
Although they can describe the before and after, scientists still do not know exactly what triggers veraison.
Veraison is similar to joy. Unlike happiness which we can somewhat control, joy comes in smaller, more intense, and unpredictable bursts, not something we can produce on our own but a gift from God, in God's time. The Greek word for joy is chará, and the ancient Greeks thought of chará as the “culmination of being,” a virtue of wisdom and maturity. According to the Greeks, chará could only be found in God.
In her book, Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown, describes joy this way:
“Joy is sudden, unexpected, short-lasting, and high-intensity… [it is] an intense feeling of deep spiritual connection, pleasure, and appreciation…while experiencing joy, we don’t lose ourselves, we become more truly ourselves…. colors seem brighter… smiling happens involuntarily.”
Reflection and Meditation
Imagine being the branch that holds a cluster of hard, green grape berries. All summer long you have been attached to the vine and tending to the cluster by sending water and sugar to help it mature. Then, one day it happens. Veraison! The cluster starts turning different colors and the grapes are getting juicy. What joy!
Maybe you are experiencing a joyful moment right now, and, instead of sitting, you want to get up and dance. Go ahead and dance for joy!
Take a moment to reflect on any tiny sparkles of joy that have fallen on your life over the years.
The soft skin of a newborn nuzzled in your neck, the beauty of a purple dahlia, a puppy’s wagging tail, the majesty of the ocean crashing on a rocky shore, a beloved hand in yours…
Perhaps you have longed for joy, and it hasn’t come. Tell God of your longing. Listen to God sing over you. Hear him tell you he will give you the “oil of joy for mourning”. Let your heart take comfort that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Rest in the joy that is yours in Jesus.
“Joy is the serious business of heaven.”