We’ve just heard about the announcement of the angels to Mary in Luke chapter 1. That is a passage full of meaning. Certainly it is full of surprise.
1) C.S. Lewis entitled his autobiography Surprised by Joy – longish narrative of a difficult childhood, WWI, academia, and in the last two chapters getting to the joy – the longing, the stabs of joy, his journey from atheism to theism to Christianity. He says that joy -- “It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still 'about to be'". Distinct from happiness or pleasure – you definitely want joy again once experienced.
2) Proverbs 18:24 “A Man that hath friends must show himself friendly” – KJV reads very differently from ASV, NASB, NIV, ESV. I think what Lancelot Andrews and the translation team brought to this sentence is a sense of inter-relation, of community, and of reciprocal nature
3) John 15:11 - “I have told you this so that my joy may be in your and your joy may be complete” (NIV). That precedes verse 12 in which He tell us to love one another. Joy here is definitely a feeling, somewhat mysterious, that completes us. We are meant to be joyful. Joy is needed to complete us. We may even be said to be co-dependent on joy.
4) The theme (written and sung by Sonny Curtis) to the Mary Tyler Moore show tells us:
Love is all round no need to waste it,
you can have the town why don’t you take it,
you’re gonna make it after all.
I don’t think C.S. Lewis watched the Mary Tyler Moore show but he was nonetheless surrounded by joy for a long time before he found it and embraced it. It is there. Around you. Around me. We must become attuned, open, and ready to embrace.
Here is the thing I’m taking away: Joy is about discovery, relationships, intentionality, and a bit of mystery. And also - we’re gonna make it after all!
