Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.*
Joy to the World, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing..**
John the baptist appeared in the wilderness proclaiming a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through baptism. people from all Judea can to the river Jordan to be baptized by him, confessing their sins. he told the crowds, "one greater than I is coming whom I am not worthy to even untie his shoes. I baptize with water but he will baptize with the holy spirit."***
What an awesome and strange message; here is this random man wearing camels hair and eating locusts and honey, who draws great crowds. Yet he says he is nothing. Who is this man who will come after? how much greater? will he be the promised king, the one who will defeat all our enemies?
The good news of Christmas brought joy to so many who were witnesses of the event. The shepherds rejoiced, the wise men were filled with joy, the angels sang praises to God, Mary treasured up these things. The message was one of joy. But what is joy? I have recently finished reading C.S.Lewis "Surprised by Joy" and delighted in his description of how joy comes to us and awakes in us a desire to know it, but in looking at it, that thing loses it's beauty, mystery and thus joy. The only way to really enjoy joy, he writes is to look for the source of all joy, God and in doing so recognize joy as just the out-workings of His marvelous creation. When we see joy as a means rather than an end, it is possible to truly relish and enjoy it!
Joy. A small word with such a big punch! And how can we even know if we've felt it or understand how to keep feeling it? It is desirable to feel joy of course! Maybe Jesus' own words can remind us to be joyful not in what is before us now, but joyful in hope.****
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.*****
Sometimes we struggle to see the joy in life, to look beyond the current situation. But Jesus is right, there is great joy to which to celebrate that often comes after great pain. Jesus knows that the world is broken and suffering contractions, and he also assures us that that pain and grief that we now experience will turn to joy at the return of Jesus!
We not only rejoice at God becoming man 2000 years ago during Christmas, but also look forward with joyful hope to when he will return.
*Psalm 47:1
**Joy to the World, lyrics by Isaac Watts in 1719
***Paraphrase of Mark 1:4-8
****Romans 12:12*****John 16:19-21
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