I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. Luke 2:10 (MSG)

Bring Great Joy – The Christmas Series – Part 4

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6  |  PART 7

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“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” (Luke 2:9-12 MSG.)

News that brought great joy? That was something the Israelites needed.

Not that all of Israel heard the proclamation of the Angel that night, mind you. It was only to Shepherds and the hills that the Angels sang their song. Joy can’t be proclaimed into being, it can only lived into. You are invited into joy. I wonder if that's one of the reasons why God incarnated himself into a baby that grew and lived amongst the men and women of his time.

Jesus didn’t come proclaiming a message, he lived it from the ground up.

Joy isn’t frivolous or “fruity.” I get that it can be seen as such because of how it's been misunderstood and misused. How many of you have been in pain and were told, in a round-a-bout flippant manner, that the “Joy of the Lord is your strength?” Or had a weird conversation with an overly spiritual friend who said they were just “full of the joy of the Lord?” Or tried to open up to a leader, a pastor, or friend about a deep pain or concern in your life and inadvertently offend them by your absence of “joy?”

I come from a faith tradition that over emphasized happiness and faith and hope – everything always had to be “up” and positive. There wasn’t much room for pain and seriousness, and if there was, it was met with an optimism that had good intentions but ended up skipping over and minimizing the depth of it all.

That’s not joy. Happiness, laughter, fun, silliness, whimsy, and more, are not joy, either.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said:

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”

It’s not the absence of hardship, pain, and trial. In fact, you cannot experience joy if you do not experience grief. Joy is present as God is present.

On her blog, Sarah Bessey said: “Joy is the affirmation of the thing that is truer than any trouble, any affliction: the affirmation that Love wins.” (sarahbessey.com/joy-third-sunday-of-advent).

In Israel that fateful night long ago, the Angel declared that he had a message that would bring great comfort and joy to all. And that message was the life of Jesus: God present amongst us, as one of us. In the midst of their oppression, pain, and heartache, God wasn't just watching on as the Israelites suffered. He entered into the middle of it all to endure it with them, as one of them, and lead them through, showing them how.

There is life beyond grief and pain and heartache. In fact, Joy declares that in some miraculous way, if we learn to trust the love of Christ, there is life in the middle of it, too. God doesn’t wave away our pain with platitudes and feel good sayings. He feels it all with us, makes room for it, embraces it and stands by us in it.

Christmas Joy isn’t eggnog and tinsel. Christmas is the reminder that in the midst of our suffering – whatever is going on in our lives – God is present. Not as an observer, but as a participant.

Go to Part 5 – The Miracle of Birth »

Written by Liz Milani

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