Monday
Luke 2.10 “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
I know. It’s way too early to anticipate Christmas. Or is it? Why would we only read the greatest announcement of joy to the world, in the bleak midwinter? This is a truth for all people, in all places, at all times. The Christian year was never intended to fence off Christmas, Easter and Pentecost as annual reminders of what matters most in our faith. In a world fractured and dangerous, Christians are called to bear witness now to the coming of God in Christ, to live out the reconciling love that has come amongst us in judgement, mercy, forgiveness, God’s plan to end all enmities.
Tuesday
Matthew 2.10-11 “When they saw the star they were overjoyed. On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.”
Behind this too often sentimentalised account of three ancient travellers bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, are Isaiah’s words: “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” There is in Christ the power and the capacity to “draw all people to himself.” The joy in this passage is the joy of anticipation, of hope determined to go on trusting God in a world where so much evidence encourages despair. We pray that nations will come to the light of Christ and the brightness of a new dawn. Is that naïve? Or is it the foolishness of God outshining human wisdom?
Wednesday
Matthew 13.44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
What matters most to you? What is worth giving your life to? The kingdom of God isn’t a hobby, and discipleship doesn’t work as a part time commitment. Following Jesus means living in the ways of the Kingdom of God. The motive for self-giving service to Jesus is the joy of knowing that he is the greatest treasure, and that the Father’s welcoming love is the overflow of God’s mercy. Joy is finding our soul’s true north, discovering in Jesus the reality that makes sense of every other thing in life.
Thursday
Luke 15.7 “I tell you. . .there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.”
You know the story. The good shepherd counts the sheep, knows them by name, and knows when one is missing. The others are left safe, but the shepherd risks life and limb to find the lost sheep. When he finds it, with a great sigh of relief, exhausted as he is, he lifts it and carries it back to the safety of the fold. God’s joy is like that!
Friday
John 15.10-12 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
The logic of joy! God loves Jesus; Jesus loves us; we are to stay put in this circle of love by keeping the new commandment to love one another. The love of Jesus, crucified and risen resides in us, and we in Him. It is His joy that is in us, “our life is hid with Christ in God”, and so joy comes full circle. We are filled full, and fulfilled.
Saturday
John 16.22 “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”
Of the six times John writes of joy, five of them are in the Farewell Discourse. In the longest and most intimate conversation with the disciples, overshadowed by menace and looming tragedy, Jesus speaks of joy. Yes there will be grief; yes hope will seem to evaporate; and yes, sorrow is real and hearts really break. But. The presence of Jesus risen, his triumph over hatred, lies, violence and death, is the keynote of joy in the New Testament –and in our own lives. “Lo Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb! Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom.” Joy is the default setting of the community of Christ, deep, durable, defining joy.
Sunday
John 17.13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
That circle of encircling love that we call the Triune God of grace, lies at the deep centre of Christian faith, practice and worship. Jesus is in communion with the Father, praying for disciples devastated by a world suddenly hostile. But he has prayed for each of them, and they will find their sorrow turned into dancing, and fear and sorrow must, and will give way, to the joy of Christ let loose on the world and poured into hearts illumined by “the last reality of the universe…Eternal love, bearing sin.”; in the words by my theological hero, James Denney (1856-1917)
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