The third Sunday of Advent is associated with joy. The angel at Jesus’ birth told the shepherds that he was bringing them “good news of great joy which will come to all people.” The last night of Jesus’ life on earth, as he spoke to his disciples about abiding in God’s love, he said, “These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Joy, like love, brackets Jesus’ life. The following is a meditation on the joy Christ brings:
The joy Jesus shares (and the world cannot give) always comes as a gift. The happiness the world promises and pursues involves a self-centered grabbing and grasping. The joy Jesus offers comes naturally to those who are God-centered and who trust that their own unique selves will become a part of God’s intended joy. The gift of joy is part of God’s love freely offered to all.
The “joy” the world offers is a taking. The joy of God’s great love is a receiving. You don’t take a gift– you receive it. Taking and receiving are two entirely different human responses to life.
Have you ever tried to catch a butterfly as it flits from place to place? Unless you have a butterfly net, it’s virtually impossible. You don’t catch a butterfly by chasing and pursuing it. You sit still and allow it to light on your shoulder. The butterfly chooses you. You don’t choose the butterfly.
The same is true of joy. Anyone who tries to catch and hoard joy will never truly experience or keep it. Joy like love is a gift to be shared. Joy is infectious and bubbles over. It cannot be contained but must be set free to radiate from us to others until the whole creation becomes a canticle of joy. If we seek to possess joy for ourselves, it becomes like the butterfly which will always allude us. Joy comes as a by-product of love, and love in the Christian tradition starts with God and is a gift. “We love because God first loved us.” We don’t find joy. We let joy find us as we open our hearts to the inexhaustible love of God. We allow God to love us with all the joy a loving parent takes in her child. Such joy may begin with us as we abide in God’s love, but it is destined to become “joy to the world”—joy for every part of this world God so loves.
