Do you remember the greatest Christmas gift you ever received? While it is difficult for me to pinpoint one specific Christmas gift that stood above all other Christmas gifts, I can think of a few that stand out. As a child, I remember having the original Nintendo video game system (NES), on which we played Tetris and the original Super Mario Brothers. Don’t misunderstand me–these were great games. However, one Christmas, my brother-in-law gifted me and my other siblings a Super Nintendo (SNES), which gave access to many more, newer games and, to my mother’s chagrin, provided me countless hours of joy as I helped the plumber from Brooklyn liberate new worlds.
More recently, shortly before my now wife and I began dating, my then friend Amy gifted me a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian that until then I had not heard of. But in reading the story of the pastor, spy, and martyr, Bonhoeffer quickly became a hero of mine. Reading his story of disobedience under Nazi Germany caused me to rejoice for the pastor’s ministry, despite his martyrdom at Flossenbürg just days before the concentration camp was liberated by the Allies.
In the previous two weeks of Advent, we have looked briefly at passages discussing Hope and Peace and how they relate to the first and second comings of our Lord. Now, as we near the end of the third week of Advent, we reflect on the lighting of the third candle, the candle of Joy.
I’ve heard the difference between “happiness” and “joy” described like this: “Happiness” is a gladness that is a result of circumstances, while “joy” is a gladness that is independent of circumstances. Thus, many motivational speakers would encourage us to focus on joy, a permanent gladness from within, over happiness, a temporary gladness that derives from good circumstances.
However, this is easier said than done. When fortune changes like the moon, our happiness fades, and we tell ourselves to be joyful, the feeling of joy may not always come. We might command ourselves again and again to rejoice, but we may just end up gaslighting ourselves.
It is true that the word “happy” comes from “hap,” as in, “happenstance.” Thus, happiness is a feeling of gladness that derives from good fortune or chance; should our happenstances be different, our happiness may fade. But despite what many motivational speakers might tell us, “joy” is not altogether independent of circumstances. In fact, the word has long meant not only a feeling of gladness or delight, but the source of such gladness or delight. This means that our joy may be found in something external to ourselves, like chance or good fortune. In fact, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “rejoice” originally meant "to own (goods, property), possess, enjoy the possession of, have the fruition of.”
So, in Middle English at least, “rejoicing” was not merely an inward emotion that had nothing to do with one’s circumstances. Rather, it was directly tied to, or even identical to, something we had or possessed.
This is true in the biblical languages as well–in fact, it is very obvious in the Greek of the New Testament: the words charis (“grace,” undeserved kindness) and charisma (“gift”) are closely related to the words chairo (“to rejoice”) and chara (“joy, source of joy”). Interestingly, all the words carry with them the idea of “extending.” This means that, in the New Testament, “joy” is not something we muster up against our will or gaslight ourselves into having. Rather, it is something extended, given to us from without. Joy, then, is a gift, like something unwrapped on Christmas morning that causes intense happiness.
This is true of the Greek word for “happy” as well. Makarios, the word often translated as “blessed” or “happy” depending on translation, also comes from a word meaning “to extend,” the idea being that a blessing is something extended to us by another. I wonder if this made Jesus’ statement, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” all the more shocking to his hearers.
But, if joy is found in an object external to ourselves, how can the Bible command us repeatedly to rejoice, even to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)? Paul’s command in Philippians 4:4 might give us a clue:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Remember that joy, in both English and Greek, is not merely the feeling of delight: rather, it is also the source of such delight. So, when Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord,” what he might be saying is, “Let the Lord be your joy.”
Only since the first advent of Jesus can it truly be said to all God’s people that the Lord can always be our joy. Under the Old Covenant, the presence of God was often fleeting: God’s Spirit left those who, like Saul, lost His favor; His glory, once present in Solomon’s Temple, left Jerusalem in the face of Judah’s rampant idolatry (Ezekiel 10); and, after the death of the prophet Malachi, God’s voice would not be heard publicly for hundreds of years–that is, until an angel announced to trembling shepherds outside Bethlehem, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11).
The presence of Christ would cause joy to all who welcomed Him. After His death, resurrection, and ascension, the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost would ensure that, for all God’s people, God’s presence would no longer come and go based on our performance. Unlike a wage, paid to us for the work we dutifully perform, God’s presence is a gift which a loving father freely gives to his oft disobedient children on Christmas Day. His grace, His undeserved kindness, is extended to all who welcome Him. This is why the hymnwriter John Mason Neale could boldly proclaim, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” Joy is with us because God is with us, and thus, we are liberated from our bondage to sin.
So, while our circumstances may change, and our feelings of joy may come and go, our true joy, Jesus Christ, is ever present in the Person of the Holy Spirit who lives inside all who believe in Him. We may not always be happy: but, joy (chara)–the gift (charisma) of God’s grace (charis)–will always be with us, even when we don’t feel it.
Bonhoeffer, the Confessing Church martyr, puts it like this in his devotional, God is in the Manger:
“Joy to the world!” Anyone for whom this sound is foreign, or who hears in it nothing but weak enthusiasm, has not yet really heard the gospel. For the sake of humankind, Jesus Christ became a human being in a stable in Bethlehem: Rejoice, O Christendom! For sinners, Jesus Christ became a companion of tax collectors and prostitutes: Rejoice, O Christendom! For the condemned, Jesus Christ was condemned to the cross on Golgotha: Rejoice, O Christendom! For all of us, Jesus Christ was resurrected to life: Rejoice, O Christendom! All over the world today people are asking: Where is the path to joy? The church of Christ answers loudly: Jesus is our joy! Joy to the world!
So, as we reflect on the candles of Hope, Peace, and Joy and anticipate the lighting of the cancel of Love, I pray over you the words of Saint Paul, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
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