by Rola Al Ashkar

Philippians 4:4-7

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”I never understood what it means to rejoice “always,” what do you mean by ‘always’ Paul? There are times when we do not feel like rejoicing. There are times when it is impossible to rejoice. Some part of me wonders if people who pretend to be joyful all the time are fake or naïve, or if they’re disengaged with reality. I started believing otherwise however after my experience with a young girl who was in our national youth group.

Last week the world lost a beautiful soul, a 22 year old girl who was put down by cancer. She fought really hard, she fought illness and she fought pain and she fought death. The last words she said to me 3 days before she passed were: “God can truly do miracles.” She sent this message along with a selfie she took from her ICU unit, a photo in which I could barely recognize her swollen face, but I certainly recognized the smile that I have seen on her face every time I visited her during the last 3 and a half years. Her name was Grace. Grace left us, with a smile despite pain, with peace despite the terrifying threat of death, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding about which Paul speaks, was in her heart. The expression “which surpasses all understanding” never carried that much weight. I truly cannot understand where she could find that peace; no one could understand the motive in her that made her continue to smile until the last minute of her short life. To be honest, Grace put my faith to shame. Knowing that she is dying soon, she found joy in every additional day she lived. She spread joy in the hearts of the nurses and those who were with her on her death bed. And again I ask myself, what is the source of that joy she was experiencing?

Have you asked yourself the question, what brings you joy?

Kids are the best in this regard; they are always joyful and worry-free. I will not pretend to know what makes teenagers happy. If you ask young adult trying to thrive in life, like me, I currently find joy in being successful in my ministry career and in practicing the hobbies I like, along with the people I love. If you ask couples, many would say they bring joy to each other. If you ask new parents, their joy is in their kids. If you ask retirees, their joy is in doing the things they always wanted to do: new hobbies, traveling, volunteering or just relaxing and enjoying rest. And for many elderly people, after a long and eventful life, their joy is in seeing their children and grandchildren around them and doing well in life.

But you know what the problem in all these is? Everything I just mentioned could be taken from us at any time. The joy we currently have could be easily lost. Although we are created with the ability to adapt; so if we lose something and its joyfulness, by nature we try to compensate and find joy in something else. Yet, this joy is still not reliable, it is situational. And yet pain is still there.

Friends it’s been hard for me this week to experience joy, let alone try to define it and talk about real joy that can be present in the midst of sorrow. So I went exploring the theme of joy in and outside the Bible.

In John 15 Jesus says to his disciples: “as God has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love just as I abide in God’s love . . . These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Again in John 16, he says: “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Then again, in his parable of the talents, Jesus uses the word “joy” to refer to life with God when he says: “Enter into the joy of your master,” in reference to that eternal state of us being with God and God abiding in us.

Therefore, joy as a biblical theme is the awareness that we have here and now of God’s dwelling in us and us in God. It is the sign of God’s presence and our praiseful response to it. In union with God through Jesus, the branches in union with the vine, we no longer enjoy merely our joy, but also God’s joy in us. If we could actually share in the joy of God, nothing could be greater and nothing would be more stable and lasting.

Yet, joy does not silence pain, nor is it a denial of grief or pretending happiness but it is the affirmation of the truest things in life: Life has episodes of happiness and others of pain, but also, inside our pain, God sees us and wills our healing, and our happiness. God wills our peace and joy, here on earth, in the midst of all that causes us to suffer.

In English, “joy” and “jewel” are etymologically related. Like a jewel, joy is of great value and beauty, and greatly prized. But unlike a jewel, it can neither be purchased nor possessed. It is a gift. God’s gift to us is that God will use whatever circumstances we go through, no matter how hard, including pain and suffering, to show us that she is there, she hears and cares and works and transforms and redeems and saves.

Grace realized that and lived the great joy of being united with God even in her pain. She felt the gift of God’s love through that of her family and her medical team, and she lived the gifts of joy and peace that surpassed everyone’s understanding.

In this Advent, here is our joy: God loves and cares about us so much, that She entered our limited and imperfect world; the unlimited united with the perishable, so that we may not navigate this life alone.

So friends, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, unto us will be born a savior. Let us rejoice and be thankful.