My youngest daughter loves Christmas. Of course, she loves it for the same reasons other kids her age do but there’s also a very specific reason: her middle name is “Joy.” She’s at that stage where she gets excited whenever she sees her name. She sees “Joy” everywhere during the advent season! I find myself having to remind her: “Sorry girl but these signs aren’t about you! They’re talking about the joy that Jesus brings to the world!” The joy of Christmas is about Jesus.
And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (Luke 2:8-10 ESV)
It’s easy to think about Christmas as a time of great joy—there are presents, parties, songs, and cookies! But the joy of Christmas is deeper than any of those things.
The Joy of Christmas
The joy of Christmas isn’t the same as happiness either. Happiness can be thought of as a fleeting state of wellbeing that depends on circumstances. Christians shouldn’t pooh-pooh happiness. To be frank I’ve heard too many Christians dismiss the goodness of being happy.
Happiness, while fleeting, is still a gift from God. Joy, however is different.
Mike Schmitz defines joy as “The abiding and pervasive sense of wellbeing.” Ultimately that’s what Jesus came to bring to us, an abiding and pervasive sense of true wellbeing.
Joy is abiding; it’s lasting, it endures, it is firmly rooted.
Joy is pervasive; it isn’t limited to just one part of your life, it affects all of who you are and what you do.
Joy is rooted in a sense of wellbeing; it’s related to flourishing. When you’re flourishing you’re thriving. When you’re thriving you’re living life as it is meant to be lived. Joy, we might say, is the abiding and pervasive sense of living life as you were meant to live it.
The Joy of Union With Christ
We are often reminded that Christmas celebrates the fact that Jesus was born to die to save us from sin (1 Tim 1:15). Other times we’re reminded that Christmas celebrates the fact that Jesus came to conquer sin, death, and the enemy (1 John 3:8). Both of those things are true! But what if Christmas is these things and more? What if Christmas celebrates the fact that Jesus was born to bring us joy? Not happiness, but true joy.
Joy comes from being connected to Jesus. In John 15 Jesus gives us the metaphor of the vine and the branches. If we abide in him, if we make our dwelling with him, if we stay connected to him, and remain in him, we will bear fruit. He explains what abiding in him looks like and how obedience relates to love. Then he tells his disciples why he tells them these things. He tells us why he wants us to abide in him:
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15:11 NIV).
Jesus wants to share his joy with us. But where does Jesus’s joy come from? It comes from being united to the Father! It comes from the intimacy he experiences with him, from the sense of abiding and permanent love. It comes from the experience of what theologians across the ages have called the beatific vision. Jesus invites us to abide in him—like a branch on a vine—because that is how our joy is made complete.
As Christians, we are invited into the relationship of love that the Father has for the Son, that the Son has for the Father, and that the Holy Spirit shares between the Father and Son. For those who are united to Christ, it’s as if they’re caught up into the joyful, loving communion between the Son and Father. This is the key to joy.
Partaking in the love that the persons of the Trinity have for one another brings us joy because it’s what we were designed for. We were designed for relationship with God.
I often think of how many of us have hobbies we’re passionate about. It may be a sport, music, cooking, or writing. When you’re doing what you’re good at and what you love you might describe it as feeling like you’re doing what you were made to do. You might describe it as “being in the zone.” The “zone” is that sweet spot where everything is just right. But “the zone” is fleeing. It fades when the game ends, when you close your laptop after a day of writing, or when you finish playing a set. But for a minute you sense wellbeing, things are well.
That is what wellbeing is about. It’s flourishing and thriving in what you were made to be and do. As humans we were made to abide in God, to dwell in a loving, glorifying relationship with him. That’s true wellbeing. That’s what we were made for.
True joy, the abiding pervasive sense of wellbeing, comes from being connected to Jesus. That’s what Jesus came to offer. Vladimir Lossky once wrote that “The Son becomes flesh to make possible the union of man with God… The mere fact of the incarnation eliminates the first obstacle to this union: a separation of the two natures, that of man and that of God. Then the two other obstacles, linked to the fallen condition of man remain: sin and death. The work of Christ is to rout them, to banish their necessity from the terrestrial cosmos…the death of Christ removes the obstacle of sin between man and God.”
At Christmas we celebrate the incarnation, the fact that the Son became flesh to make possible the union of man with God. We celebrate the fact that Jesus came to make joy a possibility for us.
Growing in Joy
As a believer, you are objectively united to Christ. You are already connected to that unshakable source of wellbeing! While union with God in Christ is objectively true of you it’s still possible to grow in your experience of joy. Think of how contagious joy can be. Have you ever been around a joyful person? If you’re not a Scrooge you probably walked away from that person feeling a bit more joyful too!
Why? Because joy tends to rub off on others.
Being in the presence of someone who is thriving and knows it has a positive effect. The way to grow in joy is to spend time with the most joyful person who ever lived. Jesus’s joy came from his union with the Father, from his experience of the beatific vision.
So spend time with Jesus! Meditate on his love. Read Scripture. Pray. Serve. Give. Grow in your understanding of theology and how God has worked through the church’s history. All of that contributes to joy because it is time spent with Jesus. This Christmas take the time to remind yourself that Jesus came not only to die for your sins and to set you free from them but that Jesus came to bring you the joy that comes from being united to God in Christ.
