It’s interesting how we tend to forget that what Jesus desires for us is joy. Joy isn’t a word we use often in everyday conversation. What is the difference between happiness and joy? I think we feel happy when life is good and things are going well, but joy is something we experience and live on a deeper level than is impacted by the externals of life’s
circumstances. When we are deeply living in sync with God, and in harmony with God’s hopes and dreams for us, then, even when we are in difficult circumstances, beneath the sadness or grief, there is a sense of meaning and purpose and sharing in God’s life. There is joy, even in the midst of suffering.
Some brands of Christian theology teach that if we follow Christ faithfully we will be blessed in material ways, with money and health and ease of life. This is simply not the case, and it was never what was promised. The joy and abundant life that we are offered is something that we experience at a deeper level in knowing that whatever our situation we remain in Christ and Christ in us.
That, as Paul says, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
I think that is why some people are able to keep going in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. How else is it possible to explain the peace with which people respond to the call to continue to minister in situations of extreme danger? Martin Luther King on the eve of his assassination said: “Well I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve some difficult days ahead. But it really
doesn’t matter with me now, because I have been to the mountain top.” Shortly before his assassination Oscar Romero said, “I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the people of El Salvador.” Marina Ovsyannikova, a dissenting Russian journalist risked her life protesting live on Russian television against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It seems when people live out of an obedience to how they are called to express love and truth in the world, there is a courage and a peace that can be called joy.
Thankfully most of us are not asked to face such extreme situations as those who risk their lives for what they believe. Still, in our own daily circumstances, which hold both happy and sad times we are called to choose to respond to Christ’s invitation. Our response in love, whether caring for a sick relative, or standing up for someone in the workplace may be costly or hard at times, but
there is always a grace given that is a sharing in Christ’s joy.
