Today is the Sunday of Joy. The joy of God. As we saw in the last two weeks, in preparing for the coming of the Christ - we are called to keep alive the vision which provides us with hope and to seek the Peace of God - that peace that only God can give - that peace which comes when we turn, and walk in the path that Jesus has shown us.
Joy is not something that we can seek, it is something that overtakes us when while we are working to keep the vision alive, and walking on the path that Jesus has set before us.
As we walk that path - joy happens to us, we gain glimpses of what it is that God is about, we encounter situations where we see God's promises coming true, and we have, suddenly this great joy in hearts.
Imagine if you will for a minute John the Baptist, in prison, Herod is about to kill him - and undoubtedly John is aware of this though the particular circumstances of his death are still to be shaped by Herod's wife and daughter.
John is uncertain about whether his ministry is completed or not, uncertain about whether or not Jesus is the Messiah that he has proclaimed the coming of. And he sends messengers from prison to ask Jesus - "Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another"
And imagine if you will for a minute how he heard the answer, the feeling that must have overcame him when his disciples reported to him what Jesus said:
"Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. Blessed are they who take no offense at me."
Imagine how John felt when he heard that all that he yearned for as a child of Abraham was in fact happening, that God was working a great work through through Jesus, the child of Mary, the kind of work that Isaiah spoke of in our first reading this morning.
Joy should not be confused with happiness.
Joy rather is something rather overwhelming, it is what happens when we witness God at work, whether it is in our family relationships, in our church, or in our community and in the wider world.
I called today's homily "Giving and Receiving The Gift of Joy", not only to as a means of keeping together our Advent theme, that theme suggested by the light of the candles upon our wreath, but to highlight one of the realities of the gift of joy - that reality which relates to the fact that while it cannot be sought, the gift of joy can be given and received by us.
When we see the works of God being done - we receive the gift of joy. And when we allow God to do his works through us - we give the gift of joy or at the very, very least - it's possibility.
That is part of what White Gift Sunday is about - it is about doing the works of God the work of caring, and praying joy may come with the giving, that the hand of God may be seen.
Joy is a wonderful thing, a thing that overtakes us when we are on the path shown to us by Christ.
It is not continuous - at least in this world -- but it pops up whenever we see God at work healing the sick, curing the lame, giving sight to the blind, and proclaiming good news to those who are poor. It pops up when we do the work of God - and understand that God is doing his work in the circumstances around us.
Everlasting joy comes, so testifies Isaiah on the day of Christ's second coming:
On that day, he testifies, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, on that day, the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
There is a day coming which we are called to be prepared for, a day coming, of an eternal joy, a joy which we receive a taste of in the here and now when we receive the gift of seeing God at work, and when we do the works of God and thereby make it possible for others to have the joy of seeing him.
Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen
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