What Price Joy

The Christmas carol “Good Christian Men Rejoice” includes an insight: “Christ was born for this.” The beginning of his life was for the end of it; its end lay dormant in its beginning. Furthermore, the end of it led to the throne beyond it—glory after grief.

Sometimes we too get the joy only if we weather the grief, and the joy is greater when we have experienced the grief before it. Thirty-three years of normal life included the six hours of agony at the end. That proportion often holds for us too. In this respect we live out life like he did and learn about it by watching how it played out for him: the empty tomb and ascending to his throne. These emblems help us better to participate in the pattern.

The beginning of Christ’s life was for the end of it, and the end of it led to the glory that he enjoys at the right hand of the Father. The end of it lies behind all the good words we know: peace, hope, faith, grace, deliverance, and, yes, JOY.