Theological Journal – February 21 What Does Joy Have To Do With It?
“God created us in joy and created us for joy,
and in the long run not all the darkness there is in the world and in ourselves
can separate us finally from that joy, because whatever else it means to say
that God created us in his image, I think it means that even when we cannot
believe in him, even when we feel most spiritually bankrupt and deserted by
him, his mark is deep within us. We have God’s joy in our blood.”
(Frederick Buechner, “The Great Dance” in Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, 240)
So far we have seen Karl Barth suggest the joy is the chief attribute of God, evoked by his glory. That joy is a chief mark of God’s people and that the New Testament makes some rather startling, intimidating claims about the place of joy in a Christian’s or church’s life. My focus in this series is to try and make sense of joy impacts or should impact my life with God.
I
suppose the place to start is to distinguish between happiness and joy. Simply
put, happiness is circumstance dependent while joy is not. We are a happiness-drunk
people in America. Constantly on the search for new or better circumstances to
make us feel happy or happier. But Robert Louis Stevenson speaks the truth when
he writes, "To miss the joy is to miss all. No matter what we possess or
experience and irrespective of how we act, if we miss joy we have missed all” ("The
Lantern-Bearers").
And I
don’t "want to miss joy!
I want
to focus on James 1:3-4: “whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because
you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and
let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete,
lacking in nothing.” It’s the “nothing but joy” phrase I need to work
on. I can understand joy in the aftermath of some ordeal (as in Heb.12:2) but joy
in the midst of the ordeal I don’t quite get. Nothing but joy? Let’s take a
look at this verse beginning with a grammatical survey (sorry, that’s just the
way I roll).
v.2:
-The grammar makes clear that the troubles in view are
considered certain to befall James’ readers. -The “trials” are struggles particularly related to their being Christians,
not the general troubles that come into each human life. -“Consider”
means to “think about,” “reflect on,” a mental operation. -“All
joy” or “sheer joy” (rather than “nothing but joy” in the NRSV; the adjective
is intensive). The phrase is placed in the emphatic position in the sentence.
Makes my problem with it even worse.
v.3:
-“knowing” ties in the “consider” of v.2 and again points
to a perspective we adopt (not one natural to the situation. -the “testing” most likely refers to the whole process
we go through rather than the occasions or means of the testing; -“your” faith is emphatic and stresses the corporate belief of the
community. -“The noun ὑπομονή,
-ῆς, ἡ, “patience,” “endurance,” “fortitude,” “staying power,” is rare in the
Gospels but is common in the letters and Revelation as a virtue particularly
vital for an oppressed community (cf., e.g., Rom 8: 25; Rev 3: 10)” (Vlachos,
Chris A.. James (Exegetical Guide to the Greek w Testament) (Kindle Locations
1076-1078). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition).
v.4:
-“mature and complete, lacking in nothing” – the expected
result of the process.
These exegetical notes may seem dry and unhelpful but they help me get oriented to the task at hand.
So, according to James, as a church struggles to be faithful to Jesus, their faithfulness will evoke opposition and rejection. To make it through we must set our minds and hearts that we are suffering for Christ in spite of it all and we will hang in there in the struggle. In this endurance we will find joy, the sure mark of God’s presence with us, and God’s work in us will continue moving us to good end he has designed for us.
Questions:
-what does it mean to be faithful to Jesus?
-how do we “set our minds and hearts” to endure?
-my basic question: what can joy be in such a situation?
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