Joy and Sorrow at Christmas

It is early in the morning on Christmas Eve, and I am wide awake, so I came downstairs and am sitting in the light of the Christmas tree, wrapped in a cozy blanket, warming my hands on a mug of steaming coffee, and thinking.

I am thinking about that night, thousands of years ago, the Christmas-Eve-Before-There-Was-A-Christmas-Eve, when Mary was about to give birth to the Savior, the Christ, the promised Messiah. No one knew it was Christmas Eve, not even Mary herself. But God knew. 

God knew that the next day would be the beginning of the fulfilment of the promises He had made to Abraham, and to David, and to all His people: 

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” [Genesis 12:1-3]

[Nathan the prophet, speaking to King David]  “‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.'" [2 Samuel 8:11b-14:8a]

[The angel speaking to Mary]  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end. [Luke 1:32-33]

The Savior that God had planned and promised from the first moment that people sinned, God Incarnate, the perfection of God clothed in fallible humanity, was about to be born. It was a time of joy for all people. 

And yet, God knew that the Child's sole purpose was to die. God was the only one who yet realized that sorrow. I am reminded of the scene in C.S. Lewis' book, The Magician's Nephew, when the young boy Digory is in great pain because his mother is dying, and Aslan, the great lion, the king, looks at him with tears in his eyes, and says, "I know, grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet." Aslan knew that his mother would be healed, that in the end Digory's sorrow would turn to joy. But the sorrow was still there, and Aslan shared it. This, to me, is a beautiful image of God at the birth of Christ. He knew that in the end, there would be joy, but that there would be sorrow in the journey. 

Joy and sorrow are so often mingled, because one cannot exist without the other. You cannot know sorrow if you have never experienced joy, and you cannot truly experience joy if you have never known sorrow. One is necessary for the other. 

And so, as I experience a mixture of joy and sorrow this Christmas, I will remind myself that my sorrow is only possible because of the great joy I have experienced in my life. And as much as my sorrow is sharper because of the joy, my joy is more precious because of my sorrow.  

Wishing you all a joyous Christmas, even in the midst of sorrow.