A Joyful Christian

The following is a passage from Fr.Alexander Schmemann's book For the Life of the World :

"And yet, from its very beginning Christianity has been the proclamation of joy, of the only possible joy on earth. It rendered impossible all joy we usually think of as possible. But within this impossibility, at the very bottom of this darkness, it announced and conveyed an all new all-embracing joy, and with this joy it transformed the End into a Beginning. Without the proclamation of this joy Christianity is incomprehensible. It is only as joy that the Church was victorious in the world, and it lost the world when it lost that joy, and ceased to be a credible witness to it. Of all accusations against Christians, the most terrible one was uttered by Nietzsche when he said that all Christians had no joy." (p. 24).

While Fr. Schmemann wrote this passage more than 25 years ago it also pertains to us today. In a way it is very prophetic because many Christians lack true joy. This joy is not merely feeling emotionally, financially, or even spiritually satisfied or secure, but rejoicing over the sacrifice of the cross. It is through the cross that true joy has come into the world as we proclaim on Pascha eve:

For, behold, through the cross joy has come into all the world. Let us ever bless the Lord, praising his resurrection, for by enduring the cross for us, he has destroyed death by death. Jesus has risen from the tomb, as he foretold, granting us eternal life, and great mercy.

Jesus took upon himself all of the sin, darkness, anguish, and despair of humanity and crucified it on the cross. Jesus came so that we could be seated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the Lord's heavenly banquet for eternity. But how often do we forget the joy of the cross? How often do we dwell on our past sins, on our past deeds, on our low estate? These feelings are not from God but from our own sinful thoughts. We think that God does not love us or care about us anymore.

We should always keep the joy of the cross on our minds so that when we find ourselves in times of need, in times of despair, in times when everything seems to go wrong that the Lord always loves us. How often we go through the rudimentary actions of the day and totally forget God's love for us and therefore feel that there is no hope, no way out. God showed his love for us in the crucifixion of his son. Let today be the first day for the rest of our life that we will strive to obtain the true Christian joy that was given to us in the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.