Joy in Grief

Christmas cannot go by without emotions.  Whether you are in a celebratory mood or depressed, Christmas is a holy day, one all those who are of the faith mark each year.  But since 2013, every Christmas has been a bit empty from the death of my mother just before the holiday. I miss her and I feel a sense of sadness when she is not present at our family gathering.  Every Christmas since her death has been marked by hidden tears.

But God has a message for those who grieve at Christmas. It’s discovered in a manger with a helpless baby of promise. The birth of Jesus was miraculous, yet undetected by everyone save some shepherds who were fearfully amazed at the sight of angels proclaiming his coming into the world. God chose to begin the plan of salvation in a humble way. Mary and Joseph barely understood that the baby they were now to care for was destined to be the Savior of all humanity; the King of kings and Lord of lords.  It was not yet revealed.

All human history is marked by the Incarnation, the hope of nations and the Light of the world.  What was hidden for centuries was made known that night two millennia ago: God made man in the birth of a child. All we really know about the Father was made known by Jesus. He said to the questioning disciples that he and the Father were one. If you knew him, you knew the Father and Jesus would live out his years on earth in miracles and preaching that the kingdom of God had come to those who believed. He was sent to serve, not be served, and serve he did. As the sacrifice for the sins of the world, the doors of heaven were thrown open and the invitation to enter in was made. All through the death and resurrection of Christ.

What has this to do with grief? Paul summed it up when he said we do not grieve as the world grieves. Christians have the hope of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All who die in the faith are promised a life beyond our years on earth. Jesus birth, death and resurrection means every believer will see again all who have gone before. Those in the faith who we grieve are only absent in the body, they are not dead. And neither we will die. There is no death for those who believe, only resurrection to a new body clothed in righteousness.

Grief is to be expected in this world, yet it is mitigated by the promise of eternal life. Both my mother and my father are near just beyond my reach. But the real hope is that God is not beyond my reach. Jesus said what is impossible for us is possible for God and he condescended to us. He is present in us through the Holy Spirit and he confirms in our hearts that we have eternal life.

I may feel some grief at Christmas by the absence of my mother, but it’s overcome by the joy found in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, the Prince of Peace.