Advent Joy

We sing ‘Joy to the World’ each Christmas but don’t often feel joy filled. Our circumstances and situations can rob us of joy. A difficult family situation, a challenging health diagnosis, a crushing job loss can all rob us of our joy. Jesus has just told His disciples that He is going to leave them for a little while. They don’t understand what He is saying or where He is going. Their paradigm of Him is skewed. They want Him to free Israel from the Roman tyranny. How can He be going? He came to free them from a greater tyrant than Rome. We are often like the disciples, longing to find our joy in our agenda and plans instead of His. How is Christmas truly good news of great joy?