“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philip. 4:4 RSV). Today, we rejoice. We rejoice, not just because we are called to rejoice. We rejoice because the Spirit of the Lord is with us. No matter the pains and sorrows we experience in life, we know that God is for us, and nothing can and will separate us from God’s love, even our own sins. This is why the Christian life should be one of much celebration as joy. We rejoice alongside St. Paul because, like St. Paul, we have learned that in Christ Jesus God is truly for us, working for us, doing what can be done to promote our own good. And yet, paradoxically, the Christian life is one filled with struggles; while we have much joy, we find that the joy often comes to us in and through means which would appear to bring us anything but such joy, for we find it comes to us while we are in the midst of our own spiritual journey, that is, when we take on and follow the way of the cross.
This is one of those paradoxes which often leads people astray, for it makes them think they should rejoice because they are suffering. Is that not what the path of the cross is about, to take up the cross, to let ourselves be beat down and crucified by others, so that when it happens, we should be happy? No. Far from it. It is not about needless self-destruction and suffering; it is about transformation.
Suffering is an evil, and even if good can be made from the suffering we have to endure, suffering is not the point and it should not in and itself be something we celebrate. We should not encourage people to take suffering after suffering, thinking suffering is what makes them great, for all that does is encourage them to take on and accept abuse. Suffering without purpose is no good. Instead, we must recognize that sometimes suffering comes in and with things which do us good, just as a person will feel pain when they have some medical treatment done to them; the pain and suffering was not the treatment, but an accident to it, and so our suffering, though it might be linked to what we need, is not the good which we desire.
We can accept such suffering if and when we know the good is there, but we should do so without thinking that suffering itself is something what we should desire in and of itself. Jesus accepted the way of the cross for himself, but he did not desire the suffering which was to come from it (cf. Matt. 26:39). He accepted the path, but he did not seek after or desire the suffering which came from it, and so we should learn that we must not seek after or desire such suffering either. We can embrace it by embracing the good which comes in and through it, but we should embrace it only with the purpose of transcending it, even as we can embrace death through the death of Christ so that we can transcend death in Christ. We embrace the way of the cross so that we can join ourselves to Jesus, and together with Jesus, work to reconfigure the world, make it better, so that there can be and will be less suffering in the future (or, in the eschaton, no suffering at all). The way of the cross is the way to overcome suffering itself; we rejoice, not in the suffering, but in what we see coming beyond the suffering. Moreover, when we experience such suffering, when we go through the way of the cross ourselves, we can receive some of the glory which is to come in anticipation of the eschaton, a glory which transcends all earthly glory, bringing it a joy which transcends all earthly suffering, giving us a sense of the joy which we need to make sure our suffering is not an absolute, unendurable suffering.
The Christian life is to be one which follows the way of the cross, accepting that with it, we might encounter pain and suffering, but it also a life of joy, one in which we experience the joy of the kingdom of God. The further along the path of the cross, the more of the kingdom we will encounter, and so the more joy we will be able to experience.
That the two can and do go together is revealed in Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. He is on his way to the cross, and yet, on his way there, he is met with joy. People, we do not know how many, came to great him, praise him, indeed glorify him, though it was all transitory at this stage, for Jesus had to continue his journey all the way to the cross. He probably was denied by some of the same people who came to glorify him, and that is something he accepted, for he knew the kind of glory they wanted to give to him was the wrong kind of glory. It was a mere earthly glory, one which looked for earthly power and might. He had to deny it for himself. He had to continue in his self-kenosis, in his self-emptying, the kenosis which began with the incarnation, for by it, he could and would flip everything inside out and upside-down.
Let us embrace the way of the cross and rejoice in it ourselves. Let us follow Jesus and embrace our own self-denial, our own self-kenosis, rejecting the glory of the world. For if we do, we should find that through such kenosis we will find ourself in the kingdom of God, experiencing the joy which we want and need. And with that experience, we can join in with Paul and follow him in his celebration. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philip. 4:4 RSV). In the joy we find, we also get a sense of peace, a peace which transcends us and the temporal situation we find ourselves in. This is what Paul experienced, which is why he set himself as an example, hoping we can follow after him and receive the peace and joy which he received. “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you” (Philip. 4:9 RSV). We are to be imitators of him insofar as he was an imitator and follower of Christ, that is, insofar as he learned to deny himself in order to find his true self.
The entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem is constantly being repeated in each and every Christian. We welcome him as king, messiah, Lord, as the one who comes to conquer our foes of sin and death. Yet, we often find ourselves confused when it does not seem as if Jesus is doing as we expected. Such confusion often leads us to turn on him, coming at him with bitterness and anger. Where are all the things which we have been promised? Only by following the path Jesus set up, only by denying ourselves as we are today, only by denying all the petty dreams we have of using Jesus for our own ideologies and self-promotion, will we find the answer. Then we can receive what Jesus has come to give us, the glory and joy which transcends all earthly cares. If we do so, we will likely find ourselves, like Christ, often denigrated, not only by those in the world, but by those who claim to serve and follow God; we will often find ourselves becoming, as it were, outcasts in the world, but this is because we will become outside its control. But, beyond outside of its power does not mean we will abandon it. We will care for what happens in the world, we will care for the people within and all the good found in creation, but we will not be concerned or interested in mere temporal honors, or the praises of petty men and women, as we will know true glory and true love, the glory and love found in the eschaton, in the kingdom of God.
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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.
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