Compatibility

Published:
December 9, 2022 (one year ago)

“Those two fit together like a hand in a glove.” “Those people complement one another like peanut-butter and jelly.” These common expressions of compatibility remind us that some things fit well with one another. Among the Advent themes, it isn’t too hard to see how hope, faith and joy fit together, but what about joy and sorrow or joy and suffering? Is that more like oil and water? Can joy and sorrow coexist? The cultural answer seems to be no, but the Biblical answer is yes. The people of American culture seem to be on a perpetual quest for happiness. The commercials promise happiness with food, cars, vacations and retirement. Sorrow and sadness are not marketed; we have enough of that on the evening news. The news makes us sad, the stuff in the commercials promise to make us glad. Is there a way to deal with sorrow, sadness and suffering even if we can’t make our world ideal? The Shepherds of the nativity discovered the answer. Their conditions of life did not change after the angelic announcement, but they were filled with joy, “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” The prophet Habakkuk has the preeminent statement on the compatibility of sorrow and joy. He wrote in chapter 3 that if the crops all failed and the livestock all died, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Joy is not the result of perfect circumstances, it is the fruit of obedient faith, fueled by hope in the goodness and faithfulness of God. What’s weird is when God’s kids mope around. It just doesn’t seem compatible with who we are.