Thought for the week: Advent 3 - Joy

Imagine a scene from an EastEnders filming session (or another soap of your choice…). A person is sitting at a kitchen table, writing a shopping list. The second character brings them a coffee but manages to spill some on the list. This being a soap, the situation escalates quickly: the first person is annoyed that their shopping list is ruined but the second character blames them for having an overly cluttered table, and tells them they should make their own coffee in the future!

Now imagine a retake of this scene – coffee still gets spilled on the shopping list, but this time the second person apologises, gets a cloth to wipe up the mess and makes another cup of coffee. Both characters laugh off the incident and harmony is restored.

Repentance i.e. being sorry and changing accordingly, isn’t necessarily associated with joy. But saying sorry, meaning it and showing it by our actions, can bring healing and joy to all sides. Looked at from the angle of the wronged person, it is much easier to forgive someone who has admitted they are in the wrong. And forgiveness can bring healing.

At first sight, the message of John the Baptist sounds harsh and joyless, but true change and repentance bring joy. This message comes across even more in the life and ministry of Jesus, the one for whom John was preparing. Think about people who Jesus met, such as Zacchaeus. Here was a man whose whole life was turned around. The change was real, as he prepared to give half his goods to the poor and reimburse the people he had cheated. What joy it brought to him – and no doubt to the people who received back what was due to them. Are there people you need to say sorry to? Why not do something about that this week?