Glad Tidings
At the beginning of this new Coptic year, I wish to speak to you a word of hope and expectation, a message of joy.
For the birth of Christ was glad tidings of salvation for all. In it, joy was born and peace was born. The angel said to the shepherds: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people, that today a Savior is born to you, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). These are glad tidings.
Glad Tidings
The entire message of Christianity is centered in the angel’s words to the shepherds: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people…”
Christianity is a joyful proclamation. This joyful proclamation was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and all the apostles and prophets.
The Lord said in His joyful message: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord… to comfort all who mourn… to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning” (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18-19). And our work as men of religion is to proclaim this joy, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners… to comfort those who mourn and to gladden the brokenhearted. Your message also, O believers, is to proclaim joy and salvation to the people.
Christianity is a religion that brings the good news of joy to people. It declares to them the redemption accomplished on the cross. It tells them that Christ bore their sins, that He broke the gates of Hades and opened the gates of Paradise.
It is a message that says to the chief tax collector: “Today salvation has come to this house.” It says to the thief on the cross: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” It says to the Gentile strangers: You are children of Abraham.
The Apostle Paul declares that Christianity is a joyful religion, saying:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” And in the midst of all his afflictions and hardships he says: “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”…
The Lord Jesus says: “I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s heart, for the apostle says the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22).
Whoever lacks joy and peace in his heart lacks the work of the Spirit.
At the coming of Christ, joy filled all the earth, because He reconciled the earthly with the heavenly, made the two one, and washed people from their sins, so their hearts became whiter than snow.
The people’s joy appeared in the angels’ hymn: “and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”
“Goodwill toward men”: because Christ proclaimed liberty to the captives, freed us from the bondage of Satan, and said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Satan is no longer the ruler of this world, but the whole earth has become the Lord’s and His Christ’s, and the kingdom of God has spread.
“The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad!” (Psalm 97)
At the beginning of the new year, we want to have this hopeful outlook that sees joy in everything. For the prophet says:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news of peace, who brings glad tidings of good things” (Isaiah 52:7).
But those who always foretell evil and blacken everything white are like owls hooting omens of ruin; they have no voice from God…
As for God’s children, their speech is full of comfort; they open doors of hope before people and turn their sorrow into joy, so people love them…
They declare to people that every problem has a solution, every closed door has a key, every sin has repentance and forgiveness…
Therefore, plant hope in everyone’s hearts. Teach them that there is no despair where God’s love and mercy exist. For God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He sends His grace to work in everyone, and sends His Holy Spirit to dwell in people’s hearts and guide them.
Despair is one of the devil’s wars, by which he brings people down and leads them into a vortex of anxiety, disturbance, fear, and distress.
Therefore, “Strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (Hebrews 12:12). Walk in the way of the Lord who said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” May you give rest to everyone.
I marvel at those who are possessed by gloom, even in the religious atmosphere.
They see religion only as sorrow, weeping, and gloom. From the entire Holy Scripture, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation, they retain only the verse: “By the sadness of the face the heart is made better,” and also “Blessed are you who weep now.” They forget its completion: “For you shall laugh,” and forget His saying: “Your sorrow will be turned into joy.”
Tell people that the Lord cares for them, that even the very hairs of their heads are all numbered, that there is a great power supporting us and wiping every tear from our eyes. And behold, before us is “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).
Even the barren woman who had not borne children received from the Lord glad tidings of joy:
For the Lord said to her: “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! … Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings… For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited” (Isaiah 54:1-3).
Glad tidings of joy came to Sarah the barren woman, whose husband was aged. And God gave her not merely a child, but descendants as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea…
Therefore, there is no despair before the love of God. But some may say: I do not despair of God’s love, but of my sinful self, which has become like an unfruitful branch, liable to be cut off and thrown into the fire… To such we say: God is ready to dig around this soul and put fertilizer, and leave it for this year also. Perhaps it will be the acceptable year of the Lord…
Christ came to proclaim to Saul, the persecutor of the church, that he would become Paul, the great preacher. He came to proclaim to the corrupt Augustine that he would become a man of deep meditations and one of the pillars of the church.
He came to proclaim to Moses the Black, the murderer, that he would become one of the great fathers of monasticism. He came to proclaim to Mary of Egypt, the harlot, that she would become a great wanderer worthy of the blessing of St. Zosima.
He came to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.
No sin is stronger than God’s grace. Grace is able to do everything, in anyone, no matter how dark…
The earth that was formless, void, and covered with water, with darkness upon the face of the deep—the Spirit of God was able to hover over the face of the waters, fill it with light, and adorn it with trees and flowers.
The pessimistic sometimes project their dark understanding onto God, so He appears in a frightening form. That is not the image of our kind, good God.
But the kind God—David said of Him in Psalm 103:
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities… As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him…
Our good God became the Son of Man, to make man a son of God. He was called the Savior, because He saves His people from their sins. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Be assured that God will visit you—even at the end of time—to open for you the door of salvation. Place within yourself hope that you will be delivered from all your sins.
If sin is stronger than you, the mercy of the Lord is stronger than sin. If sin abounds, grace will abound much more…
If you fear those who rise up against you, know that those who are with you are more than those who are against you. It remains for you to pray: “Open his eyes, O Lord, that he may see…” The grace of the Lord surrounds you; what you lack is to see it…
The phrase “Rejoice in the Lord always” is not merely advice; it is a command. If you live by it, you will give a bright image of Christianity…
Rejoice in the Lord who leads you in His triumphal procession… The God who came for your salvation, and went to prepare a place for you, so that where He is, you may also be; who has engraved you on the palm of His hand and made His dwelling in your heart. Every commandment in the Gospel fills our hearts with joy and blessedness.
Because the very word “Gospel” means “glad tidings”…
So let us rejoice in the Lord, who has granted us the joy of His salvation.
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine, Year Eight (Issue One) – January 7, 1977
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