"Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.
On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
“I will remove from you all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals, which is a burden and reproach for you.
At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you. I will rescue the lame; I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame.
At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the Lord."
- Zephaniah 3:14-20
The Joy - Advent week 3
It’s pretty easy to mix up the concepts of joy and happiness these days. We think of them interchangeably as an emotional state that is largely the opposite of sadness. But when joy and happiness are confused, we miss the massive impact of the advent of Jesus, and replace it with a sappy sentimentality to which so many of us are prone.
Think about it. When even the most theologically astute of us consider Christmas, we melt a little bit inside. We think of fireplaces and stockings and hot apple cider and stories of kindness and caring. And inside, we get a little gooey. It’s easy to look at the various trappings of what has become the “feeling of Christmas” and feel awfully good, and then mistake that kind of sentimental happiness for the joy that was announced by the angels to the shepherds so long ago: Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.
The announcement of the angels had nothing to do with sentimentality. Imagine the shock of the shepherds. We may be immune to the visceral emotion of the story, being so used to the narrative by now, but try to put yourself in the shoes (or sandals) of the first-century sheepherder. The job required vigilance and observation, watching to ensure the flock was safe. There was the constant counting, ensuring that none of the animals had wandered away or been stolen. These were the hearty outdoor fellows who probably sat around the campfire laughing at the various stories they’d heard time and time again. Their lives were simple, and routine.
The explosion of light in the sky and the appearance of the angel armies was not an everyday event. It would have terrified even the most skeptical of us! And in the midst of this once-in-a-lifetime angelic appearance, good news of GREAT JOY! What the angel was announcing was nothing short of a seismic shift in the fabric of reality, and it was being announced to shepherds! People who lived under the thumb of the Romans (having escaped the thumb of the Greeks, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and long before that, the Egyptians) were told that someone was here to save them. A SAVIOUR had been born to them – the Messiah and Lord! This was an announcement that heralded Jewish freedom and independence, a return to the theocracy they longed for and a casting off of the hated yoke of the oppressor. That was good news that went far beyond sentimentality. It signalled to the people of God that the one that had been promised them for centuries had arrived. Imagine their joy!
This joy was not happiness. It went WAY beyond warm fuzzies. It was a declaration that all things were changing and that God was intervening on behalf of His people to ensure not only their survival, but their continued thriving as the people of God, self-governing and free! In my imagination, the shepherds don’t just hurry to see this thing the Lord had told them…they leapt up with a whoop of glee and raced to find the one that God had sent. The joy of the shepherds would be infectious, and extend one day to all people: people like us, who mistake warm feelings for joy, when in reality God Himself has invited us to dwell with and in His love. We are no longer slaves to sin, but servants of the most high God. We are no longer lost, but found by God. We are no longer enemies of God, but by the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, we are adopted as children and heirs.
And that is all good news that brings the surety of our status as beloved and the promise of God’s eternal presence. That is true joy.
