December 16, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY: JOY

“But only the redeemed will walk there and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 35.10)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD during the Third Week of Advent 2024:

If Advent were a cycle, it would follow the path of “faith, peace, joy and love.” These words represent one tradition of recognizing the Sundays of preparation leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ. We are in the turn of the season to JOY having heard the faith of the prophets, the peace of the angels and now the JOY of the redeemed. Following yesterday’s lead, the joy of the redeemed actually happens before they are redeemed. It follows having faith in the Word of God who declares the purpose of the Lord is for His people. His people are those who call upon His Name as those who are called by His Name. Having affirmed such a calling, there is a sense of peace which transcends all understanding. It allows God’s people to have confidence even in the midst of chaos. Knowing the quietude of peace there comes the desire to silence the quiet with shouts of joy for what is about to happen. Such joy expresses trust in the knowledge of God’s doing a thing. Consider the beloved “Silent Night, Holy Night.” Exactly how long do you think the night was silent? People tend to focus on the events of that night and hear the symphony of sounds associated with it: cattle lowing, sheep bleating, chickens clucking, horses neighing, donkeys braying, dogs barking, cats mewing, doves cooing and other such animals as may be found in a stable. The entire night was caught in a peaceful silence. That didn’t mean is was completely void of sound. It was a restful silence except for Mary, Joseph and the baby about to be born. I have listened to the experience of a fourteen year old child giving birth. I think that no matter of holiness and righteousness which may have been accredited to Mary preserved her the pain and struggle of childbirth. I do not think that Joseph’s hand worn smooth by years of carpentry and stonework were sufficient to quieten the contractions. Perhaps the wife of the innkeeper was a doula and could assist in the birthing process. Maybe there was a woman in the gathering of those for whom there, too, was no room in the inn who had compassion for Mary based on her own experiences and lent a hand and word of wisdom. But, the entire night up to that point may well have seemed like any other night.

And then came the “deliverance”! In the fourth watch of the night as the world began to stretch and yawn in the anticipation of the rising of the sun in the east, the baby “awoke.” The time had come for him to be delivered into the world. He was about to endure His first rite of passage from the safety of His mother’s womb into the world that would lead to a tomb. He literally and figuratively was “born to die.” That thought would not bring the sounds of joy to anyone or anything. Yet, Jesus was not bound by that first deliverance. He was bound by a greater rite of passage which was “to die to be born again.” It is this truth and reality which gives us true joy. How did the shepherd psalmist David sing it: “For His anger lasts but a moment, His favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30.5) The stirring of childbirth as the body begins to shake in the contractions of deliverance declares the changing of a life perspective. There is no doubt that “something” is about to happen. For many women and sympathetic men, the birthing process is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual challenge. For some it is a battle as nature and nurture engage one another. I have no doubt that in those moments of delivery, the stable itself was no longer silent and still. It would have been restless. Perhaps, the tremoring of those contractions were felt by the flocks in the fields outside of Bethlehem. It would not have been simply the rising of the sun that stirred them and garnered the shepherds’ attention and the sheepdogs, too. It was the coming of the King of kings, the Son of the Most High God, that was bringing the world to life. And when it happened that Jesus was born, the world breathed a sigh of relief and found its peace restored, faith assured and joy to be complete.

Well, the joy would be as complete as possible for we know there was much more yet to come. Angels appeared to declare the joy of the Lord. Shepherds quaked at the sight and the announcement fearing death and judgment which turned to wonder and curiosity. In the stable, things returned to normal as the baby was wrapped in swaddling cloths having been cleaned and nestled in His mother’s arms. Nature has a way of knowing “all is well.” The hum of joy and relief filled the air. The birth of any living thing is a moving experience and brings us to vocal wonder and then quiet contemplation. It is as if all eyes search for “what is next.” We know what comes next. The sun begins to break on the eastern horizon. Cooking fires are stirred to life. The activities of a new day fall into their normal pattern. The animals in the stable stir with anticipation of being fed. The difference to what was usual was the unusual appearance of shepherds who made their way to the inn where Jesus lay. Dogs may have begun to bark which created a chain effect of wondering “what was the matter.” Doorways or windows may have opened to allow eyes to see and ears to hear that something was not as it should be. That brief moment of a “silent night, holy night” was gone and “the day of the Lord” had begun. And how did it begin? With the good news of great joy which had been given to those shepherds who had been stirred to life by the appearance of an angel chorus. In their joy, they had accepted the challenge to “go and see.”

Is that our joy as well in this Advent season? Are we prepared to “go and see” what the Lord has done? There’s still time!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.