December 17, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY: JOY

“The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.” (Isaiah 51.3)

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

It is said that Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Symphony No. 9, was his greatest work. It is said that the music orchestrated by Beethoven was uniquely lyrical. That would stand to reason considering the fact Beethoven was the first to include the human voice in his work. The words were drawn from Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy” written in 1785 which spoke of hope and unity. There is a great history of influence which this symphony has exerted since its inception. In 1907, Henry Van Dyke created the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” which utilizes Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy.” The power of the music and the lyrics is tremendous. It is another one of “those” songs I love to hear played on the pipe organ as it builds to a vibrant crescendo and a confident finale. It is said that when Beethoven directed the piece in Vienna in March of 1824, he continued to direct even after the music was completed. Some attribute the behavior to his lack of hearing and was directed by one of the soloists to stop, turn and receive the accolades of a greatful audience. I wonder if, as he lead the orchestra through the piece, he didn’t find himself still caught in the swells of the music itself and was not yet finished with it. Many of us, even now upon reading about it, hear the music in our heads, our bodies moving as if directed or perhaps directing and the power of God’s Spirit still speaks of an “inexpressible joy.” (ref. 1 Peter 1.8)

As we read the “joy” passage from Isaiah 51,3, we would do well to imagine the lyrical symphony which God was conducting for the audience of Israel and ultimately the entire world. It is filled with that anticipation reflected upon as the very nature of God’s joy. The joy song is not reflecting solely on the deliverance from things in our past. It builds upon them and projects us into the future when “our joy shall be complete.” (ref John 15.11) In the Upper Room after Jesus had finished leading those gathered as His friends (not merely as disciples, hosts and dinner servants), He began to lead them in a symphony of joy. I can imagine it was more difficult to capture such a feeling after Jesus had announced the events which were just ahead and that one of them was a betrayer. Nonetheless, Jesus lifted up his hands as if holding a baton and began to orchestrate the lyrical movements which would preserve and guide those whom He loved through the rest of their days. Reading through chapters 15-17 of John’s gospel, I cannot begin to imagine how many crescendos there must have been but verse eleven was the lead into one of them as Jesus declared, “This is My commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” I cannot possibly imagine how we have lost the sense of awe and wonder that new commandment projects. Perhaps in our desire to be so inclusive in our evangelism and the fulfilling of the Great Commission, we overlook the centering of it for those who heard it and those who hear it now. It is an intensely personal commandment. Maybe it is because it is so personal and personally compelling that the challenge of it is almost too much to bear. As in Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” the call to the hope of unity and the drawing near of that sense of authentic community is a challenge. Yet, without it there is no sense of hope for the future. Jesus was aware of that Himself. His command was that call to embrace the hope for a glorious future founded in an inexpressible joy. Jesus had to remind them to “love one another.” Jesus wasn’t focused in that moment on the rest of the world. In that Upper Room, there was only “them.” He loved them. He called them friends and challenged them with the change of focus from servants and students to followers and friends. Jesus wanted His joy to be complete in them. As we read in Nehemiah 8.10 “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” If those who were with Him then in that moment did not feel the spiritual music moving then they would not survive what was yet to come.

Isaiah 51 has that same kind of energy. God speaks to the nation of Israel concerning the overcoming of their past. Their past was filled with events that did not lead to a life of hope fulfilled. It had a sense of hopelessness. Maybe it was that “hope” was all they had left. If they could not hope in the Lord then how could there be any joy. What a turn on the verse we considered yesterday, “Weeping may last into the night but joy will come in the morning.” (Psalm 30.5) It would sound like this, “Joy may last into the night but weeping will come in the morning.” If they did not have hope this would have been the result. It almost was. When Jesus concluded His teaching and preparation, He led them out of the city to the Mount of Olives where they sang songs, psalms and spiritual songs. Then it happened. Judas appears with the Temple Guard and Roman soldiers. Jesus was arrested and taken to trial. He would be convicted, executed and buried. Weeping indeed came in the morning and joy fled like the darkness when the sun rises. But the “ode to joy” had been written and sung to them already. On the third day, they would begin to experience “Weeping may last into the night…” in fact for two nights, “…but joy would come in the morning.” We know it: He is Risen! The song of hope is sung again. Hope triumphs over despair. Sadness is consumed by joy. Paul would sing for the Corinthians who were experiencing the burden of doubt and persecution “Where, o death is your victory; where, o death is your sting; for death has been swallowed up in victory that has overcome the world.” Yes, the birth of Christ for all of us is an “Ode to Joy.” In our advent journey we must keep the song of hope alive in our heart, soul and mind. Our hands must clap. Our feet must stomp. Our bodies tingle with the knowledge of so great a love as this. And in our remembrance we will experience what was said in Isaiah “Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.”

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.