“Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people.”
(Luke 2:10 GNB)
In contemporary language, ‘joy’ is not a word that is used frequently to describe a feeling of elation: these days we are more likely to use the word ‘buzzing’ or ‘excited’ instead. But whatever word we use we are trying to convey an excited anticipation of something we expect to happen or the thrill of something that has happened. Such a feeling is like a surge of focus on the something wonderful which eclipses everything else during our time of euphoria.
For followers of Christ, because it is heaven-sent and associated with the start of the Christmas story, joy is a tiny word of huge significance also associated with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The joy of Christmas is a reaction to the Greatest Gift of all eternity – Immanuel. However else the world wants to package Christmas, with layers of cultural meanings or even tries to obliterate the reason for the season itself with winter wonderland or comic greetings cards, the essence is the joyful news the angels brought to the shepherds.
“This very day in David’s town your Saviour was born – Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
We can only guess that there were stories circulating about what the shepherds had witnessed which informed Luke to include these words in his orderly account. The early disciples had, like their fellow Jews, been anticipating a Messiah and the realisation, by the time this gospel account was written by Luke, that Jesus was the fulfilment of ancient prophecies, sent Jesus’ followers into unbridled joy. It was not an easy ride for this radical group to negotiate their Jewish heritage nor the beliefs in multiple gods of the occupying Roman Empire, but the excited disciples could not stop sharing with everyone that ‘good news for all people’. Because of the empowering of the Holy Spirit, their testimonies of Jesus, oral and written, transformed theirs and others’ lives because of what the Apostle Peter writes of as ’a great and glorious joy which words cannot express.’ (1 Peter 1:8).
Each generation faces adversity of one type or another and joy is one thing that, when we are under duress, is in short supply. But for Christians we need reminding, as did the Israelites of old, that ‘The Joy of the Lord is our strength” (Neh 8:10). The passages in the New Testament book of Hebrews about generations of God’s people who had to face adversity, yet persevered, include Jesus himself. In Hebrews 12:2 we read “For the Joy set before him he endured...”.
So just as the shepherds were dazzled by the messengers of the joyful news, yet even in their puzzlement ran into Bethlehem to enquire, we too by God’s grace, whether we are puzzled by the prospect of eternal salvation or exhausted by trying to bring salvation to the here and now, can be energised by joy to run the race set before us.
Let’s pray:
Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising
Give me joy in my heart, I pray,
Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising
Keep me praising ‘til the end of day.
Sing Hosanna. Amen.
Elisabeth Sweeney