Advent 3: Joy is no secret
Luke 1:39 – 56
Genesis: 22: 1-19
1 Peter 1:3-12
Tonight, we celebrate the 3rd week in the Advent as we move toward Christmas. We will continue our sermon series tonight looking at the meaning behind the Advent wreath. The first candle represents Hope. The second stands for Preparation. Tonight, we will talk about the third candle, which represents Joy.
Christmas carols and decorations are filled with the word Joy during this time of the year, but have we really taken a close look at what that mean? It is happiness, or is it more than that?
How many of you have ever been truly happy. Happy to the point where your face hurts from smiling or your stomach from laughing; happy to the point that tears run down your face; true bliss with whatever you’re experiencing at the moment. Perhaps you’ve received that new job or that promotion at work that you struggled so hard to earn. Or maybe you did the best possible job you could and earned an award for being the best in a musical competition, an acting performance during a play, a fantastic feat of athletics during a sporting event, or won an award for being the very best at what you do. Maybe you can remember a time when your true love said yes to that very important question. Maybe you’ve been blessed with having a child with your true love. There are many experiences that we have in our lives that give us a happiness that can be experienced in no other way. That feeling is a form of joy. It is this feeling of euphoria that I want to talk to you tonight about. But, I want to go a bit beyond the descriptions I’ve given you.
Abraham and Isaac
A few weeks ago, we heard the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth who thought they couldn’t have a son. Elizabeth was thought to be barren and unable to have children. They prayed and they waited for years until the time was right for their son, John the Baptist to be born. In much the same way, Abraham and Sara thought that they were unable to have children. However, late in life, Sara was able to have a child. Both of these sets of parents prayed and struggled to have children. Both of these parents received an announcement from God that they would be blessed with a son. Both thought that they were beyond child bearing age. God blessed them with children when He thought the time was right. Joy surely filled their hearts as they discovered their new found blessing.
In our Old Testament lesson tonight (Genesis: 22: 1-19), the story of Abraham continues. Abraham was blessed with his son Isaac because of his faithfulness. God’s blessing of Isaac was a great gift to Abraham, and to Sara. The gift of a child always is. Abraham obeyed God; God blessed him with a son.
But, the faithfulness of Abraham that God rewarded with an heir was tested. God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Can you imagine the pain of such a command? You must give up the thing most precious to you. After waiting for most of your life for a child, God has asked you to give it up. Worse than that, he’s asked you to kill your son as an act of sacrifice. YOU must kill your son, because God has asked you to. It’s often said that parents should not outlive their children, normally referring to the pain that parents go through when a child dies. How much more painful it must be when you are the cause of the child’s death.
Even Isaac was obedient for this task. He would willingly die in obedience to God. When the moment finally came for the sacrifice to happen, God spared Isaac’s life. What joy must have filled both father and son. Isaac did not need to be sacrificed. Abraham did not need to go through with the task. A great weight had been lifted and joy surely replaced the pain of such an ordeal. Abraham gained his son because he didn’t have to go through with the sacrifice. Isaac gained his life because he didn’t need to lose it on this day. Joy to Abraham was keeping his only son, while being obedient to God. Joy to Isaac was keeping his life. Joy can mean different things to different people.
Mary and Elizabeth
Let’s take a look at what has happened with Mary and Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel has appeared to Mary and told her that she would have a child, even though she is still a virgin. She was also told that her relative, Elizabeth would have a child as well. Two miraculous births: Mary’s virgin pregnancy of Jesus, and the pregnancy of John the Baptist to Elizabeth who was thought barren. Mary was so excited about the news that she immediately went to Elizabeth.
The story picks up in our gospel message we heard a moment ago. Mary arrived as Elizabeth’s house. John, still within the womb of Elizabeth, leaps for joy. Now, many of us have shared the experience of feeling a baby kick while still inside it’s mother. It’s an amazing thing to see and feel the mother’s belly move as a tiny foot reaches out to meet the new world. But, there is a difference between a kick and a leap. Scripture says that the baby leaped once Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary. Even in the womb, John the Baptist, as a mere infant, was able to experience the joy of being this close to his Lord. Even in the womb, the savior’s presence was strong enough that an unborn child reacted to him. Even a baby can experience joy, even an unborn child still waiting to see the new world.
Elizabeth, responded in her own way. The Holy Spirit filled her and she spoke in a loud voice “Blessed are you among women, and blessed in the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42) Not only did Elizabeth recognize her relative Mary, not only did she recognize that Mary was pregnant, but she recognized what this really meant. She understood that Mary’s pregnancy was not an everyday, normal pregnancy. It was something unusual, just as her pregnancy with John was something unusual. The Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and she responded by allowing the Spirit to work through her. She was filled with joy that the mother of her Lord had come to see her. She was honored that Mary came to see her. She knew this was the fulfillment of scripture. This was the messiah sent by God. Joy to Elizabeth was seeing the fulfillment of scripture and knowing that God’s promises were coming true. It was being close to her Lord.
Mary experienced her own version of joy. Starting on verse 46 of the gospel message (Luke 1:46), Mary sings a song as a praise to God. This song is often called the Magnificat for the Latin word which is translated Mangnify in the New Kings James version that we use in church, but also can be translated to mean “glorifies.” Mary’s song truly does glorify God as it sings praise honoring what he has done for Mary as well as mankind. She is humbled by the experience as she has earned no such esteem. God chose to use a maidservant such as Mary to take on the highest honor for all women. Think about it. How great is the honor that was place in Mary’s lap? How many women can you name in the Bible? How many of those women affected all of mankind?
Mary recognized that she would be remembered for all time because of the child within her. She recognized that this child was not an ordinary baby, but the savior of all men. Mary experienced her own kind of joy based on the honor God was bestowing on her as well as the work that the child would accomplish. She rejoiced in the fact that the savior was on his way, and she would be a significant part of that.
Abraham and Isaac, Elizabeth, John and Mary all experience their own kind of joy. They all were servant of God. They all wanted to follow his command. They all were humble followers of His instructions. They all were unable to understand why they were chosen for the tasks they were given. But, they all worked into God’s plan of salvation.
Where is our joy today?
Sometimes we tend to look at the Bible as an ancient book with only parallel lessons to be learned, but not necessarily applicable to our everyday life. Abraham and Sara were blessed with the gift of their son Isaac and rejoiced in that blessed. We too can rejoice in the gift of a son or daughter, but it is not the same son or daughter.
Mary and Elizabeth rejoiced with the coming savior, Jesus, the Christ. We are not able to rejoice in the same way because he has already come. Mary and Elizabeth were looking forward to a savior coming into the world to save the nation of Israel. Instead, He came to save all mankind, but perhaps in a slightly different way that Mary and Elizabeth had considered. We will not be able to hold our savior as a child or even touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak. But, Jesus is still here with us.
So what can we rejoice in instead? We have the understanding that Jesus came into the world with the sole purpose of saving our eternal souls. Just as Abraham was faced with the difficulty of sacrificing his Son, God did exactly that by offering Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins. We should be rejoicing in the understanding that this is already accomplished; Jesus came and died for you, me and for all man-kind. He came into this world so that we will be able to enjoy the blessings of eternal life.
We talk about this in church all the time, but I think it’s fitting to put this into a modern perspective to consider how little we’ve earned this and how large a sacrifice was paid for our mistakes, for our sins.
Imagine, if you will, that you’ve been convicted of a serious crime. The police have caught you and prosecuted you for your crime. The judge hears your case and lays down the law. You have two choices, pay a $5 million debt, or go to jail for life. Most of us would be hard pressed to pay a $500 fine, let alone a $5 million fine. We would have no choice but to accept the sentence of a life long prison sentence. Imagine now, if you will, that on the way to the prison, a stranger appears, someone that you’ve never met, and that he pays the $5 million fine with no questions asked. You are now free to go about your business and enjoy life. What type of joy would you experience if something like this were to happen to you? In more real terms, if all of your life-long debt was paid off in one big sweeping motion, how would you feel? What type of emotion would you feel if you won the lottery tonight? I’m sure we’d all be quite happy about the situation.
Jesus’ entry into this world is much like that situation. As sinners, we are all condemned to pay for our sins. The problem is, the sentence is always the same. The crime may vary from person to person, but it is always a form of sin in one way or another. God does not differentiate between sins; disobedience is the net result and the net crime. It all comes down to this; We, as sinners, all are damned to the fires of Hades. It’s what we’ve earned for our disobedience to His Word. But, the debt has been paid. Jesus came into this world and paid the fine with no questions asked. God sent Him into the world to suffer on our behalf. He suffered for many who will never recognize that he’s even there. It is not our own actions that have blessed us with a forgiving savior, it is the grace of God and by Him alone that we are able to share in this blessing.
It is this joy that we are here to celebrate tonight. It’s the Joy of knowing God loves us so much that he not only promised to send his only son, but he did it. He followed through with this promise from ages past to finally come to fruitation in the womb of Mary. Promises fulfilled in the past show that God is not only a caring God, but that he consistent with what He says and with what He does.
It is the Joy in knowing that God explained to us what we need to do to be saved. We are to be baptized, we are to believe in Jesus as our Lord and savior, and we are to repent for our sins and make every effort to lead a sinless life. God never promises us an easy way of life, and showed that with all the difficulties that Jesus himself had to face while on this earth, but He showed us that the path can be followed. God gave us a glimpse of our reward in his book by showing that there is hope for all sinners. We only need to follow the example of Christ.
It all comes down to this.
What is joy? Joy is the celebration, the unrestrained happiness, of seeing the completion of God’s plan. It is the emotional outburst of rejoicing and basking in the love that God has blessed us with by sending His one and only son Jesus in our stead. It is the embracing of the gift of eternal life given to us even though we have done nothing to earn this glorious gift from God. Joy is looking forward to the blessings of heaven someday.
We are all part of God’s glorious plan. As Christians, we should have joy in our hearts, because we understand the truth of the sacrifice of Jesus. God loved us so much, that he sent his only begotten son to die in our steed. God blessed us with forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus on a cross. God gave us a gift, we never earned it. He promised it, but it’s still our responsibility to accept it. “Joy to the World” is more than just a song, it’s a blessing of hope of eternal life.
We are too content at keeping “joy” a secret. When we received that new job, that promotion, that award, did we keep it a secret? Or did we tell our family and friends the good news? When we had our children, did we hide them in a closet never to see the light of day? Or did we have baby showers, tell our co-workers of our preparations for the baby, celebrate at the birth and invite folks to the baptism of our child? On our wedding day, did we do everything in seclusion and continue to live separate lives? Or did invite our closest friends and family to celebrate the happy event and eventually move in together to start a new life? These joyous occasions of our life we choose to share with those around us.
All of these events are all worldly things which will pass with time in some way. Someday we will die and all these things will become unimportant to our lives. So why then do we keep the story of Jesus’ birth and His sacrifices a secret to ourselves? Why don’t we spread the news as Jesus commanded, to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? If it is truly joy for a Christian to know they are blessed with eternal life, why do we keep it a secret? We should be announcing it from the rooftops! We should be asking every person we see in the street “Do you know who Jesus is?” If we don’t know how someone feels about Jesus, the Christ, we should continue asking until we know. This is the most important message we could tell our neighbors, our friends or our family. If you’re keeping it to yourself, it’s not joy; it’s just a nice warm feeling. Christians should feel joy and spread the news. That’s exactly why we often call the Bible the “Good News.” It truly is, but it’s no secret.
Amen.
