Joy to the World
Text: Luke 2:1-20
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Throughout this season of Advent and now into the Christmas season, we’ve been focusing on JOY. A joy that’s too good to be true, and yet it is true. A joy that’s too good to be exclusive, so God gives it to everyone. And a joy that’s too good to be hoarded, so we don’t keep it to ourselves, but rather share it with those around us. It’s the joy that we’ve just seen play out as our nativity scene was populated with Mary and Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds and sheep, angels and wise men. The joy that we know only because the Lord is come.
Oh, to have been there on that first Christmas night. To have seen firsthand the joy that God sent into the world. To have been a shepherd in the field when the angel announced the “good news of great joy that would be for all people.” When the whole sky became filled with a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill to men.” To gaze upon the newborn face of Jesus, lying in the manger. We might think that if only we’d been there to witness all of this then we would have true Christmas joy. Or if we could be in heaven where the struggles of life are over, where’s there’s no more sorrow or crying, then we’d have true joy.
We recognize that there’s joy to be had, but we sometimes think that it’s either there at the manger, or in heaven. Certainly not in a world filled with such heartache and fear as ours. That’s the problem with Christmas too. We’re always dreaming about the ideal Christmas. The one where there’s nothing but joy to be found. The tree is trimmed perfectly. The lights are all hung straight. Everyone goes exactly where we planned for them to go in the Christmas pageant. None of the food is burned, The gifts are all wrapped and under the tree and the perfect combination of family, friends, music, and laughter fill our homes. But it never seems to work out quite like that.
We’d all like to have a merry little Christmas, but to do that, we need to change our expectations a little, because Christmas goes far deeper than all that other stuff. Christmas isn’t an ideal that we can never achieve. It’s not for someone else, someplace else. Christmas is for you, whoever you are and whatever your situation, right here and right now.
The joy of Christmas is in the fact that God sent His Son into the world, not just for those who witnessed it that day. Not just for the shepherds who heard the angels’ song. Not only for the wise men who were able to visit Jesus and His parents. But for every person of all time. It’s why we sing Joy to the World. The whole earth receives her King. And heaven and nature sings.
It’s a joy that changed the world and the people in it. It certainly changed the shepherds, who witnessed the joy of the baby in the manger and then took that joy with them back into their work and their routines. We’re not just looking in on someone else’s joy, but experiencing the Joy of the World come to us. And this joy should change our lives as well. Fill us with so much that we can’t help but Go Tell it on the Mountain.
Pretty soon we’re going to have to go back to our normal lives. The time off will be over, and the vacations will end. But the joy can go with you back into your everyday lives. Whoever you are, there is joy for you here today. Not in some future time or some other situation, but right here and now. Not in that special white Christmas you remember from your childhood or have built up in your mind. And not in family and friends gathered around the perfect holiday table, as precious as that is. Rather, this is joy that can change your life. Joy first found in this world of ours in the face of a newborn baby in Bethlehem. The very face of God. True joy can be found in this One, Jesus, who bore the sorrows and burdens of all the world. Our real joy is in Jesus, who took our hurt and guilt into His own body in His death. And was raised that we might have life, and have it to the fullest.
Where this Jesus is preached and where His loved is shared, is where true joy is to be found. And it doesn’t end today or tomorrow. This true joy resides in the lives and the work of His people, who gather here regularly to receive the gifts He graciously gives. The joy of Christmas is right here, right now, and always as Jesus Christ comes to us. That’s good news of great joy that will be for all people. For you! That’s Joy to the World!
The peace and joy of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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