Finding Joy

Now what I love about shows like this is that the kids laugh at the crazy antics of the characters in the show, but as a parent watching the show, you laugh at the insights into parenting.

It’s something that all good TV shows do. It’s the layering to allow both young kids and their parents to enjoy the show.

It’s this interesting thing about jokes. They can have layers. You can laugh at them - for some, they just see the slapstick comedy, for others its the connection and interaction with our wider experiences.

Christmas joy

This morning we’re talking about the joy of Christmas. And what I find is that something similar happens, but it’s not necessarily a child - adult thing.

You see, if you ask most people, is Christmas a time of joy? I suspect you’ll generally get the answer ‘yes’.

I say generally, because I do recognise many of our traditions at this time can be painful, particularly in families that have suffered loss, or in broken families, particularly if there are still a lot of tensions.

But for most people, even if there own experience brings pain, they will likely see that joy that is generally associated with Christmas.

The joy that they’re thinking of, is the joy associated with the festive atmosphere of this time.

We get festive lights and festive music. People get generous and give lovely and thoughtful gifts. You get cards with beautiful things written in them.

We might get busy in the lead up to Christmas, but that’s because, for the most part, on Christmas Day we get to be with our family and actually stop, and spend good quality time with them.

These are things of joy and I can say that I genuinely really enjoy these aspects of Christmas.

But it’s a bit like the kids who really enjoy those cartoons. What they’re laughing about is what they’re meant to be laughing at. It’s what they can understand.

For the adult watching, they can enjoy the simple humour as well, but they see something deeper.

In a similar way, the joyful things I just mentioned about Christmas are joyful, but we’re missing something much deeper.

You see, all those things are conditional. Let’s say your family start fighting on Christmas, the lunch is spoiled by some rotten food and people forgot to get you any presents. Is there still joy in Christmas?

You might actually say no, and let’s face it, if those things happened to me, I would find it really hard.

But yet, as a Christian, I would maintain that there is still joy at Christmas. Why? Well, this is the deeper thing I’m talking about.

Christmas story

Now, of course this is where the Christmas story comes in.

We all know the story. It’s been recounted many times in many ways through many mediums.

Mary finds out she’s pregnant, goes to Bethlehem where there’s no room, and so has to have the baby in the stable, meanwhile the shepherds and wise men hear about it and they come for a visit.

We know its a fun story. I probably just gave the worst re-telling of it - actually it’s probably the quickest re-telling of it. Normally when we re-tell it, we love to elaborate on parts of the story, particular thinking about what it must have been like for a heavily pregnant woman to arrive in a town where there’s no room for her.

But as fun as the story is, the joy of Christmas is not just in a good yarn.

You see, even when we go through all of the events of the story in detail, people can still say, ‘look, it’s a good story and all but even when I accept it as true, what’s the birth of a baby 2000 years ago got to do with me?’

Well, it’s understand this that makes all the difference.

When we begin to understand not just what happened, but why it happened and how it fit into the bigger picture of what God is doing, that we start to understand that there is a joy that goes far beyond the festive things we do at this time of year.

Not fully understanding it

Now, I said “begin” to understand deliberately. Even if you study the bible a long time, you won’t fully understand it. But experiencing this deeper joy is not so much a full understanding, rather it’s opening ourselves up to the Spirit to enable us to experience this joy.

Mary

To explain what I mean, I’m going to look at Mary this morning. Actually, I’m going to first look at Mary and then I’ll go to another character also in this first chapter of Luke by way of comparison.

So first of all, who is Mary? Well, apart from being the mother of Jesus, for all intents and purposes she was just a pretty ordinary person. She wouldn’t have been particularly well educated. She wouldn’t have been particularly influential.

She wasn’t even married yet, although she was pledged to be married.

But while to the world she would have been nothing special, God chose her for perhaps the most significant role in the history of humanity. She was to carry and give birth to the Son of God.

Well, God sends an Angel, which troubled young Mary, after all, young unimportant girls don’t normally get a visit from a heavenly being in such a way.

The angel tells her she’s going to have a baby which doesn’t really compute with her because she knows it’s physically impossible.

But the angel just answers “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but words like that might freak most people out.

But the angel continues: “Even Elizabeth you relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month”

And then the angel ground these words for Mary: “For no word from God will ever fail”.

And with those words, we see something truly special from Mary and it’s the thing we need to learn from her. In fact, I’m going to suggest that it’s the way that we begin to have the deeper joy I’ve been talking about.

Mary simply says: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled”

What I think is so special about this is that Mary is just simply accepting God’s word as God’s word. With this submission to God, something happens to Mary. She can begin to see things that would otherwise be hidden.

Mary visits Elizabeth

When Mary then goes and visits her cousin Elizabeth, there is something quite supernatural happening.

Elizabeth has an experience and an insight into that experience.

Now as the angel said, Elizabeth is also pregnant, and when Mary comes, we’re told that the baby leaps within her womb.

Now what does that exactly mean?

Well, we certainly know that unborn babies have a habit of moving around and kicking about.

Was this just an example of a baby moving, just like any mother-to-be has?

Well, possibly, except that this one comes with insight from the Holy Spirit. The babies movement was no mere coincidence.

What is clear is that something on a significant level is happening.

I doubt that neither Mary nor Elizabeth would have been able to explain it on any deep level, but they know that God is moving on a real powerful level, and because they are able to accept that what is happening is happening because of a good God who has big plans, they can just rejoice.

Mary’s Song

From verse 46, Mary says some profound words.

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour”.

As you keep reading through her words, what becomes clear is that she knows that because of what is happening, there is going to be a change in this world of a cosmic level.

Things are going to turned upside down. Rulers brought down. The hungry filled. Rich are sent away empty.

You see, here’s the thing, when you accept what God is doing for what it is, not trying to fight against it, but just letting God’s plan be God’s plan, are eyes begin to open to see that God is causing change.

And this is why we can have joy. Because all of the wrongs of this world will be changed.

Zechariah

Now let me just pause here a moment, and hit rewind on this chapter. Because I want to go back to a different character who is going to provide a point of contrast.

Remember Mary was just a woman with very few credentials.

Well, back in verse 5 were introduced to the far more accomplished Zechariah.

Zechariah was a priest who was able to go before God in the temple, something that was very special indeed.

Zechariah was indeed, Elizabeth’s husband, and we’re actually told he was a godly man.

Well, when appearing in the temple, he also gets a message from the angel of the Lord.

He’s also told that his wife is going to have a baby. And while this is no immaculate inception, but it is highly unusual as he and his wife are well advance in years and have never been able to have children.

But this is where I want to draw a point of comparison with Mary. While Zechariah would have been well studied and greatly distinguished, he doubted the word of God.

He struggled to accept it for what it was.

And because of his lack of acceptance, the Lord took his ability to speak away from him till the day the child was born.

Now I don’t want to be too critical of Zechariah. I suspect I would have done the same thing.

However I want to use this comparison to make my main point this morning.

You see, there is actually something quite simple about experiencing the deeper joy of Christmas.

It’s not just in knowing the details about Jesus and his birth, it’s actually in accepting it for what it is.

You see, it’s a strange thing in many ways. It’s not something to really be fully grasped. Understanding what God is doing in many ways doesn’t make sense.

After all, why would God want to become a human? If God is God, why doesn’t he just zoom in from heaven, do what he has to do to sort out the mess, and then zoom away?

I think if we were planning it for God, we would have done it very differently.

But actually, we just need to accept that the way God has chosen to carry out his plan to redeem humanity is best.

And when we accept this, suddenly everything changes. You see, there is a humility to the whole thing, and with humility, we find all the barriers are torn down.

Things change, and they change for the better. And this is the source of all the joy that we have.

It was a joy that Mary was able to experience.

It wasn’t a joy because her life was about to get easy - in fact far from it. Mary was not to have an easy time of things. The whole birth story, as romantic as we sometimes seem to make it, would actually have been quite traumatic.

We know not long after the birth, the family have to flee to Egypt for their own safety.

It’s not a joy based on festivities. It’s a joy that comes after you submit to God and allow him to take control.

Conclusion

Christmas is a time of great joy. The joy that comes with all of the festivities is actually right and proper and you should enjoy those things. But please know that there is a joy to be experienced that is on a much deeper level.

You can be like Zechariah. Doubt it. Not accept it for what it is. Or be like Mary and accept God’s word and submit to it.

Because if you can submit to it, then you will start to gain the insight into why this is such good news.

My prayer is that this Christmas, you will see the great depth of joy that can be experienced when you just accept the beautiful plan that God has for this world, and see that God coming to earth really is the greatest thing that has ever happened on this planet.