As the Bible proclaims, there were some homeless shepherds living out in the fields. They were watching and protecting their sheep, as shepherds are paid to do. I am sure that it was a fascinating life, lying on the hard ground, counting sheep all night but trying not to go to sleep while doing so. There was nothing fascinating about the night, just the usual monotony. But, the boredom of the cold night was broken as an angel pierced the darkness with heavenly glory.
“The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people’” (Luke 2:10). Great joy is about to infuse the souls of these homeless guys living out in the fields. The joy is this: “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11-12).
And, these men were filled with joy as they set out quickly to find the child, leaving their many sheep behind to find the one, excitedly telling everyone staring at the baby in the manger about what had been told them by the angel, and then they joyously praised God for it all as they returned to the fields and their sheep.
These lowly shepherds were the first to be gifted an unimaginable amount of joy brought on by the arrival of the Christ child, and I have to say that I am jealous.
Joy.
Joy is one of the most perfect gifts that anyone can be given, but it is so hard to find. How I want that same joy. How I desire to run into the streets with words of joy and promise on my lips like the shepherds.
But, it just has not happened this year. And I guarantee that it is the same for a lot of the people around you. Maybe, joy has not found you either. For many, joy has been elusive.
I know of a number of people who have been given the gift of bad news and a hospital bed this Christmas season. It is a gift in which there is no joy. Joy is elusive.
I know of those whose relationships have failed, just before the typical togetherness of the holidays. Merry Christmas! What a great present! Joy is elusive.
I know of those for whom the season is more about holding back tears that strain to release than it is about joy bursting forth. How do you find joy in grief? How do you find joy when you cannot share it with the one you most desire to be with? The gift of loneliness is their present. Joy is elusive.
Rather than angels bursting forth in joyful song, the fields seem a little quiet this year. It gets to you; the lack of joy. It gets to me anyway. So, I went searching for joy the other day in the most obvious of places: the internet.
My first search on the internet for joy landed me on a page with the “best Christmas jokes of all time.” Here are some of the best, most joy inducing Christmas jokes on the internet right now:
What did Adam say on the day before Christmas? It’s Christmas, Eve!
I know, I know, you can just feel the joy surging within as I speak.
What's green, covered in tinsel, and goes ribbit, ribbit? A Mistle-toad.
I know, I know, you are thinking, “Stop now Pastor Jira or my body will just burst open with Christmas joy!”
Then I stumbled on this one:
Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.
"In honor of this holy season," Saint Peter said, "You must each
possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven."
The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked
it on. "It represents a candle," he said. "You may pass through"
Saint Peter said.
The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook
them and said, "They're bells." Saint Peter said, "You may pass
through."
The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally
pulled out a pair of women's glasses.
St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, "And just
what do those symbolize?"
The man replied, "They're Carol's."
Needless to say, the jokes just were not doing it for me. They fell a little short of bringing great joy. But, the angel said:
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11-12).
The angel’s words reminded me of those videos that you see where parents are filled immediately with joy, tears flowing down the lines of their smiles, as they hold their baby for the first time after giving birth. There is a very palpable joy that happens when a baby first arrives into your life.
And, that sent me down the path of looking up other videos where people are captured by pure joy. I watched videos of army parents coming home from deployment, entering into their child’s classroom, and the child jumping out of their seat and up into the arms of their parent immediately when they see their parent standing inside the classroom door. It is pure joy.
And, I watched videos where foster children are given an envelope for Christmas. And, as they open the envelope and pull out the adoption decree, the tears immediately begin to flow with joy as they realize that they are a part of a family forever.
I even watched a video where a tiger just goes wild with what appears to be tiger joy when the man who rescued and brought the tiger to health reunites with the big cat years later. The tiger jumps up and embraces the guy in a tiger sort of embrace. It is pure joy at the arrival of the one the tiger loves.
And, that got me to thinking that maybe joy is not something that can be manufactured. Maybe, joy is not something that you or I can just conjure up when we are feeling a little down. Maybe, joy is a gift that can only be given by another. Maybe, joy is what happens when someone special enters into your life. Maybe, joy is what happens when love intentionally enters into your life and into your world. After-all, all of the videos of overwhelming joy had one thing in common: they all included the arrival of someone who is loved. The baby arrives; the parent returns; the foster child is brought into the family; and the one who cared returned.
“I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people” said the angel. “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11-12).
When God chooses to no longer be distant, and chooses to come down and enter our world in order to be with us, to walk with us, to talk with us, to die for us, and to save us, that is a message of great joy.
When the angel Gabriel came to Mary and let her know that she had been chosen by God to bring the Messiah into the world, when she learned that God was coming to her, that was a message of arrival. That is a message of great joy!
When the angel came to the forgotten and homeless shepherds in the fields, and told them to go see the savior of the world, that was a message of arrival. That is a message of great joy!
And, when the shepherds returned from Bethlehem, after seeing the arrival of the Messiah, like a child whose military parent has just come home or a parent who holds their child for the first time, they are filled with a great joy and they tell everyone about the arrival of God’s Messiah. They are filled with a message of great joy because Jesus, Emmanuel, which means “God is with us,” that one had arrived!
And, maybe this is where we will find some joy tonight. Jesus has arrived into our lives. Jesus arrives in your life. Jesus is overjoyed to draw close to you, yes even you. The one who chose a young teen from a backwards town, and the one who chose some homeless guys out in a field is overjoyed to draw near to you as well. Your Lord has arrived. Your Lord has come to enter into your life again. God, who once seemed distant, returns home to you in Jesus. And, when God arrives, great joy comes along.
I pray that you get the gift of that joy tonight. I pray that Jesus’ Spirit encounters you tonight in a way that brings you the gift of joy that only God can provide. I pray that God’s Spirit of joy finds a place in your heart, even if it is a broken heart. May Jesus’ joy enter into the cracks of your broken heart and make it whole once again. May Christ’s Spirit take up a home in you; filling you with divine love, divine grace, and, of course, divine joy!
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