ADVENT: A SEASON
OF JOY
12/16/2018
Introduction: Everybody wants
to be happy! What makes people Happy? Is it the Economic power? Or the Military
power? Or receiving your favorite gift this Christmas? According to the World
Happiness Report’s annual ranking of more than 150 countries, for the second consecutive
year, the United States has taken a tumble. The United States ranked 18th.
That is down four
spots from a year ago. Finland is No. 1, edging out Norway, the 2017 champion.
Denmark was third, followed by Iceland and Switzerland. In spite of our wealth
and apparent success there seems to be a lot of “Un-Happy” people in the USA. maybe
we should have a new election slogan in 2020, “Making America Happy Again.”[1]
What makes People
truly Happy and Joyful? We have been progressing through this advent season, so
far, we have lit two candles. The first helped us to understand our Hope is in
Christ Jesus alone; with the second we looked on how we are to prepare
ourselves for the Messiah’s second coming. As we light the third candle, we
remember the joy of waiting, because we know how the story ends! The pink color
means joy! Which reminds us of the joyful angelic announcement about the savior
of the world, and the eager response of the shepherds who rejoiced when they
saw the baby wrapped up in a manger. Advent:
A Season of joy
Background Information: It would be
helpful to know a little bit about the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem which was
also called, “The town of David,” where David was born. In Genesis 35:19, it
was called as Ephrathah where Jacob buried his wife Rachel. Situated five miles
south of Jerusalem, Bethlehem (House of bread) was an insignificant town during
OT times. In 737 BC Micah prophesied that the Messiah would come from this community.
Micah
5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the
people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past,
will come from you on my behalf.” Archeologically, little is known of ancient
Bethlehem.
Very
early church tradition locates, Jesus’ birth in a cave in Bethlehem, over which
the emperor Hadrian constructed a shrine to a Roman deity. Later, the Christian
emperor Constantine erected a church building over the cave. After its partial
destruction by the Samaritans in the sixth century AD, the Church of the Nativity
was rebuilt by the emperor Justinian and still stands today as one of the most
ancient church buildings in existence.
This
Historical background helps us understand the movement of God throughout
History, for telling and fulfilling His promises and preserving the names and
places of their fulfillment. Otherwise we would have missed out on this
wonderful account of Jesus’s birth. In the passage we read, we will see two
main characters: The Shepherds & The
Angels
I.
THE SHEPHERDS & THE ANGELS
Vs,
8-9, “That night
there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of
sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of
the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified.” Have you
ever wondered why the good news of the savior of the world was first revealed
to the shepherds in the hills of Bethlehem and not to the wise and the learned
in the palace?
Bethlehem
was nearby Jerusalem, and many of the sheep used in the temple sacrifices came
from there. The surrounding hills were prime grazing land, and shepherds worked
in the area day and night, all year round. It was one of those nights the
shepherds were out in the field watching their sheep. “Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the
radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified.”
Nearly every time an angel appears
in the Bible, his first words are, “Do not be afraid!” Is it any wonder? When the supernatural makes
contact with planet Earth, the human observers usually end up flat on their
faces in fear. Here it is no different with the Shepherds, the angel reassured
them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great
joy to all people.” These days when we turn on the TV we hear and see a lot of
bad and sad news.
But the news that the angle announced to the
shepherds was nothing but all good news. It was not sad news but joyful news. It was just not meant for Israel only but for
the whole world.
II. WHAT
IS GOOD ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS?
Vs11-12
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah,
the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger.” For
the past couple of weeks, we have looked at some ancient prophecies of Daniel,
and Isaiah about God setting up an everlasting Kingdom and God sending a sign
of the Messiah. Israel had been waiting and preparing themselves for their
fulfilment. Several centuries passed, but they hadn’t seen the fulfillment of
those prophecies.
History
tells us that for about four hundred years there was absolute silence from
heaven. There was no prophecy, or direct word from God, as if the heavens were
on strike. All of a sudden, we see the heavens engaging with the earth once
again. The heavenly agents became super active, the angles were moving back and
forth from heaven delivering messages from God.
First
to an elderly couple named Zacharia and Elizbeth and then to a young couple
pledged to be married named, Joseph and Mary. In the passage we read, an angel
on that starry night delivered mega news to a group of innocent shepherds. That
angel said, it was “the good news.” To understand the goodness of the good news
we need to see how bad the situation was.
The
prophets paint the picture pretty well. Darkness, gloom and despair was all
around. For God’s people life was nothing but full of troubles. The Romans were
in power, imposing their rules and customs on them, making their lives
miserable. Yet int the midst of all that, the silver lining was the promises of
God, which gave them hope. They were looking forward for the Messiah who would deliver
them from the tyranny of the Roman government and establish a government of
peace and justice.
The irony in all this is that they were only looking
for a temporary reprieve from their tormentors but whereas God had something
far better for them. That was the good news. The angel said, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the
Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped
in cloths and lying in a manger.” That was nothing but the prophecy
of Micah, and a sign of its fulfilment for the Israelites who had been waiting
for generations. Yet it was not
delivered to the wise but to the shepherds. But why shepherds, you may wonder?
Shepherds in an agrarian society may have small landholdings, but those would
be inadequate to meet the demands of their own families, the needs of their own
agricultural pursuits, and the burden of taxation. As a result, they might
higher themselves to work for wages. They were then peasants, located at the
bottom of society. God in His
sovereignty sends this good news, bypassing Augustus, the Emperor, Quirinius
the governor and Herod the king of Judea to the lowly shepherds who were at the
bottom rung of the society. By entrusting this news of great Joy, God recognized
their worth and elevated them to a position of esteem and honor, they in turn
spread this Joyful news all around.
III
A JOYFUL NEWS FOR ALL PEOPLE:
Vs 10, “But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will
cause great joy for all the people.” How do we wrap our
minds around this concept of Joy?
The Greek word Chara means joy comes from
another root word Charis, which means grace, as if Joy is a direct result of
God’s grace. It also may be related to
the Hebrew word meaning, “a young sheep or lamb,” indicating the skipping and
frisking of a lamb for Joy. Skipping
lambs are so adorable to watch. I don’t think nothing can bring more joy to a
mother sheep, than watching their little lambs skip and jump for Joy. The
biblical Joy was a shepherding concept. The shepherds who were in touch with
nature and intimately involved in observing the joyful moments of their flock
understood this concept of simple yet pure Joy.
Those
of us who are living in non-agrarian cultures, inundated by gadgets tend to
miss out on these precious truths. When the angle said, “Do not be afraid I
bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people,” I am sure the
shepherds jumped for joy just like the skipping lambs. An angelic choir joined
the celebration in praising God, saying:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Upon
hearing all that, the shepherds hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the
baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning
what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in
her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying
and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were
just as they had been told.” What a
beautiful narrative of the account of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
have heard this story so many times, but I wonder how many of us are paying
attention to the good news of great Joy that angles proclaimed? How many of us
are eager to know and see Jesus like those shepherds who upon hearing without
hesitation went and saw the baby in the manger? How many of us are sharing the
good news of the gospel to others, glorifying and praising God as the shepherds
did?
During this advent season, where can one find true joy
and happiness? Are you feeling depressed having lost all joy in life? Joy is a
symptom of life and sadness a symptom of loss or something dying with in us.
Are you trying to fill the void in your life by seeking material positions,
pleasure and success? Listen to the angles and shepherds. Jesus who was born to
be a king in Bethlehem, is the only one who can truly bring joy to the world.
I
will close with a prophecy from Malachi, the last prophet in the Old Testament.
Malachi 4:1-2 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is
coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be
burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all. “But for
you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his
wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.” This blessing is promised to all those who
fear the Lord. Therefore as C.S. Lewis wrote,
"It is not so much the joy of the Lord we are seeking as the Lord of joy
Himself." Amen!
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/03/14/perhaps-tired-of-winning-the-united-states-falls-in-world-happiness-rankings-again/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.db2a71b959b5
