Rose Sunday
December 13, 2009
Grace Church
Rev. Robert E. Hensley

Zephaniah 3:14-20; Canticle 9; Philippians 4:3-7; Luke 3:7-18

      Let us pray.  Holy Trinity, One God, you who lives in inapproachable light, in constant, joyous communion with yourself, we would ask that you draw near to us this day and that you would grant us the heavenly gift of divine joy. As you draw nearer to us, let us hear the music of heaven, your joyful singing over us; we whome you have redeemed and called your own. Tune our ears, our minds, and our hearts to hear your song. Amen.

      Here’s a question for you: What does joy look like?  What do you think of when you hear that word:  joy?

      How would you describe it? How would you paint a picture of it? If you had to come up with a universal symbol, a kind of catch-all image for this universal experience and feeling that we call joy, what would it be?

      Some might say that it could be a mother holding her newborn child. That has to be joy, right? What about the shout of a fan when his team finally wins the Super Bowl? Maybe it’s the huge smile of a groom when he catches a glimpse of his spouse on their wedding day?   Pure joy.

      Joy is a very interesting emotion. It is very hard to explain and difficult to put into words, but, when you see it, it is unmistakable and when you feel it, it’s unforgettable. I am willing to bet that all of us here this morning have seen it at some point in our lives and that we have all felt it. So again, how might you describe this thing called joy? What would you say would be the symbol for joy?

      Some people would argue that coming up with an all-encompassing image of joy is a lot easier than you would think. In fact, some would say that we already have one. It’s called the dollar sign, and – if you think about it – they might in fact be on to something. After all, who among us has not thought that hitting the jackpot at Mohegan Sun or being set for life by the lottery would bring about some big-time joy? Likewise, flash a dollar sign to any game-show contestant and their face will, without fail, light up with something that looks a lot like what we would call joy. And you can bet that after this past year, with its challenging economic times, the one thing that will bring smiles to the faces of retailers around the globe is the sound of cash registers ringing.   That sound is our culture’s consumerist “ode to joy”.

      From the excitement of your first paycheck to that feeling when you find a $5 bill stuffed in a pair of old jeans, it’s hard to argue against the emotional influence of money. Right or wrong, the U.S. dollar, the European euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound signs just might be the best and ultimate signs and symbols for joy. And if that’s the case, it makes what has been happening in India all the more interesting.

      You may have heard or read that earlier this year; the Indian government began searching for a symbol for its national currency, the rupee. Surprisingly, this massive nation has long lacked a recognizable image to accompany its money. So this past spring, officials called upon the creativity of the Indian people themselves to come up with something that would capture the essence of India and become the face of that nation’s growing economy.

      So, for a small fee of 500 rupees (equivalent to about $10), any citizen could submit an entry. And the reward for having the winning design? What else but the rupee itself – 250,000 of them to be exact (roughly equivalent to about $5,000). But more than designing the symbol for Indian currency, the winner will have designed what is certain to become the cultural indicator of status and success, wealth and achievement in all of India. In a country of more than 1 billion people, one person will submit a design that will become an incredible cause for celebration and a primary sign ofjoy for the Indian nation. So what does joy look like?

      I am positive that many people consider Christmas to be the most joyful time of the year. In fact, according to one popular tune it’s the “hap-happiest season of all.” Christmas and joy go together like peanut butter and jelly or Ozzie and Harriet…at least if you are of my generation…you get the idea, though. And if we put all of the pieces together, the reason is pretty simple. Whether you live in Vineyard Haven, MA, or Bangladesh, India, so much of what makes Christmas “Christmas” is connected to that universal sign for joy, isn’t it?

      Our Christmas joy is often found in charging the credit card with expenses and packing the car with presents. Just ask Clark Griswold from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation about Christmas joy, and he’ll tell you about his missing Christmas bonus. If you don’t agree, then try telling the kids that this year Santa will not be bringing presents and instead is just giving out hugs. See what kind of response you get. At Christmas, joy isn’t found in a hug from some guy in a red suit or me handing out gold covered chocolate coins to our young people in honor of St. Nicholas. Joy is actually to be found in unwrapping the latest version of Halo for the Xbox 360. Am I right?

      Here’s the problem for us this morning. The Bible paints a different picture of joy. It’s a picture disconnected from symbols of status and success and divorced from the idea of piling up possessions and more “stuff”.   That is not to say those things are bad. Giving gifts is great, receiving them is really great and money is – at least in our world today – often a means for temporary peace and stability, blessing and fulfillment. That is all well and good. But that’s not joy: at least not joy as it is portrayed in Scripture.

      Zephaniah is one of those under-read and underappreciated Old Testament prophets.  He starts things off with a brutally honest reminder to the children of Israel of their need to turn away from the other earthly “gods” that they have been going after and to say goodbye to the other signs of success for which they have been striving. If they fail to do so, Zephaniah says, one day all the temporary joys that they have been chasing will fade away, and it will be time for a nasty but necessary day of judgment.

      But in the closing words of his God-given message, Zephaniah offers an incredible picture, a beautiful glimpse of real, biblical, God-style joy. The prophet speaks of a day when God no longer has to deal harshly with God’s people. He speaks of a day when the judgment for pursuing false joys is no longer held against those who have been made right with God through the God’s grace. He writes of a day when a new King of the people will have entered the midst of the people and through his righteous rule taken away all their fears. Zephaniah speaks of a day when people’s greatest shame will be transformed into shouts of praise because every sin that they have ever committed against God, every issue in their past that they once thought separated them from God, will have been dealt with and remembered by God no more.

      There will be a day, there will be a time, says Zephaniah, when men and women will “sing aloud” and “shout,” where they will “be glad and rejoice” with all their hearts. This true, authentic joy will well up not as a result of piling up enough money or achieving certain levels of success. No way, no how.  This lasting joy will flow from the fact that God has found joy in us, in you!

      Real joy, biblical joy, comes from knowing without fail or falter that “The Lord your God is with you” and that “God is mighty to save.” It comes from knowing that God delights in you and that “God will rejoice over you” – yes, little old insignificant, corrupted you and me; and not only that, God will rejoice over us “with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

      The real reason that joy is so essential to the celebration of Jesus’ birth is because in his arrival, in the entrance of that baby born in a back alley in Bethlehem, God tells us that those Zephaniah-style “days of joy” have in fact come! In Jesus’ arrival, the King has come into our midst, and our sins are now forgiven. Our greatest shame, no matter what it is, can now become a cause for praise! Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Son, God the Creator of All, has forgiven and forgotten all of it.

      The truth is that so much of what we like to label as “life’s joys”  are really just temporary pleasures, stuff that will come and go and makes us feel good only temporarily. In The Story of Joy, Adam Potkay argues that most of us really live rather joyless lives, and the reason for that is simple. Rather than focusing on the true joy found in Jesus which is shared and communal among a congregation of friends and family, we sell out for simple pleasures that are all too often solitary and momentary.

      But Christmas is different.  At Christmas, as a people forgiven and redeemed, we celebrate the arrival of real joy. Sure, you can ascribe joy to money or say that joy has something to do with success or even that it can come from noble things such as hugging your kids or building houses for Habitat for Humanity. Those are great, but they are just pleasures. Proclaiming Jesus’ birth to the shepherds standing in the field, the angel makes it clear that there is just one symbol, one sure sign, of joy. Listen to what that angelic herald said:

      “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).

      The truly amazing thing is that, unlike everything else in this world, when your joy comes from Jesus, it’s a joy that will not and cannot ever be taken from you. It’s like trying to snatch a new toy from a toddler’s hands. It just ain’t gonna happen. Jesus describes the benefits of following him this way: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

      Apart from Jesus, all the joys of life will someday be stolen, destroyed or simply die off. The money will run out, the kids will stop calling and the cancer may very well come back. But when we are connected to Christ, the life he gives us lasts forever. The peace he gives us surpasses all understanding and the gifts he offers – such as an ever-flowing fountain of forgiveness and grace – will never, ever get old and will never require a gift receipt.

      This isn’t to say that money and possessions or that presents, parties and showering grandkids with gifts that make annoying noises and drive their parents insane is a bad thing. It’s not. In fact, it’s a beautiful thing. But to celebrate Christmas right, we must remember that they are just temporary things. We remember that the spending and the giving at this time of year, or the long hours at work and the endless soccer practices for the kids during the rest of the year, aren’t themselves a means to our joy or a sign of our joy. No, instead they are the things we get to do with hearts full of lasting joy because of the forgiving work of Jesus.

      As Christians, what makes us different isn’t so much what we do, as if Christianity is simply about morality. It’s who we do it for and where we find our joy. A Christian community is one filled with men and women who work hard to provide, parents who dote on their children and drink a glass of wine to unwind and people who study their Bible. A Christian community gives great gifts and throws great parties and sings favorite hymns. But we do it not to bring glory to ourselves or to create our own joy. No, we love, we work, we sing and we play to the glory of God and in our shared joy from Jesus. That is simply who we are.

      Some may see it in money or rupees. Others might find it in fame or pursue it with possessions. But this Christmas may we be a people who sing because the real sign has arrived. May we be a people who give others what they want because God has given us what we need. This Christmas, may we do what is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Let us all join together and sing with Zephaniah, for our real joy, our everlasting joy, Jesus, has arrived. Amen. 

Sources: 

Crowe, Aaron. “With ‘$’ taken, India looks for rupee symbol.” WalletPop. April 16, 2009. walletpop.com.  

Pandey, G. Indian contest for rupee symbol. BBC News. March 5, 2009. news.bbc.co.uk. 

Potkay, Adam. The Story of Joy: From the Bible to Late Romanticism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2007.