The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion– to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
8 For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. – Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
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When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” 3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. 4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb. 5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. – Psalm 126:1-6 A Song of Ascents
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57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. – Luke 1:57-66
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Before we jump back into our Advent series today, we have a special date to remember this week. Tomorrow, December 18, is the birthday of Charles Wesley – brother of John. Charles was a co-founder of Methodism and a hymn-writer. This time of year we remember Charles when we sing “Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus” or “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. Charles was actually the first of the brothers to experience a deep movement of faith in his life – which he then shared with John – so without Charles there would not have been a Pastor John Wesley or a Methodist Church. ‘Happy Birthday in Heaven’ to Charles Wesley!
As we head into Week Three of Advent and our series on “How Can a Weary World Rejoice?” – the darkness and the weariness in our world begins to shift and break up a little, because this week we light the candle of Joy. This candle – unlike the others – is pink, which represents joy. I don’t know who it was back in the mists of time who decided pink was the color of joy… but they did, and here we are, and there it is!
Up until this point Advent has been a time of repentance, a time of longing: longing for better days; longing to put away the things that displease God; longing for an end to the weariness. This week we begin to look forward to God’s salvation – which Jesus brings – and also to God’s restoration of our lives and our world. The theme of the restoring of ruins is as powerful and relevant today as it was in ancient Israel.[1]
Joy is not the same thing as happiness. Joy is not something we can chase after. We as Americans love to pursue happiness – according to the Declaration of Independence that’s our right! But real joy can’t be pursued. It has to come to us. Joy is a much deeper thing.
One local author recently wrote:
“We must risk delight. [which was his word for ‘joy’.] We can do without pleasure, but not delight… we must have the stubbornness to accept gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.”[2]
I think that’s insightful, because whatever we focus on becomes our life and our experience. So while we acknowledge that evil and wrong exist in the world, we don’t allow these things to become our only thought… or even our main thought. We need delight; we need joy.
The author continues:
“For Christians, joyful celebration (even of the little things) is part of the battle. In our joy, we declare that tragedy, violence, pain, and tears do not have the final word.”[3]
That’s where we’re headed this week. In our Advent series, “How Does a Weary World Rejoice?”, our theme for the week is: “We Allow Ourselves to Be Amazed”. Similar idea. The experience of being amazed is a close relative of joy. When we’re amazed we let down the barriers and let in the good that comes to us from God and through God.
The authors of our Advent series suggest that “When we are weary, we find it hard to express joy. When we are weary, we might find it hard to share space with others because our weariness has seemingly stolen our joy.” And they pose the question: “is it possible to be joy-filled by yourself?”[4]
Interesting question – and I’m not going to try to answer that today. But I would love to hear what you think. So if you have a mind to, let me know after the service how you experience real, deep joy – with others, or by yourself, or both?
One thing I think we can all agree on though: God’s works – the things God does – often bring us joy. I love line from the movie The Color Purple, where Shug Avery says to Celie:
“I think it [ticks] God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see God always trying to please us back.”[5]
That is joy!
And that’s what the people of Israel were talking about in Psalm 126: “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” In fact, in all our readings for today, people are being amazed by what God is doing and has done and will do – and their amazement gives way to joy!
In Isaiah we hear the words:
“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor…”
These words were given by God to the prophet Isaiah to give to the people of Israel while they were still captives in Babylon. God said these things to get the people ready to return home to Jerusalem. After 70 years of being strangers in a strange land, the people were finally going home! The psalmist said: “We were like those who dreamed”.
Hundreds of years later, this prophecy was read aloud in a synagogue by Jesus when he preached in Nazareth. The people listening would have recognized the passage immediately, and would have immediately thought of freedom and home and all the things that came with leaving Babylon behind. Then after Jesus read, he rolled up the scroll, sat down, and said “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The people were stunned. God had been the savior of the people once before – was it possible God was about to do it again? Only this time it would be Jesus leading us to freedom, and Jesus will open the door to God’s kingdom for all people, not just the descendants of Abraham.
The Advent, or the coming, of our Lord Jesus gives every one of us “a garland… of gladness… praise… righteousness… joy.” No more half-measures, no more guesswork, no more self-doubt – because we’re not trusting in ourselves any more or in our ability to be right with God (because we can’t). Now we trust in Jesus – and we know that Jesus will succeed even in the places where we have failed. God’s anointed is sent, in the words of Isaiah, to the oppressed, to the ones whose hearts are crushed, to the captives, to the imprisoned, and to all who mourn or grieve.
For us today, we (like the Israelites) are living in a kind of exile, in the sense that we’re not home yet. We’re not home in God’s kingdom yet. We are, in the words of Robert Heinlein, “strangers in a strange land” – living in a world that has rebelled (and is still rebelling) against God.
Advent speaks to us about a return to God’s kingdom, in every sense of the word. A return to God’s kingdom will include: relief for people who are oppressed; healing for hearts that are broken; freedom for those who are trapped in slavery – and even those who are trapped in prisons of their own making, like addictions. God’s kingdom brings comfort for those who grieve, and beauty for those whose spirits have been broken.
And more than this: Isaiah says:
“They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.”
Whenever I hear this passage it makes me think of places like Centralia or Yellow Dog Village: ghost towns right here in Pennsylvania. Or even old mill towns like Braddock or Clairton. In God’s kingdom, places like these will be remade – this time without the dirt of the mills and the injustices that left the cities looking like ghost towns. Imagine these cities with every road repaved, every storefront clean and shining in the sunlight, every house restored and lived in. Imagine Clairton becoming a destination riverfront town. Wouldn’t that be a joy to see? Wouldn’t that be a wonder? Wouldn’t that be a story to tell? “They shall repair the ruined cities…” Isaiah says.
God will make it happen, not just for Clairton but for everyone, everywhere. God says: “for I the Lord love justice.” Justice in God’s eyes isn’t just fairness; it goes beyond that. Justice has nothing to do with settling scores. Justice is about wholeness, and restoration, and health, and shalom.
The people experiencing these things in Psalm 126 say: “We were like those who dream.” They are filled with laughter and shouts of joy. The word on the street was: “The Lord has done great things for us.” The people say: “We went out weeping, carrying nothing but seeds… but we came home celebrating with a full harvest.”
Then as we turn to our Gospel reading, we discover still more joy: the arrival of John the Baptist. People all around Elizabeth were blown away by God’s mercy to her: first off, because she was ‘getting on in years’: she was an elderly woman who made it through nine months of pregnancy AND childbirth without the help of modern medicine.
Scholars of Bible history estimate that in Jesus’ day, the mortality rate for mothers was around one in every 50 births. (The mortality rate was much higher for babies!) For mothers, even things like a breach position could mean death. One out of every fifty – those are not good odds! I think that’s why they call it ‘delivery’ – being delivered from danger! In this case both mother and baby John are well and thriving.
And then the icing on the cake, Zechariah confirms what the angel said: “the baby’s name is John”. And immediately Zechariah is able to speak again and join the celebration.
The good news spreads throughout the neighborhood and the whole region like wildfire. People didn’t need Facebook back then to get news around! And all the people talking wondered and said to each other: with all these miracles we’ve witnessed, what is this child going to become?
Tune in next Sunday for the answer to that question!
In the meantime, all these things – all these actions and gifts of God – come together and work together to bring us joy – a joy that will last. Joy to the world – the Lord is coming! AMEN
[1] CMJ’s 2023 online newsletter for Advent 3
[2] Matthew 25 Initiative, Costly Joy: Light Where Hope Falters email update
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid
[5] Alice Walker, The Color Purple
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