You may wonder why we are reading about Mary coming to see Elizabeth and why we are singing Joy to the World today. It’s not even close to Christmas! But this week, we are focusing on the word “JOY.”
It comes from our VBS theme verse: “May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
So the question that I have been asking this week is: What fills you with joy? What makes you joy-filled? And I’ve received wonderful responses. Here’s just a few: family, friends, an act of kindness. One father was joy-full for the blessing of teenage children full of curiosity, energy and life. A mother was joy-filled at watching her daughter -- who is on the autism spectrum – joy-fully graduate from college. He had been told that he could never make it. Another person was grateful and joy-filled because of neighbors who reached out in new ways because of the coronavirus, offering to get groceries, sharing a good word over the fence and even leading an exercise class!
When I asked the young woman who cuts my hair what fills her with joy, she smiled and said, “I’m pregnant! My joy is knowing that despite all of the hard things that are happening in the world, I’ve got joy coming this year.”
New life is often a reason to celebrate – but not always. When a pregnant young Mary came to see her cousin Elizabeth, she could have been seeking refuge. After all, in their culture, it was disgraceful for a young woman to become pregnant before she was married. Mary could even have been stoned to death.
But instead of receiving hushed words of condemnation, Mary heard uncontrollable joy that bubbled up and out of Elizabeth. Elizabeth, pregnant with John, who would become John the Baptist, notices that her baby John is jumping in her womb. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she speaks as a prophet in a really loud voice a word of welcome to the mother of her Lord and proclaims that her son – also a bit of miracle, coming years after she had given up hope of having a child – her son is jumping for joy that the child in Mary’s womb is the Messiah. The Holy Spirit revealed to her – and she prophesizes --- that God was doing a new thing. God was keeping God’s covenantal promises in a completely surprising and unexpected way – through an unwed mother and a little baby who would be born to be our Savior.
Elizabeth was full of joy – but not because life was easy or comfortable. She and Mary were still living in a country occupied by Roman soldiers. The source of her joy was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave her eyes to see God at work in her world.
And God is still active in our world today. Sometimes it is not easy to see what God is up to. We get distracted by the many challenges of our day-to-day lives. We can get disheartened by the negativity, “disinformation” and lies of social media and political campaigns and… the list goes on. And that was true even before the coronavirus. But, as we heard in the scripture from Isaiah, God has made a covenant, a promise to God’s people and God’s word will not return “empty” but will accomplish all that God has promised.
And that is why we can be joy-full. Despite the disheartening circumstances around us, we know that God’s word will accomplish all God intends. As my neighbor said, “I am joyful for each new day.” And then she quoted Psalm 118, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be JOYFULL and glad in it!” Psalm 118:24
This has been a favorite verse of mine too – it reminds me to not get “stuck” on the challenges of my day and instead to look at each new day as a part of God’s creation. God has made the day – and the night - and since God continues to make all things new, each day has new possibilities -- and the promise of God’s presence with us.
Recently I heard another translation of this verse: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in HIM.” That too an opportunity we have each day – to rejoice in God our creator, our redeemer, and our savior. And to rest in that assurance of God – no matter what comes our way.
As Lutherans, we are sometimes a little reticent about expressing our joy. But I’ll never forget a very joy-full first communion. A little boy came and place his hands out in the form of a cross to receive Holy Communion, just as I had taught him. And after he received the communion, he jumped up, gave a fist bump and a joy-filled shout, and ran all the way back to his pew. He was joy-full.
As people of faith, one of the gifts that we can give to our community is a joy-filled response to God’s work in our world. Our expressions of joy can have the exuberance of a little boy or the quiet confidence of a grandparent. It doesn’t matter how we do it, but perhaps what the world – and our neighbors – need right now is a witness of joy.
Inspired by Psalm 98, Isaac Watts wrote the hymn, “Joy to the World,” proclaiming the joy of resurrection and the salvation of the world as well as the joyful response of the whole world: earth, sky, seas and trees to the presence of the Lord God at work in our world. The song later became associated with Christmas. But it wasn’t meant as just a Christmas song but rather points to God’s presence in our world now, the Lord IS Come and will come again with truth, grace and love. So, let us rejoice! Let us join our voices to the music of the fields, floods, rocks, hills and plains in a joy-filled response to the presence of God in our world and in our lives. Thanks be to God!