JOURNEYS OF JOY
by Doug Goins
This holiday season is marked by two things common to all of us-travel
and celebration. There have been a number of articles in newspapers and
periodicals about the fact that 1990 will see the most people in our country
traveling the most miles to visit family and friends over the Christmas
holidays. An article by Mike Sante in the San Jose Mercury last Friday says,
"Christmas shoppers may be spending less on gifts, but they won't let
a sliding economy, higher gas prices or the hassle of holiday travel keep
them from going home. An estimated 34.8 million Americans will fly, drive
or take the train to visit out-of-town family and friends over the next
two weeks."
The Dolly Parton Christmas Special on Friday night had the theme, "I'll
be Home for Christmas." The setting of the show was her old homestead
in Tennessee, which she bought and restored because her home means so much
to her, and the central cast of characters on the show were members of her
own family. Going home for Christmas is important for everybody.
In the newspaper article I quoted, a couple of psychologists talk about
why we're so driven to travel during the holiday season. A professor from
Purdue says,
"[It is] a deep primeval urge...that's perhaps as powerful
as the pull which brings the birds back north in the spring. So we're willing
to go to a great deal of expense and sacrifice to get to our home, even
in times of high gasoline prices, crowded planes and highways."
I don't know if it's a deep primeval urge, but a professor from Notre Dame
strikes a more responsive chord, at least in my own experience. She says,
"The thing that drives people to be with family members over Christmas
is that it provides a point of stability in a world that is not very stable."
We want to go home where it's safe, secure, and predictable.
In our 13 1/2 years of marriage, Candy and I have taken Christmas journeys
from Los Angeles and Mountain View to Boise, Idaho; Fresno, California;
and Phoenix, Arizona. We expended the time, effort, and financial resources
because we wanted to enjoy Christmas with our families. The journeys were
often bittersweet; there was difficulty and struggle mixed in with the joy
of being with family. I remember three hours of white-knuckle driving on
black ice in northern Nevada to get to Idaho for Christmas. I remember one
Christmas Eve in Fresno having a terrible argument over when and how the
Christmas presents would be opened because two family traditions were in
total conflict. On a trip to Phoenix, Arizona four years ago, our car engine
blew up on Christmas Eve in Blythe, California. (That was an adventure!
But the Lord used it to help teach our kids some things about God's provision.)
All of us probably struggle with unmet Christmas expectations that we place
on people, experiences, and places.
This morning we've celebrated wonderfully already the joy we know as followers
of Jesus Christ; we've sung about the joy he gives us personally. Our PBC
family has observed this season of joy with a number of outreaches-for instance,
the Daytimers outreach luncheon for 150 convalescent home residents, the
children's ministry Christmas Festival, the PBC choir and orchestra celebration
last week, and our December Sunday mornings, especially today. And it's
because of Jesus and the difference he makes in our lives.
The Scriptures as well, specifically Luke's beautiful account of the birth
of Jesus, include both elements, travel and celebration. There are three
journeys in Luke's account: (1) The 80-mile journey of Joseph and Mary from
Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. (2) The angelic journey from
the highest heavenly courts through time and eternity to the Judean shepherds'
field. (3) The two-mile journey of the shepherds to Bethlehem's stable and
back again to their flocks. All three are journeys of joyful obedience to
God's saving plan and purpose, obedience to God's revealed truth.
More than any other New Testament writer, Luke is captivated by the notion
of joy, and the gospel resounds with the joy associated with Jesus and the
kingdom of God: (1) The angel Gabriel promised "joy and gladness"
to Zechariah and Elizabeth in the birth of their son, John the Baptist,
who would be the forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:14). (2) The baby in
Elizabeth's womb "leaped for joy" at the visit of his cousin Jesus,
the Messiah in Mary's womb (Luke 1:44). (3) Mary's hymn of praise (which
is entirely Old Testament scripture passages), sung after her obedient acceptance
of God's plan for her to be the mother of Jesus, opened with her rejoicing
in her relationship with God (Luke 1:47). (4) And now, at the heart of our
Christmas story is the angelic message: "good news of a great joy"
(Luke 2:10).
Let's look at the first journey of joy that Joseph and Mary took from Nazareth
to Bethlehem in Luke 2:1-7:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius
was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea,
to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house
and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with
child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths,
and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
A governmental mandate periodically required every resident of the Roman
empire to participate in a census for taxation purposes. While it was decreed
by the Roman Emperor himself, Caesar Augustus, responsibility for it was
delegated to each territorial procurator. Quirinius was the Syrian provincial
military governor. The census was probably administered by King Herod, because
the requirement that the citizens of Palestine return to their city of ancestry
was Jewish, not Roman.
Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of King David, so they went together
to Bethlehem in obedience to the Roman and Jewish governmental authorities,
although Joseph could have probably have registered for both of them. They
went together because Mary was in her final three weeks of pregnancy, and
Joseph didn't want to leave her alone with the possibility that the baby
might come while he was gone. Luke tells us that she had spent the first
three months of pregnancy with Elizabeth. Mary then returned to Nazareth
to hear the wonderful news that an angel had appeared to Joseph and convinced
him, as Matthew tells us, to marry her, taking her as his beloved and caring
for her. They spent the next six months together preparing for this journey.
Joseph made a decision not to consummate that marriage; as the text says,
they were still betrothed officially. This journey expressed Joseph's loving
concern for his young wife, perhaps a desire not to leave her alone in Nazareth
with any gossip about pregnant brides.
The journey ended quietly; it is an amazing understatement as Luke tells
the story. Mary and Joseph were alone, delivering their son without the
assistance of a midwife or anyone else. They delivered him outside in an
animal feeding trough because of the crowded conditions in the local inns.
Mary, after all the pain of childbirth, had to wrap Jesus in cloths for
newborns all by herself, with no help. Childbirth under the best circumstances
is long, painful, and difficult, but under these circumstances it was much
worse than we can even imagine.
Where was the joy in this journey? For both Mary and Joseph there was joy.
For Mary, it began when she responded to the angel Gabriel, "Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word [the
word of God]." (Luke 1:38). For Joseph, it began when he responded
in obedience to another angelic message. "He did as the angel of the
Lord commanded him; he took [her as] his wife" (Matthew 1:24).
The hymn that Mary sang (the Magnificat) with Elizabeth begins with an Old
Testament expression of praise: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46-47). This hymn is joy
at work in her because of her trust in God to be faithful to her through
all of these events. The entire Magnificat shows the depth of her knowledge
of the Hebrew scriptures and her joyful celebration of the Savior God of
the universe.
Throughout her pregnancy, during her time with Zechariah and Elizabeth and
during the six months with Joseph in Nazareth, she must have meditated on
the Hebrew scriptures in preparation for this journey. She must have had
an understanding of the Messianic prophecies that told of this one to be
born, even the specific prophecy that he be born in Bethlehem. She desired
to live according to the word of God. Luke presents Mary as a deeply reflective
woman who thoughtfully considered revealed truth. I believe the journey
to Bethlehem was taken with full knowledge and understanding of Micah 5:2-5,
a prophecy written 650 years earlier: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth
for me one who is to be ruler in Israel." The rest of this prophecy
goes on to speak of a Messianic savior and king who would bring peace and
salvation.
The joy for Mary and Joseph came in knowing that they were going to Bethlehem
in obedience to God's plans and purposes, so Messiah could be born there.
Yes, they were alone, and it was cold, lonely, and difficult beyond our
imagination. But their hearts must have been singing at the birth of Mary's
firstborn son. God had loved them both enough to communicate personally
with each one of them through an angel. He promised Joseph, "Do not
fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21). And
it was a birth in fulfillment of God's promise to Mary:
"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with
God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son
of the most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father
David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom
there will be no end." (Luke 1:30-33.)
They chose to believe the message, the promise of God. Their obedience to
that truth brought joy!
I think that Mary must have told Jesus about this experience and what filled
her heart as he came into the world, and that Jesus recalled it when he
spoke with his disciples in the upper room, on the night of his betrayal,
of the sorrow the twelve would feel at his death: "But your sorrow
will turn into joy. When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her
hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers
the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world." (John 16:20-21.)
The joy of Mary and Joseph came from their surrender to the truth God gave
them, and their willingness to live in obedience to that truth. Throughout
the Scriptures, there is a consistent cause-and-effect relationship between
obedience to God's revealed word and joy in life.
I spent a painful two hours last week with a young woman struggling with
despair this Christmas season. She said she was suicidal. She told me a
sad story of a love relationship she had had with a young man four years
earlier. He had chosen to reject her, and her hurt had turned to hatred
for him. She said she refused to forgive him for what he did to her. She
talked about her anger against the Lord; her life wasn't turning out the
way she thought it should. As I listened and then responded to her, I had
the joy of telling her that Jesus is the only one who can heal that. The
young man couldn't even if he came back and said he'd marry her. It wouldn't
really change anything in terms of where she would find joy, healing, and
fulfillment. I talked with her about what Jesus did on the cross as he was
dying-he forgave the people who hurt him most deeply. We looked together
at the Scriptures that show us that God is sovereign over life, even difficult
circumstances, and that he really has been in charge of her life the last
four years. We discussed the relationship between obedience and joy. She
made a choice that afternoon to continue in her hurt and resentment, to
reject the life-saving truth of God's word. She refused to echo Mary's response
to truth: "Let it be to me according to your word." This will
not be a Christmas season of joy for my friend, and I pray for her and ache
for her, that she'll know healing through giving it all to Jesus and letting
him minister to her.
Now let's turn to the second journey of joy, from heaven to earth, in verses
8-14:
And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping
watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you
good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And
this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths
and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace among men
with whom he is pleased!"
This journey was intergalactic, from the courts of heaven to the open fields
some two miles east of Bethlehem, where some shepherds had pastured their
flock for the evening. A single angelic spokesman accompanied by innumerable
heavenly creatures are described in military terms. These were not angels
as we usually think of them, but heavenly soldiers; it was not a choir that
spoke those words, but an army! It was a military invasion commanded by
the Lord of time and space. These heavenly beings were surrounded by God's
shekinah glory-radiant, brilliant light; blinding and dazzling! It scared
those shepherds out of their wits. That's what it means when it says they
were "filled with fear." Supernatural figures had come into their
human experience out of nowhere.
The Judean shepherds were the lowest of the low socially-common men, a despised
class with a bad reputation. Shepherds were known as thieves because they
were nomadic, and as they moved their sheep around the country, sometimes
they got confused about what was "mine" and what was "thine."
They were all tarred with the same brush-untrustworthy, dishonest. They
were not allowed to give testimony in a Jewish court of law. Their work
made it impossible for them to observe the Jewish ceremonial laws and temple
rituals, so they were considered religiously unclean and unacceptable. It's
pretty amazing to think this heavenly invasion came to such social outcasts!
The purpose of this journey and this appearance was to bring joy. At the
heart of the heavenly announcement was "a great joy" (verse 10).
The joy the angel told the shepherds of was a joy that would overcome fear
and apprehension about the future and the unknown. It was a joyful message
that would be mind-blowing for them and everyone who heard it. The angel
said it was for the shepherds specifically, for the people of Israel beyond
them, and then for all of humanity-anybody who would listen, take it seriously,
and try to understand the point of the message. Joy was concentrated in
a baby, a gift given by God for "all the people" (verse 10), every
member of the human race; a gift given to each of them individually. "For
to you" (verse 11) addressed anyone, down to our day, who would recognize
the identity and claims of this infant born in Bethlehem, the baby Jesus,
who is Joy Incarnate.
The three words defining this great joy at the end of verse 11 are listed
without articles in the original text. These words were titles identifying
the one born in the city of David, continuing his kingly rule and authority,
as "Savior, Christ, Lord."
We desperately need a Savior, as did that generation. A Savior is a deliverer,
helper, and redeemer. He can confront the sinful struggles of each individual
and save them out of their bondage to sin. He was the one described in Zechariah's
prophecy: "[God] has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised
up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David." (Luke
1:68-69.) Jesus had been introduced to Joseph in the dream as the one who
would "save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Joy at
Christmas is found in a Savior!
As Christ, he was the anointed one, the Messiah. He would confront all the
religious chaos in the world, order it and make sense out of it, and establish
a spiritual kingship on earth in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy:
"The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel
together, against the Lord and his anointed" (Psalm 2:2). Jesus was
identified as this one by Matthew in his genealogy listing the legal lineage
of Jesus. "Jesus was born, who is called Christ" (Matthew 1:16).
Joy at Christmas is found in the Messiah!
Finally, he was given the title of Lord; he was the supreme authority, powerful
in rule and reign. He would confront all principalities and powers both
in and out of time and space. He was the sovereign of the universe and the
Lord of each individual life (he wants to be totally in charge and in control
of each one of us). He was the one described prophetically by King David:
"The Lord [the creator God of the universe] says to my Lord: 'Sit at
my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool'" (Psalm 110).
Jesus had been identified as this one to Zechariah by the angel Gabriel
when he said that John would have a ministry of preparation for Jesus' coming
"to make ready for the Lord a people prepared" (Luke 1:17). Joy
at Christmas is found in a relationship with the sovereign Lord!
This joy, which can be experienced only in "Jesus Christ, the Lord,"
is directly linked with peace in the praise of the heavenly army who joined
the solitary angel (Luke 2:14). Peace, the shalom of God, means much more
than the absence of war or conflict, although it's right that we pray for
peace now, as volatile as things are in the Middle East. We pray for God
as sovereign to turn war aside in his purposes. But the peace that was announced
at Christmas by the angelic hosts means the healing of the estrangement
between God and man that was caused by our sin, rebellion, and anger against
God. We are naturally resistant to who God is, to what he wants to do in
our lives. Joyful Christmas peace was offered to men and women with whom
God is pleased, people upon whom God's pleasure rests, people who enjoy
friendship with God.
What kind of people are those who can know God's friendship, his pleasure?
It has nothing to do with the ways we normally define pleasure, joy, meaning,
and purpose. It has nothing to do with social status-shepherds or yuppies;
nothing to do with ethnic origin-Jews or any other nationality; nothing
to do with being religious-priests or those who can't stand church; nothing
to do with vocational status-carpenters or Silicon Valley CEOs; nothing
to do with military might-the Swiss Navy or Saddam Hussein.
Experiencing the joyful Christmas peace of God's pleasure has nothing to
do with economic advantage-a street person or an enormously wealth tycoon;
nothing to do with political position-an unregistered voter or James Baker;
nothing to do with good taste or aesthetic sensitivity-whether your home
is exquisitely decorated for Christmas this year or not; nothing to do with
power and influence-someone living on the margin because of severe learning
disabilities or, in Tom Wolfe's words, a "master of the universe."
The apostle Paul tells us what kind of people can have joyful peace this
Christmas, who can experience God's pleasure, his friendship: "Therefore,
since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which
we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God."
(Romans 5:1-2.) When we're in right relationship to Jesus Christ the Lord,
joy comes out of this friendship, this comfortable relationship with our
Father God.
One year ago between Christmas and New Years, in an unheated office at an
elementary school where we'd been involved, I had the wonderful delight
of watching a friend discover the Christ of Christmas. He talked about how
his life was full of fear and anxiety. He was going through a painful divorce.
On his desk was a picture of his beautiful one-year-old son. He had a difficult
work situation; he was new on the job, and he had been met by mistrust and
rejection. We really did weep together. And out of all of that struggle,
he came to know Jesus Christ personally. He accepted the Savior who could
deal with his guilt and despair. He chose to worship the Messiah who could
order his spiritual priorities. He surrendered to the Lord who wanted to
control, direct, and guide his life. His immediate experience after we prayed
together was "the peace of God, which passes all [human] understanding"
(Philippians 4:7). He said, "You know, I really shouldn't feel this
good!" He had dinner with us last week, and is still experiencing the
great joy of having Jesus Christ at the center of his life.
Finally, the third journey was the joyful response of the shepherds who
went up the hill to Bethlehem and back again, in verses 15-17 and 20:
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds
said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went
with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And
when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning
this child...And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for
all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.
It was a noisy journey of excitement, of breathless urgency in obedience
to the angelic description of the baby in the manger. The shepherds recognized
God at work in this supernatural invasion. There was about this journey
an infectiousness. Sometimes Christmas joy just can't keep quiet (it's okay
to be loud and raucous at Christmas!). At its heart is exuberant worship,
"glorifying and praising God" (verse 20), and there is spontaneous
witness: "...they made known the saying [to everyone]" (verse
17). The shepherds didn't just talk about what they saw, but about the life-changing
"good news" they heard. It was indelibly written on their hearts.
Joyful worship and witness like that of the shepherds is the result of personal
experience with the Christ of Christmas. They accepted the fact that he
had been born for them personally, and they had to tell everyone they met.
I have a dear friend in our church family named Ernesto Leon, whom the Lord
found in Caracas, Venezuela when he was an angry, hurting teenager. I talked
to Ernie last week, and he said he could identify with the shepherds very
much, because as a young boy he watched his own father murder his mother
and then take his own life. You can imagine what he's lived with all these
years. But miraculously, God got his attention and brought him into faith
in Jesus Christ. It's been wonderful to see how God has grown him up and
healed him, given him a beautiful wife, and given him a ministry. The thing
about Ernesto Leon is he can't quit telling people about the love of Jesus
Christ, what he saw and heard, what he experienced and knows to be true.
Mary, too, had a joyful response. Her worshipful response was different
from that of the shepherds, but it was still joyfully appropriate. Look
at verse 19:
But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
She continued to collect together everything she had seen, heard, and experienced,
making order out of it. She was not astonished, but filled with a holy awe
she could not forget. Pondering means to place together for comparison.
Mary would go over each detail of the words of Gabriel, the Old Testament
messianic prophecies, the shepherds' report, and her own experience. A.
T. Robertson says, "She would brood over it all with a mother's high
hopes and joy."
Just as appropriately, we can follow Mary's example this season and be quiet,
reflective, and word-centered. "Keeping" and "pondering"
can provide a joyfully calming antidote to the frenzied, 20th-century Christmas
mania that swirls around us at this time of year. We're called to experience
joy in worship and in witness, and it doesn't really matter whether it's
noisy or quiet. We aren't all wired the same way.
In contrast to the shepherds' and Mary's responses, we also see a troubling
response in the townspeople. Let's look at verse 18:
...and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told
them.
Most people "wondered." This is an unusual word in the New Testament.
It means vague surprise, mild curiosity, or superficial interest, whether
emotional, intellectual, or religious. The same word was used to describe
the response of the neighbors at John the Baptist's circumcision when God
gave Zechariah back his voice, and he gave an amazing prophecy about what
God was going to do with his son in Luke 1:63-79. Luke says there that "all
these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea."
Jesus was born six months later in the same Judean hill country, and again
the response was mild interest.
The sad thing is that this third group in the story, "all who heard,"
have no gospel history of worshipping or obeying the newborn King. Magi,
or wise men, from Persia showed up later, but no residents of the hill country
of Judea. And every year in our own area, millions hear this wonderful story
at church Christmas programs, on television and radio, at symphony concerts,
at Messiah sings, or at the theater. The usual response will be superficial
interest: intellectual stimulation, sentimental emotionalism, theological
argumentation, artistic pleasure, or religious inspiration. You can hear
it in comments like, "Wasn't it a lovely program?" or, "Weren't
the shepherds cute?" You can hear it in heated debates about discrepancies
in the genealogies. You can hear it in speculation about whether the star
was a supernova or a constellation, etc. And in all this people don't come
to the Christ who is the heart of the story. But we have a choice to make:
We can respond in worship and witness, or we can once again experience the
emptiness of a superficial curiosity.
We looked at three journeys this morning. Joy is at the heart of each of
these journeys, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from heaven to earth, and from
the shepherds' field to Bethlehem and back. Do you want to experience the
joy of the journey this year? Do you identify with the statement that the
psychologist from Notre Dame made? "The thing that drives people to
be with family members over Christmas is that it provides a point of stability
in a world that is not very stable." Hear again the message from God
himself: "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a
great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David
there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Deep,
permanent Christmas joy won't ultimately be found in travel or activity,
no matter how rich, wonderful, and full it is. Stability in a world of instability
comes from a personal relationship with the Christ of Christmas, the Savior,
the Messiah, the Lord of life, the one who is our Peace, as the Scriptures
identify him. Joy will come from worshipful obedience to God's word, both
the word made flesh in Jesus---the living Word of God---and the Bible, that
revelation of the Father to us. I pray that we really will have a Christmas
journey of joy that will last forever. Nobody can take this joy away.
Catalog No. 4236
Luke 2:1-20
Doug Goins
December 23, 1990
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