“Oh tidings of comfort and joy”

Christmas is finally here. Along with late sleigh bells ringing and carolers singing I hear  sighs of secret relief breathed into the frosty air. While, undoubtedly, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, for most families like yours and mine it is also the most hectic. Today we’ve attended Christmas services  and then at home we  look kindly on the  mountain of wrapping paper  and paraphernalia strewn everywhere. We smile at kids  (both young and old) who  are  engrossed with their latest gadgets. The turkey  is in the oven and the table is set. We gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus as family and friends.   Finally, now  we can  ….. (chill,   snack  and nap all day, watch the game or Hallmark fantasies,  etc., )…   RELAX.  Well, perhaps tomorrow or at least when the company leaves. 

 The culture hypes a forced holiday cheerfulness  that is  merry  and only superficially bright.   The so called  “spirit of Christmas” is gone quicker than the last Christmas song on the radio or  snowflakes melting in the sun.  Just go to the store  tomorrow and note how retailers  have already moved into the next shopping season. Success in the retail business is measured by  profits made during the weeks before Christmas. That alone should ring all kinds of alarm bells in our spirits.

For us who believe  that Christ has come to bring light into the darkness,  now is the perfect time  not to vegg out but to rejoice  with all our hearts, “to exult, to have great delight and glory in something.”   This Advent I’ve been reading Luke’s Nativity narrative. The words  “rejoicing”  and  “joy” are found at every high point of the Christmas story like  recurring  refrains in a song. Men were strategically being prepared to receive Jesus, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, with rejoicing in their hearts.

Gabriel’s first words to Mary when he announced she would birth the Messiah were: Rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you: Blessed are you among women.” Luke 1:28

In Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb “jumped for joy.” Luke 1:44.

Mary responds: My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” V. 46-47.

When Zachariah affirms his son is to be named John, his mouth is opened. He praises  God, surely with great exultation and joy that  his child John would announce Jesus, the Dayspring in high,  to the world. Luke 2:68 ff.

Finally in the second chapter of Luke, the wonder of Christmas is revealed: a Child is born  unto Mary and surely  Mary’s joy at seeing her infant son  was indescribable.  It overcame all the pain of childbirth and all the pain and confusion Mary  most likely had experienced  during her pregnancy.  And Joseph?  Luke does not describe Joseph, but  surely he was quietly overjoyed  at this very  strange miraculous birth, at what  God had wrought.

Humble shepherds received the glorious news of Jesus’ birth from an angel who said, “Do not be afraid for behold I bring good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” Luke 2:11

Then angels appear in the sky praising God, in song and exaltation: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace toward men.” Luke 2:13-14.  I cannot imagine angelic hosts  singing anything but the most joyful songs in the heavens. Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

He has come indeed.  He has come to set you and me free from every antonym of rejoicing: from mourning,  lamenting, distress, burdens, anxiety, fear and gloominess.  Because of the Incarnation, because of Jesus  we can  exult, delight, triumph, be glad, enliven and be of good cheer. In the holy wonder of Christmas we sing with   choirs of angels :

O Come, O come Emmanuel.

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.