Joy
Read Luke 1:57-80.
Imagine you hadn't been able to talk for nine months. Not a bad case of laryngitis—this is no talking, no whispering, no easy way to communicate. When you finally got your voice back, what would be the first thing you would say? If it were me, it would go something like this: "Now, everyone's going to sit down and listen. I've been saving up a few things to say over the last nine months..."
But Zechariah has a different heart. His nine months of silence seem to have humbled him and tuned him more into what God is up to. When his tongue is loosened, when he is able to talk, he doesn't take his neighbors to task for all the things they have said in the last nine months, he doesn't finish any arguments with Elizabeth, and he doesn't even preach a sermon. Instead, his tongue turns immediately to praise, to worshipping God. It's as if worship has been trapped inside him for the last nine months, and it just has to get out. In the midst of the joy of the baby's birth (1:58), he sings of what God is doing and what God is going to do.
In our world, it's hard to find that kind of joy. We live in a divided world. We live in an increasingly hostile world—not even necessarily with weapons or violence, but with words. Have you checked out social media lately? People on "both sides of the aisle" have become increasingly volatile and angry. And while I used to say people would say things online that they wouldn't say to your face, I'm not sure that's the case anymore. In a season when we sing "Joy to the World," we live in a world desperately lacking in joy.
More than ever, we need Zechariahs. We need Christians who will step up, put aside the partisanship, stand firmly on the truth of the Gospel and serve as witnesses to God's work in the world. We need believers who are filled with joy. This is not a call to "pie in the sky, ignore reality" attitudes. Joy is different than happiness. Happiness flows out of circumstances and is intricately tied to our emotions. Joy might be defined as "an inner assurance that life is good and God is working." Joy involves confidence and faith in a God who is working for our good, even when our immediate situation is not good. I doubt if the coming days (diapers, late-night feedings, and all the other stuff that comes with newborn babies) were going to be easy (or always happy) for this geriatric couple (Elizabeth and Zechariah), but they would be joy-filled ones.
Hebrews says Jesus went to the cross "for the joy set before him" (12:2). The cross was not a pleasurable event—not by far! But Jesus did it with joy (not happiness) because he knew what lay beyond, he knew what it would accomplish. Zechariah knows the same thing here in the beginning of the story, which is why he sings: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David" (1:69). God is up to something much larger, much bigger, much more expansive than we could ever dream of. Jesus knew it. Zechariah knew it. And when we learn that, we too will be people of joy. And joy can change the world.
Imagine you hadn't been able to talk for nine months. Not a bad case of laryngitis—this is no talking, no whispering, no easy way to communicate. When you finally got your voice back, what would be the first thing you would say? If it were me, it would go something like this: "Now, everyone's going to sit down and listen. I've been saving up a few things to say over the last nine months..."
But Zechariah has a different heart. His nine months of silence seem to have humbled him and tuned him more into what God is up to. When his tongue is loosened, when he is able to talk, he doesn't take his neighbors to task for all the things they have said in the last nine months, he doesn't finish any arguments with Elizabeth, and he doesn't even preach a sermon. Instead, his tongue turns immediately to praise, to worshipping God. It's as if worship has been trapped inside him for the last nine months, and it just has to get out. In the midst of the joy of the baby's birth (1:58), he sings of what God is doing and what God is going to do.
In our world, it's hard to find that kind of joy. We live in a divided world. We live in an increasingly hostile world—not even necessarily with weapons or violence, but with words. Have you checked out social media lately? People on "both sides of the aisle" have become increasingly volatile and angry. And while I used to say people would say things online that they wouldn't say to your face, I'm not sure that's the case anymore. In a season when we sing "Joy to the World," we live in a world desperately lacking in joy.
More than ever, we need Zechariahs. We need Christians who will step up, put aside the partisanship, stand firmly on the truth of the Gospel and serve as witnesses to God's work in the world. We need believers who are filled with joy. This is not a call to "pie in the sky, ignore reality" attitudes. Joy is different than happiness. Happiness flows out of circumstances and is intricately tied to our emotions. Joy might be defined as "an inner assurance that life is good and God is working." Joy involves confidence and faith in a God who is working for our good, even when our immediate situation is not good. I doubt if the coming days (diapers, late-night feedings, and all the other stuff that comes with newborn babies) were going to be easy (or always happy) for this geriatric couple (Elizabeth and Zechariah), but they would be joy-filled ones.
Hebrews says Jesus went to the cross "for the joy set before him" (12:2). The cross was not a pleasurable event—not by far! But Jesus did it with joy (not happiness) because he knew what lay beyond, he knew what it would accomplish. Zechariah knows the same thing here in the beginning of the story, which is why he sings: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David" (1:69). God is up to something much larger, much bigger, much more expansive than we could ever dream of. Jesus knew it. Zechariah knew it. And when we learn that, we too will be people of joy. And joy can change the world.
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