Joy - Nonsense to the World
So we have reached the third Sunday of Advent, which I will call “Nonsense Sunday.” Actually, it is “Joy Sunday,” but for a moment let’s call it “Nonsense Sunday,” because that is truly what joy is for most of the world - absolute nonsense. Let me explain.
Joy is often confused with happiness, which itself is confused with amusement. What the world thinks is joy is just that - amusement: nonsense, frivolity, fun, entertainment, sexual pleasure, consumerism, drunkenness, distractions - the list can go on and on. For the world, joy, amusement, and fun are all words for the same thing: momentary feelings of pleasure that must constantly be renewed. They are nothing more than “dopamine hits” - chemical reactions in the brain that bring delight.
Happiness is something else. It is not derived from pleasure but is the source of a deeper pleasure. Aristotle said happiness is about balance or what he called the “Golden Mean” - or striking an equilibrium between deficiency and excess - much the way one is optimally healthy avoiding both starvation and gluttony.
This gets a bit closer to the joy we speak of but it is still a bit off because happiness largely depends on our actions and our choices - avoiding this, engaging with that; doing this, not doing that.
Joy on the other hand is something deeper than both amusement and happiness, because, unlike those two things, joy is not dependent upon our actions. Like faith, joy is a gift from God grounded in what John brings us today - the message of the Gospel - the message of the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus and the eternal kingdom of God that comes as a result. Because we are secure in the knowledge that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus - as Saint Paul says in Romans 8, we do not have to rely upon amusement or self-derived happiness, for which we must always strive.
Now I am not a grumpy old Puritan. I have nothing against harmless amusement - I like to have fun like the next guy. Neither am I against making efforts toward living a happy life in this world, but I much prefer joy - a deeper peace and contentment that comes from knowing that I am redeemed, purchased by God, forgiven and that I have a place in His eternal kingdom through Christ Jesus. From this flows a deeper happiness, even amid hardships in life. When the money runs out amusements stop.
When the will is weak it is hard to maintain a balance of happiness, but through faith and knowledge of God’s love in Jesus we can continue to experience a joy that the world doesn’t know, but for which it constantly strives.
In Christ’s earthly ministry, we see a foretaste of what is to be in the kingdom to come.
“In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind, he bestowed sight. And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’”
People received these blessings by faith because they received Christ. We will enter into the kingdom of God also by faith because we receive Christ in faith and the forgiveness of sins he brings. And this is our joy - which comes from outside of us. This is the joy that we may hold, when the world becomes hard, when we suffer. In this joy, we know that God will make all things new and in His Kingdom, there will be rest, restoration, and peace.
The gospel message today is not a simple retelling of John’s inquiry of Jesus. It is an exhibition of the joy to which we are called - a joy that the world unfortunately did not receive and still does not because for the most part the world is apathetic and seeks amusement over joy.
“To what shall I compare this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another. ‘We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we sang a dirge for and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking and you say, ‘Look at him. A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
The prophets gave the world the Law and the Gospel - John and Jesus - command and promise - and the world wanted nothing to do with either, just like the generations today. What we call joy the world truly would call nonsense. How can one be joyful when things are so bad, some might say, but it is not so for us. We have heard the lament of the Law that condemns our sin, and we have heard the sweet music of the Gospel that brings us true joy.
So when we sing, Joy to the World, or when we talk about the joy of the season, this is exactly what we mean.
“For God so loved the world, He gave his only son, so that all who believe in Him might have eternal life.”
So we can truly make the song of Zephaniah our song,
“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; should O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgment against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil.”
Through Christ, we have forgiveness and the condemnation of the Law is taken away. Because of Christ, those who have faith will be judged righteous and will be delivered from their enemies, which are sin and death. The Lord is in our midst and by His grace we will rest eternally in His midst.
This truly is the joy of the world, which is not dependent upon external circumstances or our best efforts.
Let us pray: Lord God, I give you thanks for the joy that you have given me in the salvation that comes through faith in Christ Jesus. May I live a life of peace and prosperity secure in the knowledge of your love and faithfulness until at length I am called from this world to my eternal home with all your saints in light. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.