Advent 2021: Joy
Notes
Transcript
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Shout for joy, O Daughter Zion! Cheer, O Israel! Rejoice and give praise with all your heart, O Jerusalem!
Yahweh has removed the judgments against you, he has turned your enemies away. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst. You will not fear evil anymore.
On that day it will be said in Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion, do not let your hands fall limp.
Yahweh, your God, is in your midst, a mighty warrior come to your aid. He will rejoice over you with joy, his love will make you speechless, he will cry out in exultation over you.
“I will remove those who grieve the festivals from you, they were a tribute lifted up for disgrace.
Look: I will deal with all of your oppressors at that time. I will save the lame, and I will gather the outcasts. I will give honor to their name in all the land where it was shamed.
At that time I will bring you in, I will gather you so that I may give you a name and praise among all my people in the land, when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” Says Yahweh.
Luke 3:7-19
Luke 3:7-19
Therefore, he said to the crowds coming to be baptized by him, “Children of vipers! Who warned you to escape from the coming wrath? So bear fruits worthy of repentance and don’t start saying amongst yourselves, ‘We have a father in Abraham.’ Because I say to you that God is able to raise children for Abraham from these very stones. Indeed, even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. So every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and cast into the fire.”
So the crowds asked him, “Then what should we do?” He responded to them, “The person who has two tunics should share with the one who has none, and the one who has food should do likewise.”
Now, tax collectors came to be baptized and said to him,” Teacher, what should we do?” So he said to them, “No one ought to collect more than was commanded of you.” Now soldier also asked him, “What about us? What should we do?” So he said to them, “No one should extort or blackmail, and be content with your wages.”
Now those in the crowd were hopeful and considering in their hearts whether John may be the Christ. John responded to all of them, “I baptize you with water, but the one coming is mightier than me, I am not even qualified to loosen the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His pitchfork is in his hand to clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff will be consumed with unquenchable fire.”
And so with many other teachings he announced the good news to the people. But Herod the Tetrarch, when he was rebuked by him concerning Herodias, the wife of his brother, and about all the evil things Herod had done, added even more to these evil deeds by locking John up in prison.
Life is Happy?
Life is Happy?
Always Sunny “Life is Happy”
What to do with Joy after a week like this?
Joy in scripture seems conflicting
Joy χαρα as fruit of the spirit
On the other hand, lamentations, Job, Ecclesiastes
The New Revised Standard Version Reflections of a Royal Philosopher
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
The New Revised Standard Version Reflections of a Royal Philosopher
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been,
in the ages before us.
11 The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them.
Is there really any joy to be had in this life? How can joy be a fruit of the spirit if the world is full of so much suffering?
“Happiness” and joy not necessarily the same. In many ways, joy is hard to express in words.
Three types of joy we may consider
Fleeting Joy
Fleeting Joy
Christmas morning playing with new toy
Yes, it’s “happy”. But there’s something deeper there too. Joy that what we’re doing is fitting and right
This joy is fleeting. “The world is passing away” (1 John 2:17)
This kind of joy isn’t useless, however.
The New Revised Standard Version Youth and Old Age
Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all; yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
“Vanity” הבל “smoke/mist”. Fleeting, but not the same as worthless
Fleeting joys give us a glimpse of heaven. But it is just a glimpse
Perfected Joy
Perfected Joy
Christmas morning is here
Zephaniah, salvation from Babylon
The joy at the parousia, when all the promises of God are finally perfected
St. Thomas Aquinas, “I can write no more. All that I have written seems like straw.”
Anticipatory Joy
Anticipatory Joy
Joy that anticipates Christmas
choice/mindset that constantly redirects our attention
This is the joy in Zephaniah, a promise not yet fulfilled
This is the joy of the Holy Spirit, the joy in waiting for Christ
Joy and Action
Joy and Action
This joy in waiting, however, is not idle
John the Baptist “What should we do?”