The One of Liberation
Dr. Jim Wilson, December 13, 2009 Let’s begin this morning with a question. What does joy look like? That’s right. I am asking how you would describe joy. How would you paint a picture of it? Or if you were asked to come up with a symbol or image for this experience and feeling we call joy, what would it look like? Perhaps, it would be a mother holding a new born after years of wondering if this could ever be. Or maybe it would be the team and fans joining in the school song after finally winning the big game. Or perhaps it’s greeting a loved one at O’Hare as they return from a year-long deployment to Iraq. Or still, maybe it is getting the report that there is no sign of cancer, that remission is happening. Joy, it is a powerful experience. It maybe tough to explain, difficult to describe, yet we know it when we see it, and it is unmistakable when we experience it. And we’ve all seen it, and we’ve all experienced it. So again, how would you describe this thing called “joy?” What sign would you choose to represent it? Last Monday, I was talking with a friend and colleague, and he asked what text I was using for the sermon. I told him that we were focusing on the prophets during Advent and so I would be preaching from Zephaniah. “Really?” he said, “and what in God’s Name are you going to do with Zephaniah?” I gave him a brief outline, including this opening question about a symbol for joy. He laughed and said, “Wilson, get real. For most Americans there already is a symbol. It’s the dollar sign.” Well, we argued for a few minutes until we realized that it was going nowhere. He probably is right to some extent. After all, who among us hasn’t dreamed of wining the lottery or hitting it big in Vegas and being set for life? I have. Or think of how we hear reports and projections on retail sales each night. Given the rough economic climate, dollar signs are on everyone’s minds. Part of it is simply just another verse of our ode to consumerism. Yet, a larger part, I think, has to do with fear, insecurity. Certainly, money is important, but is it a symbol for joy? I don’t think so. Joy is not something you can buy. You may be able to use money in ways that bring joy to others, but you cannot purchase joy. You may be able to buy happiness, a temporary respite from life as it is. Yet, if we have learned anything over the past year, it is that wealth does not equate to security, much less joy. Joy is more than a momentary diversion. It is not for sale. Nor can it be manufactured by us. Nor does it depend on circumstance. My dad would often remind me that happiness is something we make, joy is a gift; that happiness depends on circumstance, joy moves beyond circumstance. The joy imaged in the opening illustration, the new mom, the winning team and fans, the returning soldier, the healed patient, speak of a gift not limited by circumstance. Yet, once again, what symbol do we use to catch the meaning of joy? I believe the words of the prophet Zephaniah offer us some insight. Zephaniah is one of those little-known and little-appreciated prophets we call the “minor prophets,” largely because their books are brief. Zephaniah worked in the mid-seventh century B.C., during the reign of King Josiah. In our text, he calls Israel to “Sing aloud; to rejoice and exult with all your heart.” It is hard to miss the joy that fills the prophet’s words. However, these words stand in sharp contrast to what Zephaniah has been saying for two and a half chapters. There he offers one stinging indictment after another of the court officials, the priests, and the people for their idolatry and corruption, their arrogance and perversion of the covenant. Like Amos, he announces that “The day of the Lord will be darkness, not light” for Israel. His words are indeed doom and gloom. And if that were not enough, Zephaniah never seems to tire of pointing to the threat of Assyrian troops gathered on Israel’s borders. Then, for some inexplicable reason, Zephaniah’s mood changes abruptly at the fourteenth verse of Chapter 3. It is as if a switch was flipped and he suddenly remembers the Promise of God to come and redeem his people, to liberate them and set them free. His words burst into a song of joy, an invitation for the faithful to celebrate and rejoice for God’s liberation is on the horizon. “Sing aloud,” he calls, “shout, O Israel, rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! For the Lord, our God, is in our midst.” Then with lawyer-like precision, the prophet outlines the reasons for a New Song: the judgments against Israel have been lifted, enemies have been turned away, fear has been overcome, the Lord is come, the lame will be made whole, the outcast will be made welcome, and best of all, “at that time, I will bring you home, says the Lord.” In short, God comes to liberate us from all that would oppress us and keep us from the life he intends for us. Only the complete cynic could hear these words and not get caught up in their joy and hope. Every phrase is a measure in the New Song. Every word rejoices in the Promise of our God. Perhaps, the inexplicable reason is the best reason of all---the coming of the One who liberates, who sets us free. Such is the insight Zephaniah provides. Joy -- real, authentic joy -- is grounded in the liberating work of God coming into our lives. Joy is liberation based. When the One who liberates comes, we are forgiven and set free, healed and made whole, renewed and reconciled. We are free to be the people God intends us to be. And that is the source of our joy, the joy Advent announces and Christmas completes. I believe God’s Promise suggests a symbol for such joy, that of a New Song, a song of joy, a song that tells of a manger and a cross, the Liberating One invading our world and our lives. What this New Song brings is real, authentic joy. In doing so, it exposes the “fake” joy that gets cranked up this time of the year. This is evident in a story I heard the other day. It seems that two guys were talking in the mall while shopping for gifts for their wives. One had just purchased a beautiful, what-appeared-to-be diamond ring for his wife. His friend asked, “I thought she wanted one of the four-wheel-drive SUVs?” “She did,” answered the first guy, “but where am I gonna be able to buy a fake Jeep?” Be on guard against “fake” joy promised, if only we give or receive a certain gift, if and only if the preparations are perfect, if and only if everyone is on their best behavior. It just won’t happen. The New Song announces a joy that comes in the presence of the One who liberates, setting us free, free from everything and anything that would keep us from life as God intends it---from the burden of guilt and the fear of failure, from grief that holds us in despair, from the pain of a broken relationship, from the weight of a threatening illness or simply anxiety about life’s meaning, even a world oppressed by violence and terror and injustice. The lyrics of the New Song sing of God’s liberation coming to be with us, to bring the promised salvation. Zephaniah announces it; John the Baptist points to it; St. Paul proclaims it: A New Song of God’s liberating grace is being sung. Many years ago before anti-discrimination laws were very prevalent, Mrs. Rosenberg was stranded one night in a fashionable resort on Cape Cod, one that did not admit Jewish people. When she requested a room, the desk clerk looked down, and said, “Sorry, no room; the hotel is full.” Mrs. Rosenberg replied, “But your sign says you have vacancies.” The desk clerk stammered and then said curtly, “Madam, you know that we don’t admit Jews. Please try the hotel on the other side of town.” Mrs. Rosenberg stiffened and said confidently, “Young man, I will have you know that I have converted to Christianity.” “Oh, yeah?” replied the clerk, “let me give you a little test. How was Jesus born?” “He was born to a virgin named Mary in a little town called Bethlehem,” answered Mrs. Rosenberg. “Very good,” said the clerk, “tell me more.” “He was born in a stable out behind the inn.” “That’s right,” interrupted the clerk, “Why was he born in a stable?” Mrs. Rosenberg smiled and responded both firmly and boldly, “Because some idiot behind the hotel desk would not give a room to a Jewish lady for the night! Any more questions?” The old song sings about a closed world, a world of things as they are. The New Song sings about a world invaded by the Liberating One, a world transformed and made new according to God’s Promise. We are called to sing this song, and know the liberation it proclaims. Joy is an expectation of the season. We hear it in words of greeting, in advertising, in lyrics of the carols. We see it in the lights and decorations. Yet the question remains, “What and whose joy? What is the source?” One night last week, I caught a news report about an organization in Texas which brought children who lost a parent in military service since 2001 and the surviving parent to a four day Christmas celebration. It was moving to see some 600 kids, many of whom wearing tee shirts with a picture of their dad or mom on them, having the time of their life, going to a rodeo, having their own rodeo, enjoying activities and games, food, first-class accommodations. There was a very real sense of joy present, temporary perhaps, but present nevertheless. One of the volunteers commented in an interview that the purpose of the event was to provide a sense of the joy of Christmas for these children. A worthy purpose, I thought to myself, and a wonderful and kind gift to these children who have suffered a tragic loss. But, I can only hope that it does not stop with these four days. I hope and pray that someone, some church, some pastor, some caring adult will help these children know the deeper joy that Christmas brings, that the Liberating One is come to surround them with a love from nothing can separate them, a love that conquers fear and death, and births a joy which is for the whole world----the Lord is come!! That is our expectation this Advent---a holy expectation. The joy for us is a joy grounded in the coming of the One who liberates, who sets us free! Thanks be to God! Amen! |
