“Joy Grows” Colchester Federated Church, December 15, 2024, Third Sunday of Advent (Luke 2:20 & 19:1-10)

“The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”[1]  On this Third Sunday of Advent we are contemplating joy.  As we heard in our Advent Candle Lighting liturgy, joy is when you feel so thankful you could burst with excitement and gratitude.  This definition of joy feels profound on some level because of the linking of gratitude and joy.

Now as someone who spends a great deal of time with words—reading, writing, preaching, praying, hearing, wrestling with words—joy is not quite the same as happiness.  It feels important to make the distinction.  At the same time, happiness does not need to be villainized or anything either.  It’s just that happiness tends to be a fleeting emotion, and it’s often linked to some sort of external circumstance.  We received a new bike for Christmas and we are so happy about it!  Though the excitement about the new bike or phone or bag or even car or house may well fade with the passing of time.  And then maybe our friend down the street gets a better version of the same bike with that surprise after Christmas sale.  So, now what?  That’s a rather silly example.  The point is that happiness can be fleeting as circumstances happening outside of ourselves change. 

Though joy tends to be more long-lasting.  Joy is enduring because joy comes from within.  We can view joy as a state of being.  Joy is about feeling content and satisfied with our lives, feeling gratitude even when life’s circumstances are far from perfect.

Last Sunday, on the Second Sunday of Advent, we spent some time with the shepherds out in the fields who were guarding their sheep at night.  We remembered that these shepherds were living in the fields and were most likely night-shift slaves or low-paid wage earners whose job was to protect the flocks of sheep entrusted to them at night.  The angels did not appear to the high and mighty anymore than Jesus was born in luxurious comfort.  Jesus’ birth was announced to humble people.  In fact, it was revolutionary and unexpected for Luke to place the peace of God (peace among those whom God favors) among those ordinary shepherds who were living in the fields!

The initial reaction of the shepherds is fear, understandably.  “The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.”[2]  Of course they were terrified out there guarding the sheep at night when all of a sudden, an angel appeared in heavenly glory!  By the time the shepherds return home though, they are glorifying and praising God for it all.  They are going back to their same life circumstances, but so much has changed.  It seems that their state of being is joyful.

We know that the Christ child whose birth the shepherds heard proclaimed by the heavenly host will become a man who looked upon others with profound compassion.  Jesus’ ministry was full of hope and joy.  On this Third Sunday of Advent, the story of the joyful shepherds is linked with the story of the rich tax collector Zacchaeus.  As Luke tells the story, Jesus doesn’t pass Zacchaeus by as he’s up in that sycamore tree in Jericho.  And Zacchaeus doesn’t pass up the chance to get a better look at Jesus by climbing that sycamore tree initially.  Luke tells us that Jesus came to that spot and looked up at the ruler among tax collectors and beckons Zacchaeus to climb down from that tree so that Jesus can stay at his home.  Jesus does this even while others grumble that Jesus is going to be the guest of a sinner.

Tax collectors were almost universally despised at this time because they often took a little bit (or a lot) off the top when they collected tolls, market duties, sales tax, income tax, property tax, and inheritance tax.  Plus, people saw them as Roman collaborators who helped them oppress people.  When we encounter Zacchaeus in Luke’s Gospel, we can observe that Zacchaeus is the rich ruler among tax collectors! 

Yet Zacchaeus is simultaneously this wee little man in stature who just wants to see Jesus!  He climbs up that sycamore tree when he figures out what path Jesus will take walking through the city of Jericho.  This action has a way of humanizing this “villain.”  After Zacchaeus meets Jesus, he repents.  He turns and returns to God.  Zacchaeus promises to give half of his possessions to the poor and repay those he may have cheated four times as much.  Doesn’t this story remind us of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?  We can think of Scrooge waking up after his magical (and ominous) night with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future vowing to be a better version of himself.  Scrooge repents of the harm he has caused and makes amends.  In our Gospel story, Jesus tells Zacchaeus, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham.  The Human One came to seek and save the lost.”[3] 

If we wanted a summary of the Gospel according to Luke, this could well be it—Jesus came to seek and save the lost!  It’s a wonderful story about how God breaks through in our lives and how God can use unlikely people to further the message of compassion and hope that Jesus preached and embodied.  And what is Zacchaeus’ reaction to the compassion of Jesus?  It’s pure joy.  Joy is extended beyond Zacchaeus as he vows to make things right.  In linking these stories, Rev. Dr. Jeehei Park explains, “Both the shepherds and Zacchaeus reveal the mechanism of joy—joy may not immediately change reality, but joy is enduring as it keeps encouraging us to look for what we can do for the kindom of God.  As such, joy becomes a lived-out experience that continues to expand the kindom of God in the world.”[4]

As we are gathered here at Colchester Federated Church this December morning, whether we are here in person or watching online, we may feel in a state of joy or definitely not joyful or perhaps somewhere in between.  Though what may feel hopeful is that joy does not always immediately change reality.  It seems that the shepherds went back to those fields and Zaccheaus went back to collecting taxes after their encounters with Jesus.  Yet joy is not meant to be so personally experienced that it’s not shared with other people.  Because joy is when you feel so thankful you could burst with excitement and gratitude.  Joy is meant to be shared, and in that sharing, joy can spread even when we may not be feeling all that joyful.  That is the power of community, as joy can grow and grow.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Luke 2:20, CEB.
[2] Luke 2:9.
[3] Luke 19:9-10.
[4] Rev. Dr. Jeehei Park, Commentary on Advent Three in From the Manger, Illustrated Ministry, 2024, pg. 22.

Photo by Tai’s Captures on Unsplash