Advent Week 3: Joy
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”––Luke 2:10
This has always been one of my favorite passages during the Advent season. I return to it almost every year and try to put myself in the position of the shepherds receiving this message.
You might think of sheep as kind of cute, cuddly things and shepherds having a kind of noble profession. But that was not the reality when this was written. Shepherds were thought of as outcasts––gruff, crude, and often violent––and they were thought of as dangerous and outsiders quite often in this time. In other words, these men were likely not sitting around the fire talking about pure, wholesome, and happy things when the angels showed up with this message. Indeed, a picture of the holiness of God would likely have injected instant fear into men likely having fairly unholy conversations and living fairly unholy lives.
Yet, God decides to announce his good news to them through these angels. And he tells them not to fear, but rather that he has good news (gospel!) of great joy for all people––yes, even shepherds! What is this good news of great joy?
A Savior, who is Christ the Lord, is going to be born. You unholy shepherds can be saved from your sins. The promised Messiah you probably thought was a myth or haven’t cared to think about; that you learned about from religious leaders growing up––he’s here. He’ll save you. He’s come to bring salvation to all those who will trust him. He’s come to pay for your sins. The holy will die for the unholy. The righteous will die for the unrighteous. And after he dies he will rise again and reign over all things, and you can come under that holy reign with joy!
Imagine being confronted by the holiness of God leading you to tremble, and then being told “fear not” and being comforted by the mercy of God and the news of a Savior. Well, we don’t have to imagine too much. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, yet we can be saved by the grace of God if we simply trust in the person and work of Christ.
It’s easy to find joy in many other thing; good things that come with good circumstances, relationships, and situations. But it’s an even better thing to find our joy in the circumstance that never changes if we’ve trusted in Jesus––the good news that our sins are forgiven and we’ll spend eternity with him.
I pray you’re having your eyes fixed on Jesus and the great, unchanging joy his gospel brings this Advent season. I pray you’re finding opportunities to share this good news of great joy with others. I pray that wherever you’re confronted by the holiness of God in the midst of your own unholiness that you are also comforted by the reality that the Holy One died on your behalf. And I pray that in all these things, you’d find your heart genuinely, passionately, and freshly rejoicing in the good news of great joy this Advent season.
