Jesus, Our Greatest Joy

On Christmas Eve we end our Advent/Christmas series by looking at the song of Mary that she utters while visiting Elizabeth (Luke 1:46-56). I'm particularly interested in the idea of joy, which I develop somewhat in the message.

Luke's Gospel is the story of joy. He uses "joy" or "rejoice," or one of its forms, 21 times. Luke is a rather long book (the longest of all four Gospels) and so 21 might not seem like a lot unless one views it over against the other Gospels. Matthew uses joy (or one of its forms) 4 times, Mark only once and John 13 times. The word is scattered throughout the epistles with rather even regularity, except Philippians which has 12 occurrences. It is often considered the epistle of Joy.

Here are all the references for "joy" or its various forms in the Gospel of Luke: Luke 1:14 (2); 1:44; 1:47; 1:58; 2:10; 6:23 (2); 8:13; 10:17; 10:20 (2); 10:21; 15:5; 15:6; 15:7; 15:9; 15:10; 19:37; 24:41; 24:52.

Mary's song is often called the Magnificat (from the first word of the song in Latin), and it has inspired a huge amount of music, from Bach to contemporary singers. It is one of what I consider to be the five "songs" of Christmas, the others being: Zechariah's song in Luke 1:67-80; Elizabeth's praise in 1:39-45; the Angels' declaration to the shepherds in Luke 2:13-16; and Simeon's prophecy when Jesus was presented at the temple (Luke 2:28-35).

Joy permeates Mary's song, as it should. Jesus is our Greatest Joy. However, we should not mistake joy for happiness, or vise versa. Happiness is too often dependent upon circumstances. (Actually the word "happiness" is built on the Old English word "happenstance" which means "circumstance".) In other words, if your day goes well (meaning the circumstances of your day were what you like), then you are happy. If not, you are sad. Joy, on the other hand, is not a fleeting emotion dependent upon your day but rather a deep seated knowing that you are loved by God and that he always wills good for you and that he is willing and able to extract good from any and all circumstances (Romans 8:28).

In Jesus we have true Joy. Check out 1 Peter 1:3-9. Our joy is inexpressible and full of glory.

Thanks for digging deeper, and Merry Christmas.