|
Joyful Sunday 2009
SERMON – 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 13th December 2009
The Very Revd. Andrew Chan - The Dean of St. John's Cathedral
There was once a village minister, old fashioned, who, whenever called upon to comment a gospel text, would invariably end up by speaking about God's punishment, whatever the contents of the chosen passage. People would of course leave the church rather sad and dejected, as if turning from a funeral. One day one of them from his community began having doubts about this image of God. He opened the Bible and began to read it, slowly, page after page, from start to finish. He also wrote down how many times God speaks of joy, cheerfulness, happiness. He counted good a 837 times. Practically in every page of the Bible the Lord speaks of good things, because he wants human beings to live in joy. He then concluded that the sermons of the minister weren't exactly describing the right God, because they failed to communicate serenity and joyfulness.
Today is the third Sunday of Advent, which is also known 'joyful Sunday' and the readings are about joy.
The first reading today is an invitation to joy and serenity, to trust : 'Shout for joy, daughter of Zion!... Rejoice, exult with all your heart!' while the Epistle reading mentions that St. Paul asks the Philippian Christians to be 'rejoice in the Lord always.'
Why is Zephaniah saying such consoling words? Is it perhaps because everything is well with him? Not at all! He is in fact living during one of the most difficult periods in the history of Israel. Corruption is rampant in Jerusalem : the king, the priests, the prophets, the judges, all are corrupt; the people have abandoned their faith and betrayed their God.
Likewise, when Paul says 'Rejoice in the Lord always', as mentioned in our Epistle reading today, he was in prison, where he was put by the enemies of the gospel. He should be sad, but instead he keeps inviting all to be joyful.
What to do in such situations like Prophet Zephaniah's and St. Paul's?
Zephaniah has no alternative, and behave like the minister we mentioned before : he begins threatening terrible punishment. He says, the day of ruin and of devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and think fog, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry,' and so on to the end of his book. But suddenly we hear the prophecy we read today : an invitation to joy, to dance, to feast. Why this change?
The reason is because the Lord 'has repealed the sentence', Jerusalem will not be punished, nor will anything bad happen to it. She has been an unfaithful bride, she has betrayed her God, but he will not throw her out of the house for ever. He will 'renew her by his love.' She will be once again as beautiful as a girl, she will be once again happy with her bridegroom who 'will rejoice over her with happy song… will dance with shouts of joy for you.'
And what about all the punishment he had just been threatening? From this text we can see what is the day of the 'anger of God'. It is not the time when he loses patience, get annoyed with human wickedness and decides to punish all people, but the day that his love will be able to overcome all evil.
The 'anger of God' is not against the sinner but against the sin. God never aims to punish people. It is people themselves that by acting evilly punish themselves and end up in a disastrous condition, from which they cannot extricate themselves (and often they do not want to extricate themselves). But the Lord does not abandon them. He is like a young man in love with a girl : he is not put off by her refusals, and does not accept losing her.
The prophet Zephaniah who lived at a time when his people was so close to ruin, announces the victory of God's love over sin and the radical transformation of the social, political and religious situation. Here is the reason why he invites all the poor in the country to rejoice.
Well, how about St. Paul the apostle? Paul reminds the Philippians Christians of joyfulness. This remind is expressed the first time soon after reflecting on his condition of prisoner : even if I had to give my life for your faith, he tells the Philippians, I would be happy and full of joy.
According to the Epistle reading, (Phil 2:17-18) 'And in the same way you must be glad and join in my rejoicing'. Later he speaks of his apostolic plans and once again takes up the theme of joy : 'Brothers, I wish you joy in the Lord.' And finally the part we read today. 'Always be joyful then in the Lord; I repeat, be joyful.'
Why so much insistence on joy? The reason is not success in life, good health, wealth, no worries. In fact, Paul and the Philippians had plenty to worry about, but the certainty that 'the Lord is close at hand". This is what the Christian should have constantly in mind to help him to be gentle, kind and generous with all.
When we look at our lives, as we watch what goes on around us, we find hard to make merry. Wars, injustice, social confusion, jealousies thrive also within the Christian community. Zephaniah's words are today addressed to us, and invite us not to let our arms fall limp, because God's love will prevail.
Paul's faith should give him the certainty that all that happens cannot escape God's plan, and the life of everyone can only end up well. When something saddens him, he does not despair, he is not worried by anxiety and anguish, he tells the Lord his needs in prayer. This union with God bring him peace.
We too feel so often like being in prison ; we feel tied up by our sins or by the consequences of our mistakes, and we sadly think that we may never be able to free ourselves from all this. Paul is telling us : take courage, 'The Lord is close at hand.'
Both the prophet and Paul's advice are important, and Luke uses them to describe the Annunciation of Mary. 'Rejoice, do not be afraid', 'the Lord is within you' are the same words that Angel Gabriel will tell Mary.
Why does Luke take up Zephaniah's prophecy? To stress that it has been fulfilled in the incarnation of the Son of God. With Jesus of Nazareth God is really and truly 'within his people', he has brought salvation and fullness of joy.
Do our communities testify that 'God is among them'? How can the pagans believe that Christians are bearers of the 'good news' if they see them always sad?
Joy is not a shallow self-satisfaction. There can be no happiness for us as long as the things we do are different from the things we believe. And there can be no joy without love. A sadness falls upon us when we say 'no' to love.
Joy doesn't mean pleasure. Pleasure is of the body but joy is of spirit. We can quickly become tired of pleasure, but we never grow tired of joys.
In the end, only God can fulfil our dreams, and joy is the best sign of his presence. The presence of God is the real cause of our joy. Prophet Isaiah said to the people, 'Shout for joy, because God is in your midst. Paul said to the Philippians, 'Rejoice in the Lord always because the Lord is near.' The joy that this world cannot give is the joy comes from a sense of God and his love for us.
Today when we celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of our services held at this Bethany House, we can see that God fulfil our dreams. We still remember how we made our plan to move, how we gave advice to APA about the renovation, how we proceeded fund raising etc. We could not forget our excitement when we visit the newly renovated chapel. All these told us that the Lord is with us, and will come to fulfil his Kingdom, so we may rejoice in him. Let us make oue 'Emmanuel Church to be a Christian community with joy and hope, so the term 'Emmanuel' is not only a name of our congregation, but also the message we bring to the world – Emmanuel – 'The Lord be with you'.
In this season of advent, let's ask the Lord to come, so we may wait for the Christmas this year and his coming again with joy and peace.
Amen.
|
