The angels at Christmas brought a message of ‘good news of great joy’ (Luke 2:10). Joy features so much in the Christmas narratives: Zechariah, when told of the impending birth of his son, is told he will be ‘a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice at his birth’ (Luke 1:14); when Elizabeth and Mary meet before the birth of their babies, Elizabeth says ‘as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.’ (Luke 1:44)
Jesus brings joy into the world. He who took on human flesh and walks with us through every trial and suffering of life because he shared in our humanity (see Heb 2:14-16, Heb 4:15-16) knew how to celebrate and rejoice. He spoke to His disciples of giving them his joy, praying they would know ‘the full measure of my joy within them.’ (John 17:23) Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit which God wants to grow in our lives as we focus on who God is and what He does. Christmas is always a time of reflection, of counting our blessings; it is a joyful season because God is there, in the midst. Outwardly the times during that first Christmas were not joyful: God’s people were living under Roman oppression and Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem when she was heavily pregnant just to be counted in a census. (Luke 2:1-3) Worse still, when they got to Bethlehem, there was no guest room available for them and so Jesus had to be born in a stable, having a manger or feeding trough for animals as his first bed. (Luke 2:4-7) Shortly after his birth, Herod heard about the news that a king had been born and so he went on the rampage, planning to kill any potential rival to the throne and murdering many innocent children in his bid to eliminate any other king. (Matt 2:3, 16) But despite the difficulties of the circumstances, still we think of Christmas predominantly as a time of joy and that’s because it is the time when we celebrate God’s indescribable gift to us. His presence, ‘Immanuel’, God with us, is the source of our joy now and always.
