Sing and rejoice

 

It's been a very tough year and the troubles in the world around us will continue into the new year.  But Jesus wants to give us joy.  It's a joy that we already have, ready to be released, because of the presence of God's Spirit within us.

Consider the passage in Luke’s Gospel, where we see Elizabeth and her unborn son, John, joyfully reacting to the nearness of the unborn Christ (Luke 1:26-38).  Since Jesus wasn't visibly saving the world yet, how could this happen?

We can guess that Elizabeth was already feeling joyful, since after many infertile years she had become pregnant and, increasing her joy, she knew that she carried a son who was destined to be uniquely special for the kingdom of God.  And no doubt she was happy to see her delightful cousin, Mary.

Surely though, Elizabeth's joy was tested by the difficulties of being pregnant at an old age and even the normal problems of everyday life.  Why didn't she greet Mary with complaints about the extra weight that was making her back ache or about her husband's sin that had struck him mute?

The scripture doesn't say that Elizabeth was filled with "joy" but that she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Her joy, which was evidenced in the greeting she gave to Mary, was a fruit of the Spirit.

There’s a lesson to be learned here.  If we don't experience joy in the difficulties of life, we should work at increasing our relationship with this important Third Person of the Trinity.  It’s the Spirit of the Father, who made Mary pregnant in order to give birth to the Savior.  It’s the Spirit of Jesus, whose joy within Mary's womb pre-existed His earthly human presence—a presence which caused the unborn John to stir in that same spirit of joy

The Spirit's joy is not a feeling like happiness, which depends on outside circumstances.  The Spirit's joy is an awareness that God is taking good care of us despite the outside circumstances.  It's the awareness of the Spirit's inner presence.

Think about the unborn baby in Elizabeth's womb.  He was incapable of understanding anything that was happening outside the womb, yet he leapt for joy.  He's an example of the effect that the Holy Spirit can have on us.  We don't need to see God working before we leap for joy.  We don't even have to understand what God is doing.

Mary, whom we remember today for her appearance in Guadalupe, found her joy in God her savior.  She didn’t say, "My spirit finds joy in my unborn son."  Nor did she say, "My spirit finds joy in becoming the mother of God the savior."  She didn’t yet understand how Jesus would become the savior.

Mary's joy came from the Holy Spirit.  We, too, can "sing and rejoice"—express joy again and again—as we’re told in Zechariah (2:14-17), because He who is joy has come to dwell in us and "stirs forth from His holy dwelling" which is us.

This is one significant way in which we give birth to Jesus in today's world.  When the people around us see joy as a fruit of Christian living, they’re evangelized by it.  Let’s resolve today to keep our eyes on Jesus, the source of joy in troubled times, for our sake and for the sake of others.