A Special Baby: Rejoice
Luke 1:26-38, 42-48
I’ve heard people say that joy is not the same as happiness. Joy, some say, is higher and better than its junior partner. Some say that happiness is driven by circumstance, while joy is transcendent and more spiritual. I don’t know about all that, but I do know this: When people encounter the truth and impact of who Jesus is, and respond in simple faith, then happiness, gladness and joy seem to show up together.
This week’s passage shows us several people experiencing joy. We know it because they express it. They show it. It spills out and spills over. Joy is like that. It’s a lot like love in this respect. If it goes unexpressed, then its presence is suspect. The people experiencing joy in this passage let it be known that they are thrilled with what God is doing.
Mary, understandably, experiences a few other things on the way to her joy. The great news is that the long-awaited Messiah is coming! The unbridled and instant joy that this should generate is mitigated, though, by some other information that she has to process. She’s going to be His mama! She is perplexed and really has to think about what the angel is saying. She’s scared, too. As she grows in her understanding of the miracle God is working in her life, she eventually becomes quite joyful.
Mary grasps that she’s been chosen to carry the Son of the Most High, the King of Israel, whose kingdom will be everlasting! She sings that her soul praises God and her spirit rejoices. To rejoice is to verbalize your joy. She had it and showed it. But joy was not her first response. Sometimes the things of God have to sink in, and sometimes they don’t make sense at first – but once they do, the joy comes.
In her growing understanding and joy, Mary rushes out to see Elizabeth. We don’t know how Elizabeth knows it, but her own joy bursts out with a shout of “Blessed!” as Mary arrives. She knows Mary’s news before Mary can tell her.
Even little unborn baby John got in on the celebration. Verse 15 says that Elizabeth’s and Zacharias’ baby will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet unborn. That explains why and how he could, and would, rejoice with a leap. The Holy Spirit can give joy to anyone, even someone who can’t understand what’s going on – and most of the time, I fall into that category.
I think joy may be happiness standing on the shoulders of peace, contentment and faith. I find all of that in Jesus.
– The ETB writer for the spring quarter is a South Carolinian who formerly served Southern Baptists in a closed country. We are honoring his request not to publish identifying information.