The profound moments in our life were the days when Shiny and I were blessed with our sons. The days they were born were moments of sheer joy in our lives. When I recollect and reflect on those moments, all I can say is that those experiences of joy are captured for me in the word “Rejoice.” Those were the moments to rejoice, because our joy knew no bounds. As I write this reflection, I am nostalgic of all those awesome moments of holding the ‘bundle of love’ (our sons) into hands, and they are very precious and priceless. I am sure each of you might have a different experience of moments of sheer joy in your lives, where you can sum that as ‘rejoice’ moments.
The third Sunday in Advent is called “Gaudete” Sunday, where the word ‘Gaudete’ refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, “Rejoice,” in way inviting the church to reflect on the theology of rejoice, as we await in hope and joy for the coming of Jesus Christ. On this Sunday, the lectionary also suggests Mary’s song from Luke 1:46-55, where she sings, “my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour” (47v). For Mary, the realisation to rejoice in God arrived, when Elizabeth affirmed the grace of God in her life, as she shared that she is going to bear a child. The reason to rejoice in God for Mary was because “God has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant” (48v). The ripple effect of rejoicing in God came along when Mary continued to be prophetic in her song, challenging the powerful and helping the hungry with good things. For Mary, that moment of sheer joy came when her cousin affirmed in the work of God’s grace in her life as the child was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit, and eventually she rejoiced in God, the saviour. We have been singing this new Christmas song, “Mary did you know?” in which we unknowingly de-celebrate the agency of Mary, and deprived Mary of her confidence and strength as a young woman. Yes, Mary did know that the “child she delivers will soon deliver the world,” which is the message for us to sing this Advent.
To the church at Thessalonica, Paul concludes his first ever NT letter with these words of exhortations as recorded in 5:16-24, the prescribed lectionary for this Sunday. He writes certain do’s and don’ts for the church. The three do’s for the church are: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances (16-18v). These do’s are the will of God in Christ Jesus for the church. The three don’ts for the church are: do not quench the Spirit, do not despise the words of prophets and abstain from every form of evil (19-22v). These do’s and don’ts appear to be simple but harder to follow.
Firstly, in the do’s, we recognise that all of the three verbs mentioned are to be done forever, never ending, without any break or reservation and certainly without any ‘conditions apply’ terms on to it. Rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving are eternal and to be done at all times, both in season and off season. Secondly, rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving form the heart of the will of God, for I think they always co-exist and co-work together. Thirdly, rejoice, pray and give thanks are all verbs, that call for action and can’t be limited to mere uttering of words. Fourthly, the do’s and the don’ts are correlated and inter-related. For rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving are directly proportional to the Spirit of God for no one can stop her. They are directly proportionate to the prophetic words and also to the abstinence from every form of evil. To put it differently, the Spirit of God, the prophetic words and the abstinence from evil are all reflected in rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving. In other words, rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving should resonate the Spirit of God, the prophetic words and the abstinence from forms of evil.
After the exhortations of do’s and don’ts to the Thessalonian church, Paul concludes by saying how one can live up to those do’s and don’ts. His solution is simple and deep, that it is the “God of peace himself who will sanctify entirely” (23v) and makes a profound statement that “the one who calls you is faithful and he will do this (keeping our spirits, bodies and souls sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ)” (24v). Paul was invoking that one can fulfil the do’s and don’ts only by the grace of God, only by God alone, as God is always faithful and helps us to live a life worthy of our calling. By this invocation of God’s grace and God’s strength, Paul was exposing that no one should boast that they can fulfil all the aforementioned do’s and don’ts by their own merit, faith and works, for they may turn to be futile, for unless the Lord builds the house all our labour will be in vain. This is a great matter to rejoice, for God is willing to help us live our lives as God wills for us.
Moltmann in writing that “Christianity is a religion of joy” explains that when God comes to judge the earth, the whole creation will rejoice (Psalm 96:11-13), and the day of judgement is a day of rejoicing and not of terror. He further explains that repentance is joining in the joy of God, for God finds his rejoicing in seeking and finding the lost ones. So, repentance is not self-afflicted pain or self-punishment, but is the joy of God. He finally says, “which is greater, the joy or the grief, the happiness of the pain, life or death? And my answer is this: existence is greater than nonexistence, life is more than death, hope is above despair, and so joy is greater than pain. Why? The answer is simple: because whereas in pain we want our suffering to disappear, in joy we want the things that make us happy to endure.” This is what we need in our context today.
Drawing a relevance of this text for our context today: we are called to offer Christian faith as a faith of joy that celebrates life over death, hope over despair and happiness over pain. This year 2020 has been one of the toughest years with death, grief, fear, anxiety, distance, separation, gloom and zoom, yet if we have to name some of the ‘rejoicing’ moments this year, I am sure there are certain pointers. The arrival of kindness from unexpected quarters of life during this year is unquantifiable, for they brought joy and consolation in many ways. In all of this God has been faithful, offering us hope to rejoice in the light at the end of the tunnel. Faith has always been (mis)understood as a sigh for those in pain, but the faith in Jesus Christ is a matter of rejoicing in God, calling us to offer joy in this world, by protesting in the name of God against the forces that destroy the joy of God, which is in God’s drawing nearer to God’s creation. During this year, for some moments of rejoicing came through neighbours, through gardens, through families at home, through technology of at least catching up to meet virtually, through the songs of the birds, through the works of the essential workers, and through the arrival of the vaccine.
May we all join towards the end of this year to join with Mary in singing, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant (of all the people on the margins).” May we wait on God who is faithful and just, helping us to rejoice in God for God’s grace and God’s love. May we step into the New year rejoicing in God to be channels of sharing God’s joy so that can share gladness to several people we meet. May the rejoice moments in our lives multiply. May we all have a meaningful season of Advent. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,
11th December 2020
1 comment:
Thank you so much for sharing informative and spiritual content.
These words really could be a hope for many demotivated souls.
Hope to see more illuminating material related to this topic in future.
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