Lifting Our Heads In Joy Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18

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1 Lifting Our Heads In Joy Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18 December 13, 2015 By Dr. David B. Freeman, Pastor Weatherly Heights Baptist Church What s happening to our world, Pastor? someone asked me recently. I wish I could answer that question. While it seems that every generation fights its wars and confronts its social battles, those wars and battles surely seem magnified today. Imagine being at that concert in Paris when terrorists causally walked in and ruthlessly opened fire as people sang and danced. Or being at the holiday party in San Bernardino when the husband and wife team unloaded their AR-15s on their unsuspecting colleagues, who only months earlier had given them a baby shower. People are afraid to travel. Some are reluctant to go to large gatherings of people, so called soft targets. Politicians of every stripe are responding with calls for action. Some are ludicrous, playing to the fears of the public, while others seem impotent. And we re trying to prepare for Christmas. I m supposed to talk about joy today. I ll admit that I was dreading preparing the sermon for today. It felt Pollyannaish to speak about joy in light of the stark realities before us. Of course, it s a lovely story. It s overly sentimentalized now, many agree. But a beautiful story nonetheless. A baby boy born in crude surroundings because there was no place for his family at the local inn. Young Mary, possibly as young as age 15. Joseph visited by the angel. The shepherds. The star in the night. Yes, it s a very lovely story, but have you ever noticed the prominence of nighttime in the birth narratives? The early church emphasized the fact that it was night when Jesus was born. The shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night. The wise men followed the star through the night. When Joseph was warned of Herod s murderous intentions, he took the baby Jesus and Mary by night and fled to Egypt. Nearly a hundred years after the birth of Jesus, it was John in the fourth gospel who called attention to this. Their wars were being

2 fought. Their social battles were being confronted. It was no simple, easygoing time. It was a harsh time of Roman oppression. It was nighttime for the people of Israel. The birth of Jesus, John wrote, was a light shining in their darkness. The true light, he said, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. On multiple levels this was a powerful message of salvation. Isn t that what we need today? Isn t that the message the world desperately needs? And isn t that the gift the Christian community can give the world? Yes, it s dark. Murderous rampages occur far too frequently. People are angry. People are afraid. People are asking, What s happening to our world? And the Christian community responds today with a message of hope, peace, joy and love. We choose not to give-in to hatred. We choose not to respond to terror with despair. We choose instead the noblest qualities of the human race, qualities that are the bedrock of our faith: hope, peace, joy, and love. We do so with the conviction that ultimately truth rises. We choose to belong to the party that believes that the arch of history is long, and it bends towards justice and truth. So in the darkness of this day, with breaking news stories we re afraid to read, we make a deliberate choice to lift our heads in joy. It took a deliberate decision in Zephaniah s day too. He is one of the seldom read and little known prophets of the Old Testament. If you know the history of the ancient Israelites, you know that they were forced into exile in a foreign land. The worst-case scenario happened. In a series of three deportations, a foreign army came into their land, destroyed the Temple, ransacked homes and vineyards, and forcibly took the people of Israel into exile. Though the book of Zephaniah is short, it seems to have spanned a long time. It s only three chapters, but scholars believe it covered the entire exile. The first chapter involves the time leading up to the exile, when Zephaniah anticipated God s great judgment. The great day of the Lord is near, Near and hastening fast; The sound of the day of the Lord Is bitter, The warrior cries aloud there. 2

3 That day will be a day of wrath, A day of distress and anguish, A day of ruin and devastation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. I don t know how anyone could be more descriptive. Zephaniah tried to warn the people of impending judgment, but they refused to heed his warning. Then in chapter two and part of chapter three, the people of Israel were invited to return to God and avoid the great devastation. Seek the Lord, all you humble of The land, Who do his commands; Seek righteousness, seek humility; Perhaps you may be hidden On the day of the Lord s wrath. Then near the end of chapter three the tone changes dramatically. The darkness has been lifted, and sounds of celebration are in the air. Some scholars think this was written after the exile, as the people returned to their land. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your Heart, O daughter Jerusalem! Once every three years we read this story from Zephaniah on the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of joy. It is always coupled with that beautiful passage from Philippians 4: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and 3

4 supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And then Luke 3, where John the Baptist proclaimed the good news to the people. Do you see our message for today? It s dark. Let s not pretend otherwise. Let s not hide our heads in the sand and ignore the stark realities of our world. Likewise, let us not abandon the message of our faith. Hope, peace, joy, and love are more powerful than the darkness. I think preachers are the only ones who read sermons. I have a few preachers from the past whose sermons I enjoy reading. I read them as devotional literature, much like our Advent devotional booklet. My favorite is Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. After World War II, he published some of his war sermons, sermons preached during a dark time in U.S. history. In one of those sermons, he refers to an ancient Roman historian named Tacitus. Thirty-five years after the crucifixion of Jesus, Tacitus was astonished and indignant that the Christian movement had lasted so long. He called it mischief and a pestilent superstition. He noted that it appeared to be stopped at one point but then it broke out afresh. He was shocked that it spread from Judea to Rome where all manner of horrible and loathsome things pour in and become fashionable. So this ancient historian found it incredible that the message of Christ would continue, even in a place as dark as ancient Rome. Here s what Fosdick said to the Riverside Church in 1944: Here is the marvel of history, not that the world is dark it always has been but that we have a radiant spiritual heritage, coming down to us across the centuries, that all the hosts of evil have not been able to quench. (A Great Time to Be Alive, p. 212) 4

5 What s happening to our world? What has always been happening. It s nighttime. Our world is covered in darkness. But here s the message we proclaim to the world. All the hosts of evil do not win. Not now. Not ever. Love wins. Peace wins. Joy wins. Love wins. Because they are more powerful than the darkness. That is our message. Let us live it, and let us give it to the world. Closing Prayer Lord, how grateful we are for the light, the light that shines in the darkness. How grateful we are that your light has shined in our lives. Help us to live it and share it. Amen. 5