i-Llan: 15th December 2024 – what does it mean to rejoice?

On the third Sunday of Advent, the theme is Rejoice! What does that mean?

The readings for the Sunday are:
Zephaniah 3. 14 - 20
Philippians 4. 4 - 7
John 3. 7 -1 8
You can read them here

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Transcript

Welcome to i-Llan, a podcast connecting faith, life and Scripture. This episode considers what it means to rejoice.

Are you a Pollyanna, always looking on the bright side? Or an Eeyore, always expecting the worst? Hopefully, you’re somewhere in between.

On the third Sunday in Advent, known as Gaudate Sunday, the church hears the instruction, ‘Rejoice!’ (in Latin, Gaudate!). 

But what is there to rejoice about? And can I rejoice to order?

Clearly, rejoicing has something to do with joy, which is something deeper and more intense than happiness. It’s an emotion, often quite spontaneous, which may be felt so strongly that the body has to express it, often by singing or dancing.

I don’t think joy can be manufactured to order, and to try to do so can lead to disastrous behaviour, such as excessive drinking, wild partying, drug taking. But we can behave in a way that makes joy more likely to find us. And (much as I love Eeyore) we can make it a habit to choose joy rather than pessimism.

As I looked for rejoicing in the Bible, I noticed two words that are used to connect it with God: ‘in’ and ‘before’.

Rejoice in the Lord
For example, Mary, pregnant with Jesus, sings, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’ (Luke 1. 47). And, in today’s second reading, St Paul instructs, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.’ (Phil 4. 4).

Joy springs from delighting in the words and works of God. It arises from attending to the good and beautiful in the world, recognising blessings received. Sometimes, it just arrives, as if from nowhere, an ‘indescribable and glorious joy’ (1 Peter 1. 8), and those are precious occasions. 

Rejoice before the Lord
The Bible also tells the faith community to rejoice before the Lord. As joy springs from God, it’s right to express it to him, whether in church or elsewhere. 

We cannot manufacture joy, but we can make a practice of rejoicing by directing thanks and praise to God. A habit of gratitude does not deny the seriousness of troubles which beset us and may need tackling. Rather, it refuses to allow them the power to control our mood. It is a defence against despair. Joy, rooted in God, can exist alongside sorrow.

God will rejoice over you
A third word used in the Bible with ‘rejoice’ is ‘over’. As we rejoice in and before God, God rejoices over us. Delight is mutual. So, in the first reading, the Old Testament prophet Zephaniah tells the people, ’he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival’ (Zephaniah 3. 17). 

That’s not just a promise to an ancient, exiled nation: Jesus, too, talked about God rejoicing over his people. He told stories about people throwing a party when they find something precious which they had lost (Luke 15). That, says Jesus, is how God rejoices when someone turns to him. That is how God rejoices over you.

So, the emphasis on rejoicing at this point in Advent reminds us about joy in the midst of darkness. It declares that, even in sadness, we can rejoice because our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born into the darkness of this world at Christmas, and whose love proved stronger than death at Easter. 

‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice,’
 Not only on Gaudate Sunday but every day.

So my prayer is:
May God rejoice over you as you rejoice in and before God. Amen.