Road Trippin With Rachael

…When the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him up in his arms, praised God, and said, Now Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. For my eyes have seen your salvation. You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples – a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel. – Luke 2:27-32 (CSB)

There is just something about being around someone who oozes joy. You can never quite put your finger on it, but they seem to have an aura around them no matter what they are going through. I personally have never met someone who I would describe as joyful who did not have a personal relationship with Christ. I’ve met many people who have are happy in the moment or whose energy brings people into their circle; they are those people who “light up the room.” There is jus something about them!

During the Christmas season, we tend to see the whole spectrum, from people who have no joy to people who are exuding it. There are a lot of reasons for this, that we are not going to be delving into with this blog, but the joy that comes at Christmas is different. It is a joy that is full of hope and celebration for what God has done and what (for the Christian) we know is coming at Easter. With that in mind, we are going to be looking at Luke 2:25-38 and we are gong to parse out three ways that joy is shared.

Joy Is For Salvation

If you’ve read through the passage that we are looking at (which I hope that you did), you will see that there are four people who are mentioned in this section of scripture: Mary and Joseph, Simeon, and Anna. These are all different people, who have had different life experiences, but each of them shows joy. Joy is meant for the individual and each of these people show joy, but in different ways.

When we look at Mary and Joseph (yes we are going to consider them a unit for our purposes here), we see that they are honoring the law. They are bringing Jesus to the temple as the first born son to be dedicated at the temple. You might be thinking “Rachael, how is that joyful?” I will argue that if you love God, and you are walking with him, (for the Jew B.C.E) following the Law of Moses, and (for the Christian A.D.) living a life that you know is pleasing to God, you will have joy. Mary and Joseph have welcomed a child into their family – the Son of God – and they had all the trepidation that comes with being a parent, but they were God honoring and following. Joseph was a righteous man (Matthew 1:19) who wanted to do right by Mary. Mary was faith and Gabriel called her “favored woman” (Luke 1:28). Both of the descriptions of this couples as individuals show that they are faithful to God, and would have been able to find joy being in God’s will.

One of the other individuals who is brought up in Luke 2:25-38 is Simeon. Simeon is only referenced once in scripture and it’s here. Simeon is one of those people who I would have no problem saying that I believe he was a one of those mentioned in Ezekiel 36:26-27 – where he has a heart of flesh, and scripture already says that the Holy Spirit was on him (Luke 2:25). As a result, Simeon was sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, and he was there to speak a blessing and prophesy over Jesus when Mary and Joseph brough him into the temple. Simeon’s joy was tied to the presence of the Holy Spirit and going based on the leading of the Spirit which resulted in him being able to see and hold the Son of God.

There is another person we need to give some time to: Anna. Anna was a widow who had only been married a seven years before her husband died, and then spent the next eighty-four years in the temple. Scripture just says that she was well along in years (Luke 2:36) – which, if you do basic math, would mean she would have to be passed 100 years old. She is described as a prophetess (vs. 36) and she served the Lord through fasting and prayer. The world was not a kind place for widows during this time; the world has only become an “okay-ish” place for widows really only in the last fifty years. For her to have gone to the temple, as someone who was not of the tribe of Levi, but of Asher (vs. 36) would mean that she had nowhere else to go. But when we get to verse 38, we see that she walked up to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and she thanked God for Jesus. She praised. This woman who had remained in the temple away from family with no children of her own, worshiped. Even when life is hard, there is still joy, and Anna had joy because she was seeking God. That example is there for us today, that if we seek God, we will find him, and there will be joy even when life is hard.

Joy Is Revealed to All Peoples

Even thought our main focus is in Luke, that doesn’t mean that we don’t see how joy really is for the world in other passages of scripture. We had narrowed in on Mary and Joseph, Simeon, and Anna but there are other examples of joy being revealed and made available for all peoples.

We see several examples of this throughout the New Testament as the Gospel is spreading. Where previously the miracles of Jesus were primarily restricted to the area of Judea, this is not the case after Christ’s ascension in Acts 1. In stead what we see is the Gospel and therefore the joy that comes from having a relationship with Christ, that joy isn’t restricted to any one ethnicity. Acts 8:27-35 records Phillip meeting with the man from Ethiopia. Phillip shared the Gospel with this man, baptized him, and after Phillip left the man continued on his way rejoicing. No longer was the good news of who God is and what he has done regulated to only the Jewish people, but now it was open to Gentiles as well (Romans 1:16). As we concluded previously, God isn’t only for those who are of wealth and status. Jesus was born to a young girl and a carpenter, and his birth was first announced to shepherds (Luke 2:1-14). Not only that, but location is not a restricting force, either. The book of Acts records how the Paul took the Gospel, and therefore the joy that comes from the good news, to people in Macedonia, Ephesus, Corinth, Galatia, Berea, and the Gospel even made it into Rome (although it was not taken there by Paul, but by other believers). The joy that comes from having a relationship with God is for all people of every ethnicity, social status, and physical location.

Joy Is For All Who Are Willing To Hear

The Gospel (the good news of what Christ has done for us) brings joy to those who believe, but the key there is that they have to believe it. To believe it they need to hear it, and that can come through different sources – especially in today’s culture. It was the same as in the time that Jesus was born – people needed to be told the good news.

The difference between today and pre/right after Christ’s birth was that they were still waiting for the hope of the Savior (Jesus hadn’t yet reconciled us to the God yet – not until he dies on the cross and is raised from the day). That is why Anna shared her praise and joy with everyone who was in the temple (Luke 2:38). After Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension Peter gives a sermon during Pentecost to people who were from all over the world, calling them to repentance from sin, and to believe in the person of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:5ff). Today, those who have the joy that is only found in Christ are called to share it with others. As Paul says “How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing abut him? And how can they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14 CSB). To believe, people need to hear the Gospel, and to hear the Gospel those who already have it need to be willing share it.

Final Thoughts

Joy is a beautiful thing. It is something that radiates from someone and it can’t be faked. It is for the individual person, regardless of what they come from, what their social status is, or where they are located. To have joy, is to believe in Christ and to have a relationship with him that is personal, and the first step towards having this joy is to hear the Gospel, which all Christians are called to go forth and share with others.