“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
What are you so happy about all the time?
We all know that one person. Regardless of circumstances, regardless of the mood of the rest of the room, they are always happy. They always have a smile on their face, and very little seems to affect their attitude for very long. Their faces seem to tell their whole story all the time., and they always seem excited about whatever is coming next for them. No worries, it seems, seem to cross their mind and if they do, they certainly rarely show it.
On the other side of the coin are those of us who rarely show our emotions on our face. As a teacher, this can be a struggle for my students. I will sometimes get asked, “Mr. W, are you mad at us?”, even if I am in a perfectly fine mood. At home, my wife will sometimes inquire “What are you thinking?”. Feelings, for people like me, usually are expressed in words and actions.
Clearly emotional or not, how do we address the above verse? I think most people can get behind praying without ceasing (although we always fall short of that bar), but rejoicing always? Don’t we sometimes have the right to feel sorry for ourselves, to be a little mad at the world, to hold someone’s sin against them, at least for a little while? Certainly, this is a natural human response to a bad day, a bad week, sometimes even a bad year or longer. If someone has wronged you, why not harbor a little anger or resentment?
Thanks be to God that he does not see things this way. The reality is that we wrong God not just every day, but constantly. Humanity has been doing this since the fall of man. God had every right to forget about redeeming us and focus on punishment. There is always a point during Advent where the genealogy of Jesus is read. When I was a kid, this could not have been drier for me to listen to. As I listened to name after name after name, I could not help but wonder “Why does it matter to us who Jesus’ ancestors were?”.
However, the genealogy of Jesus is actually a laundry list of God’s promises kept. If God wanted to focus on punishment, He very simply could have ended the Messianic line. God could have allowed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, for one thing. There goes one ancestor. God could have allowed Ruth, who lost every man in her family, to remain husbandless and childless, never meeting Boaz. No more Obed, no more King David, no more Messianic line. Rahab could have died in Jericho, David could have remained without an heir on account of His sin with Bathsheba, and the list goes on. The line from Abraham to Jesus was only possible through many examples of God’s grace. Then, of course, Jesus, being fully man and fully aware of the suffering that he was going to face, could have at any point put a stop to the whole mission. (Jesus even points this out in Matthew’s account of his arrest!) Yet, according to the writer of Hebrews, Jesus was focused on the joy. Jesus was focused on saving us from our sins, bringing us into his family, calling us to repentance, and saving us a place at the feast which shall have no end. He loved you and I so much, that He willingly suffered on the cross, taking on Him all our sins.
So, during this Advent season, my prayer is that we can do a little more focusing on the joy. In just a couple short weeks, we will celebrate the most important, most “against the odds” events in history: Jesus’ birth. Let us prepare our hearts to receive Him. Let us repent of our anger, resentment, and grudges. Let’s go forward with the Holy Spirit and do our best to show mercy and grace, as God has done for us. And maybe, just maybe, we can wear a little of this Advent joy on our faces.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for this Advent season. Thank you for allowing the Messiah to come, regardless of the odds along the way. Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice to ultimately redeem us. Please be with us as we continue to prepare our hearts to receive our Savior in Word and Sacrament. Help us to focus on the Advent joy that is set before us. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Journal Questions
- What does your typical attitude tell the people around you about your faith?
- Who is someone that you can forgive in Jesus’ name today?
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