A couple of weeks ago I put together a medley of Christmas songs, thanks to iTunes and my computer. The traditional ones, like Bing Crosby singing, “White Christmas,” and Andy Williams singing. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” And the more modern ones, like Mariah Carey singing, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Then I interspersed them with instrumentals from Vince Guaraldi, and all the music he did for Charlie Brown’s TV Christmas specials. I ended the medley with “Joy to the World.” Then I thought I’d add one more song. I played the medley for my wife Kathleen and she liked all the songs. Then we came to the last song and she said, “What’s this doing on here?” I said, “Wait for it,” and a few seconds later she started laughing because the last song was the Three Dog Night version of “Joy to the World.” “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls now. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me.”
I want to talk to you today about joy to the world. The Christian version of “Joy to the World,” “Joy to the world, the Lord is come, Let earth receive her King,” but also the more universal Three Dog Night version of “Joy to the World,” “Joy to the world, all the boy and girls now. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me.” On this day, Christians celebrate joy to the world, the birth of Jesus. But I think we can all, whether we’re Christians or not, celebrate joy to the world.
Tradition has it that Jesus was born on this day. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, the place of Joseph’s birth. Mary was pregnant with child and unfortunately there weren’t any Motel 6’s back then, or they would have “left the light on for ‘em.” But there was no room for them at the inn, so they went to a barn. Jesus was born in a manger. Some shepherds were watching their flocks at night when an angel appeared before them and told them that there was going to be joy to the world with the birth of Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ Child. Then a heavenly choir appeared before them singing, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, goodwill toward all!” So the shepherds made their way to Bethlehem to the manger to see this Christ child and the three wise men would eventually come with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We all know that story, or probably many of us do, the story of Jesus’ birth that brought joy to the world. But is that all that Jesus did to bring joy to the world – be born?
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been visiting a newborn baby, little Lucy. I love Lucy. Lucy has brought joy to the world. Certainly to her parents, to her grandma, to her parents’ friends and loved ones, and to me. Lucy has brought joy to the world the way Jesus brought joy to the world, just by being born. The way every child brings joy to the world, or should bring joy to the world, when they’re born. So what is it about Jesus that brought joy to the world, in addition to his birth?
Some of you may know that my first job out of college was as the news director of a Christian radio station. I wasn’t very religious back then, so I think I was employed under their Hire a Heathen Program. I worked there for a couple of years and every year at Christmas time we’d have a party, a luncheon, with a bucket of chicken and all the fixin’s and the trimmin’s. I remember one Christmas the sales manager, who I enjoyed, he was a character, Henry stood up and said loudly, “We don’t worship a babe in a manger, we worship a risen Lord!” OK. For Christians I know that brought joy to the world.
I’ve heard at least one Christian song that talks about how Jesus lived just to die. Did Jesus’ death bring joy to the world? I’d hate to think that anybody’s death brings joy to the world and I’d hate to think that anybody lives just to die. I realize that Christians believe that Jesus died for our sins and maybe that brings joy to the world. I think there’s something more about Jesus that brings joy to the world. I can’t, like I said, believe that anyone lived just to die. If Jesus was going to live just to die, then why have an angel come and appear before Joseph in a dream and say to flee to Egypt with the child, because King Herod was going to kill all the children two years and under, because he feared the King of the Jews, the birth of the Christ Child, the birth of the Lord, the Messiah, Jesus. So they flee. But why flee if Jesus was born just to die? Why not have him die as a baby? Wouldn’t that satisfy any blood sacrifice that’s needed? I think Jesus did more than live just to die.
Jesus goes to a mountain and sits down and teaches his disciples and thousands of people who have come to hear the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” I think Jesus brought joy to the world by his life, by what he said, by what he did. When he preached the Sermon on the Mount, when he preached the Sermon on the Plain, which sounds kind of political: “Blessed are you who are poor…but woe to you who are rich.” I think if Jesus said that today some politicians would accuse him of class warfare, which is why I don’t think that passage is taught very much or preached very much in churches. “Blessed are you who are poor…but woe to you who are rich.” But I think those kinds of words are why and how Jesus brought joy to the world. The scribes and Pharisees often tried to trick Jesus and he called them hypocrites. The Pharisees and the scribes were the religious extremists, the self-righteous of his day. We have the religious extremists, the self-righteous of our day. I won’t name them, though, because it’s Christmas. But Jesus said, when you set up rules and regulations that you don’t follow yourselves, and you expect others to follow, you’re being hypocrites. The scribes and Pharisees said you can’t do anything on the Sabbath and Jesus came along and said you can help people on the Sabbath, you can do good on the Sabbath, which really blew the minds of the scribes and Pharisees. They thought it was blasphemous, which is one of the reasons Jesus was arrested and killed. But I don’t think Jesus’ death is what brought joy to the world. I think it was Jesus’ life that brought joy to the world.
I think we can all bring joy to the world the way Jesus did. The way Winston Churchill did. I think the life of Winston Churchill brought joy to the world. I think Winston Churchill brought joy to the world when he said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill was a great leader in Great Britain during World War II. I think the life of Winston Churchill brought joy to the world.
I think the life of Dr. King brought joy to the world. I think Dr. King brought joy to the world when he said, “We’ve got to learn to live together or perish together as fools.” Dr. King was a great civil rights leader, of course. I think the life of Dr. King brought joy to the world.
I think the life of Margaret Sanger brought joy to the world. Margaret Sanger was an advocate for sex education back at the turn of the previous century. I didn’t realize this, but it was once illegal to have contraceptives. Margaret Sanger fought for contraceptives to be legalized. Margaret Sanger said, “We cannot be a free race with slave mothers.” Margaret Sanger fought for reproductive rights for women. I think the life of Margaret Sanger brought joy to the world.
When I was a kid on Christmas morning, when we opened presents, we always heard the same refrain. “Save the bow! Save the bow! Save the bow!” I thought bows were a precious commodity back then. I thought they were as valuable as gold and silver. So years later when I was in college and I came home for Christmas, and my mom gave me a list to go to the grocery store and twenty dollars, I was shocked to see at the bottom of the list “bows.” I’d bought milk and eggs, juice and different things and I had probably ten dollars worth of items to pay for and then I saw “bows” and I thought, “Oh my goodness, I’ve only got ten dollars left, will I have enough for bows?” So it was with much trepidation that I walked down the aisle with the cards and the wrapping paper and the bows and I hesitatingly grabbed a bag with about 50 bows. Then I looked at the price. Fifty-nine cents? Fifty-nine cents! For a bag of bows? All those years of hearing, “Save the bow! Save the bow! Save the bow!” And a bag of bows costs 59 cents?!
I tell that story in the hopes of bringing a little joy to the world. And I think we can all bring joy to the world. As Jesus did. As Dr. King did. As Winston Churchill did. As Margaret Sanger did. We can bring joy to the world by the way we live. We can bring joy to the world not just by making sure we have a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs and food in our bellies, but by making sure that everybody has a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs and food in their bellies. We can bring joy to the world, not just by being born, or even by being born again, but by the way we live. We can all bring joy to the world by helping our neighbor and loving our neighbor and forgiving our neighbor. We can all bring joy to the world by how we live.
