CHRISTMAS (December 25, 1997)
Theme: From "Joy to the World" to "Joy in My Life"
1st Reading: Isaiah 9:2-4,6-7 2nd Reading: Titus 2:11-14 Gospel: Luke 2:1-14
Christmas is finally here. All four weeks of Advent we have been waiting and praying for the coming blessings of Christmas. And now Christmas is here. Today the angels are bringing us the good news of great joy for all the people, for to us is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. This good news of great joy is for all the people of God. As people of God you and I are entitled to the joy and the peace that the birth of Christ brings to the world. But how do I personally enter into this "great joy" of Christmas? Christmas rings out "joy to the world," yes, but how do I make this joy my own? This is an important question, for, even though God has declared joy to the world, there are still many among us who do not flow in this joy, many among us who do not know how to tap into this joy and make it their own personally.
I once worked in Nigeria in a village that had no easy access to good drinking water. People had to trek for miles to the nearest stream to get water. With some encouragement the people undertook a self-help development project to sink a borehole in the village. Their efforts were complemented by the local government authority and a borehole was sunk in the village. In the meantime I had left the village. Soon the village was enjoying fresh and clean drinking water from the borehole. So they wrote me to come and see them and the great difference the borehole had made in the village. I went back to the village and rejoiced with them over the borehole that now gave clean, fresh water on demand. Then I decided to go round and visit some of my friends. I entered the house of an old woman and asked her to give me a cup of the borehole water to drink. To my surprise she said that there was no drinking water in the house. "But the village now has water," I said. "Yes," she replied, "but the trouble is with my grandson who lives with me. I tell him to go and get water from the borehole and he wouldn't listen to me." There you are. There you see that it is possible for someone to die of thirst in a village that has enough drinking water for all. Why? Because there is no way the water out there can become your own personally until you lift your foot to go there and draw the water that already belongs to you. The water in the borehole is yours by right. You are entitled to it. But you need to do something to claim this right before it can become your own personally, before it can actually quench your thirst. So is the good news of great joy that God showers on the world at Christmas. We still need to do something, make a little effort, before we can personally experience this joy in our lives and in our families. But, how do we do that? someone may ask.
Well, that is rather easy to explain but pretty hard to practice, so I'll explain.. Look at the word JOY. You see that it is made up of three letters: first J, second O, and third Y. J stands for Jesus, O stands for Others, and Y stands for You. Joy therefore is Jesus, Others, before You. To have joy place Jesus first in your life. Try to please Jesus first in everything. And then try to please others before trying to please yourself. That is the recipe for joy. That is how we can convert the Christmas "joy to the world" into a personal "joy in my life" now and always.
As we listen to the Christmas story we will do well to pay attention to the various people and groups of people that are mentioned and see whether they have tried to please Jesus and others before themselves, or whether they have sought to please themselves first. You will discover that those who practice J-O-Y are the ones who enjoy peace and joy, and that those who practice "self first" are always the unhappy and miserable ones. Let's take a few examples. The innkeeper who turned Joseph and Mary out in the cold night while he enjoyed the warmth of the inn; the good news simply passed him by. He didn't even know there was a good news. Or take Herod the King who wanted above all his job security as king to the point that he was prepared to kill Jesus and others. He ended up a poor, sad, depressed, confused, wretched fellow. On the positive side, consider the shepherds who were prepared to leave everything they had, their flock, in the bush and go to adore Jesus first. [BTW, did you hear about the woman who was rehearing Christmas carols with her children. Suddenly her four year old daughter said, "Isn't it so nice of the shepherds that they thought of cleaning themselves up first before going to see the child Jesus?" "Where do you get that?" asked the woman. " Oh, but we have just been singing "While shepherds washed their socks by night."] Or think of the magi, the wise men from the East who left the security of their homeland and undertook a long and dangerous journey to Bethlehem only to worship the new-born Jesus and give him presents. These were the one's who received God's favour, the ones who experienced in their hearts the true peace and joy of Christmas. Let us today resolve to follow their good example by always placing Jesus and others before us and then the joy of Christmas will always be ours.
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