Do not fear... REJOICE!

I am sure my Old Testament tutor would have something to say to me about my exposition of Zephaniah and bringing Moses into things (I always got in to bother when I tried to tackle anything Moses related), but here is where I ended up after spending the week reflecting that this Sunday, the third in Advent, was 'Guadete Sunday'.

SERMON: DO NOT FEAR, BUT REJOICE!
based on Zephaniah 3.14-20 and Philippians 4.4-7

“Do not fear… The Lord, your God, is in your midst…” (Zephaniah 3.16b-27a)
so “Rejoice in the Lord always… The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4.4a, 5b)

Fear, trepidation, uncertainty, injustice to be replaced by celebration, jubilation, joy! Advent will soon become Christmas when all darkness is to be dispersed by the glorious dawn of an endless light! Yet, in the shadow of recent events, this seems completely incomprehensible and if not, totally out of the question. How can we have a party when there is the threat of terror knocking at our door? How can we be merry and joyful when so many will once again be starting over when the flood waters finally recede? This is not a time to sing aloud songs of exultation; rather it is a time to weep, mourn and cry out all that is wrong. On a day such as today, with all that is wrong in the world blazoned across the headlines, how can the Prophet tell us not to fear? How can the Apostle tell us to ‘rejoice’? Is it because they do not understand? Is it because they are not of our time? No, they do understand for they knew the darkness of this world as well as we do. The reality of the world in the time of Zephaniah was idolatry, corruption and injustice. Paul wrote to the church of Philippi from a prison cell, and it was not just Paul who was in trouble, the church was too. There was conflict between its leaders and the community was also under persecution from the outside. The same darkness that surrounds us surrounded them; the same struggles we face, they faced; yet the words of the Prophet and the Apostle to their time, and to us now, were:

“Do not fear… The Lord, your God, is in your midst…”
“Rejoice in the Lord always… The Lord is near.”

Traditionally this Sunday in Advent has been known as ‘Guadete Sunday’ or ‘Rejoice Sunday’ if we translate the Latin. It was the Sunday when the disciplines of Advent preparations were relaxed so that a foretaste of Christmas joy could be proclaimed. Not a bad idea, especially as the third Sunday in Advent is when it dawns on many of us how unprepared we are for Christmas and how few days are left to get ourselves sorted. An injection of joy is just what is needed as an apathy for the season sets in and all that is on our minds are thoughts of disaster and chaos. Yet although this Christmas joy is sure to lift our spirits and potentially relieve the pressure of our preparations for at least a little while, I wonder if there is more to this than what we might normally term the ‘festive spirit’. So what exactly is this Christmas joy that is to be proclaimed? And why today when our festive spirit is truly wavering and there is a real deep sense of darkness in the world should we be even more enthusiastic to proclaim it?

Zephaniah’s song is a welcomed break from the gloom and despondency that fills much of the rest of the book of the prophet. Zephaniah has been, it appears, driven to near-despair over the sorry condition of Judah’s life since the reign of King Manasseh. Yet, with King Josiah now on the throne, there was some hope of change, for Josiah sought to reform the kingdom and re-establish the statutes and ordinances of the Sinai covenant. Yet at Sinai, it was not just statutes and ordinances Moses received for the Israelites to live by, it was also the place where God’s covenant with the people was once again restated. It was also the place where God came to be amongst the people in the tent of the Tabernacle. To go back to that time, to live again with that real sense and knowledge of God’s presence and all that would mean as it did for the Israelites in the wilderness could not be kept to oneself—Zephaniah had to tell Judah all about the potential for God’s return, and because of how this knowledge had lifted his spirits the only way for Zephaniah to proclaim it was to sing a song of joy. All judgement was to go and all suffering to end, for once again God’s promises could be fulfilled. Zephaniah, through the throne of King Josiah, could see the potential for reign of darkness coming to an end. There was no further need for the people to fear, for the Lord, their God, could again come into their midst! It was time to rejoice and be glad and sing aloud exultations from the heart.

This image of God being amongst the people isn’t, however, just Zephaniah’s vision—Paul had the same vision. He tells the Philippians that ‘the Lord is near’ (Philippians 4.5b). However, the Philippians understanding of this will have likely been very different from the understanding of the Israelites, for they were living, just as we are, after the time of Christ and talk of the Lord coming near most likely meant Christ’s return. And it is Christ’s return that we predominantly speak off during the season of Advent. This is the time when we long and wait for Christ to come again, not just in the story of that first Christmas, but physically and spiritually. And to truly know that that time was near had to inspire the Philippians, as it should us. To know of Christ’s return fills one with great anticipation, but to know that it is immanent has to bring uncontainable excitement, potentially even joy. This joy, however, that we hear in Paul’s message feels subtly different from the joy in Zephaniah’s message, when we consider the knowledge of the original hearers. And this is emphasised by how one commentator describes the joy that Paul talks of in his letter to the Philippians. It is described as something that has a deep sense of longing but is also patient—a waiting filled with wanting—but also allows the one in possession of it to pray for their anxieties and receive the peace which is deeply rooted in God. This feels like a much muted version of joy, compared to what we might expected to it mean having experienced joy for ourselves and through the words of the prophet Zephaniah. It works as a definition with respects to our understanding of Advent, but is this really the Christmas joy that this Sunday calls us to proclaim, especially when we see joy through the lens of the words of the prophet Zephaniah?

For us to consider light and darkness during this season is not uncommon. At some point during our Advent and Christmas celebrations within the church we will read those fantastic words from the opening of the gospel of John which talk of the light coming into the world and the darkness not being able to overcome it (John 1.5). We will hear the words of the prophet Isaiah telling us of the people who walked in darkness seeing a great light (Isaiah 9.2). But where is God—in the light or in the darkness? In the light, of course, I hear you say; it is Jesus who is the light of the world, after all. And you are not wrong, but what if I was to say that God is also in the darkness?

Zephaniah, although a prophet did not sing about God coming amongst the people, nor did he look back and sing of God being amidst the people; he sang “the Lord, your God, is in your midst” (Zephaniah 3.17a). God’s presence was there in the darkness that Zephaniah was experiencing, just as God is present in the darkness that we are experiencing. We shouldn’t be rejoicing because the Lord will soon be with us, we should be rejoicing because God is here, because there is another way to read the word ‘near’. I think Paul meant that God is in our intimate surroundings, not coming in the near future. And why do we need to see God in the here and now? Well, if the world is to change, then it can only change if God is present because it is God’s presence that heals, enlivens and challenges humanity and turns that darkness into light. And this is the Christmas joy that has to be proclaimed and why we should rejoice this Sunday. God has not just been in the world, nor is God just due to come into the world again; God is in the world, now!

So hear the words of the Prophet and the Apostle:
“Do not fear… The Lord, your God, is in your midst…”
“Rejoice in the Lord always… The Lord is near.”

©Elaine S Colechin, 2015