Rejoice (Third Sunday of Advent)

Sermons on YouTube…

Not infrequently, I see people posting stuff on Facebook that say things like: “Don’t worry – be happy!”; or “I’m too blessed to be stressed!”; or perhaps just, “It’s all good!” But often, those pithy sayings ring hollow to me. In my life, and probably in yours, there’s a bunch of stuff that worries me, even if I try to keep the worry at bay. While I know I’m blessed, it does not magically take all the stress away. And as I look around at the world, it’s just not all good, even though I recognize that God can and will bring good things from bad situations.

And often, I’m tempted to hear Paul’s opening line of today’s second reading in the same way I hear “it’s all good!” Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say rejoice… do not worry about anything.” It sounds too much like, “don’t worry, be happy.”

And yet, as Paul wrote these words, he had every reason to worry and not to be happy. It was NOT all good.

In all likelihood, Paul wrote to the early Christians in Philippi while he was in prison in Rome. According to the book of Acts, Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem. The Temple Authorities there wanted him dead, and they convinced both the puppet Jewish leaders and the Roman governor that they’d all be better off if they made this happen.

But while Paul was a Jew, he was also a Roman citizen. And that meant that he could appeal his case to the Emperor in Rome. And so, Paul was sent to Rome to be tried again. And as near as we can tell from Acts, he spent about two years there waiting for his case to be heard.

But in those days, and in that situation, it was very unlikely that you’d be set free, even if you were a Roman citizen. If you had made enough trouble to be in prison in the first place, you were, in all likelihood, going to be put to death. The question was really only how and when. And Paul knew this.

But while he was in prison, he had time on his hands, and so he wrote letters!  And it’s important to know that when Paul wrote the words of today’s second reading to the folks in Philippi, he was in prison and effectively under a death sentence.

And yet, it’s in this context that Paul writes these words to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always.” And in case you thought you must be mis-hearing me, “again, I will say, rejoice.”

Why would Paul insist on rejoicing? It doesn’t seem like he’d have much to rejoice about. He was in prison and about to die. Was he crazy? Was he stupid?  Was he just an eternal optimist who thought there might still be a chance he could get out alive?

None of these seem likely from what we know or read in Paul’s letters. Instead, I think what Paul is doing, and what he’s encouraging other Christians to do, is to live in a new and different kind of way. And in this new and different kind of way, rejoicing really isn’t dependent upon the immediate situation they find themselves in. Instead, Paul is lifting up the idea that Christian living, regardless of time or situation, should be centered in:

• rejoicing – not in the situation we find ourselves in but in the fact that God is with us and walking with us even in the midst of situations for which there’s otherwise plenty to complain about! And so in this sense, Paul is using his personal situation to demonstrate that God has still given him something to rejoice about even in the midst of his suffering and impending death; it’s hard to do that, but Paul was using his own situation to encourage Christians to see that this kind of centering could help them in the midst of stuff that’s not good, and even make them into new and different people …

• giving thanks – Paul didn’t tell the Philippians that they had no needs, or that he didn’t have needs; indeed, he encourages people to make their requests known to God, but “with thanksgiving”. And in some respects, that’s not just “thanksgiving” for what they’ve received in the past, but for the opportunities and possibilities that God is giving them in the future; Paul, in fact, sees his own future in this life as kind of limited; but he sees the eternal future God is preparing for him and the earthly opportunities God is giving to folks in Philippi. And so he can’t help being “thankful”, and that’s also new and different from what most people expected …

• confidence in God’s love and help – Paul doesn’t exactly know what the future holds, but he does know, as he says in Romans, that nothing can separate us from God’s love and salvation.  And so he tells the Philippians to let their “gentleness” (epieikes) be known to everyone – a word that really means a projection of confidence and security; in the end, that was what really got Paul and other early Christians in trouble with the Romans, but it was what made Christians new and different people …

These words in today’s second reading may be some of Paul’s last words. But these last words are important words for us in this season of Advent. In the season of Advent, we’re called to prepare for the future God is giving us. And the future will surely be filled with blessing and promise, as well as difficulty, challenges and tragedy. It won’t all “be good” in the sense that we think of “good”.

And yet, Paul’s words still remind us today that living as God’s new and different people is never so important as when our world is filled with pain, death and tragedy. When it’s NOT “all good” out there.

And while we can’t always anticipate or prepare for the next evil event that comes down the road, we can always rejoice by speaking words of comfort, praise and hope. We can always give thanks for the new opportunities and possibilities that God is giving to us and to others in our world. And we can always live in such a way that we share confidence in God’s love and God’s help even and especially in the midst of a hurting world.

Amen.