Joy to the World
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Can you believe the holidays are just around the corner? Chances are, you’ve probably already begun to hear those familiar Christmas carols playing on the radio or streaming on your favorite music app. Many of us grew up with these carols, and we can probably sing them without giving it much thought. They get us in a festive mood for the holiday season. But are they more than just mood music? If we look closer at the lyrics of many of these songs, we find that they actually have a much deeper meaning and significance. They are giving us a framework for the story God has been telling in the Scriptures; the story that leads to Jesus; the story Jesus says He came to fulfill. It’s a life-giving, life-affirming, and life-changing story that transcends the boundaries of any one religion. It’s a story for all of humanity. It’s a story worth hearing.
This month, let’s take some time to look deeper into the meaning of some of these well-known Christmas carols to see if we can catch the thread of this story and the meaning behind why we celebrate the birth of Jesus in the first place. Then we’ll zoom in on the details in the coming weeks.
We’re going to start with a carol written in 1719 by Isaac Watts, an English minister and hymn writer. “Joy to the World”, arguably, one of the most beloved carols, can give us an over-arching picture of this God-and-humanity story. The carol begins like this: “Joy to the world! The Lord is come…”. Three ideas stand out in this first verse. Let’s look at them one at a time.
First, “…The Lord is come…”. The question that immediately comes to mind is, who is this “Lord” that “is come”, and how does that phrase relate to the larger story God wants us to know? The word, “Lord” can have a variety of meanings, most having to do with someone having authority, power, and ownership over someone or something. In the Hebrew Bible (which is our Old Testament and the Scriptures Jesus said speak about Him), the term had a very specific meaning.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, “LORD” all letters capitalized, corresponds to the personal, divine name of the Creator God; Yahweh. Later, in the New Testament, it is translated “Lord”, with a capital “L”. We first encounter the word in the poetic and highly symbolic book of Genesis, as a part of the story of creation; “…the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.”
Now, most cultures have creation stories, and while there are similarities between them, the Hebrew story contains some significant differences as well. One of the most notable differences is the nature, character, and intent of the Being doing the creating, “the LORD God”. Unlike many of the other stories in which creation comes about as the result of conflict, competition, or violence between multiple gods, with humanity being a rather insignificant after-thought, the Hebrew story tells of One all-good, all-powerful, Spirit whose creative Word speaks Light, beauty, abundance, value, and harmony into His creation. This loving Creator, the LORD God, brings humanity into being with intention and immense value; in His Image; endowed with the capacity to be intimately and uniquely connected to Him; blessed with the responsibility and authority to steward and care for each other and His creation in loving, trusting relationship with Him, and to reflect His nature and character into His world.
If we take into account what Jesus shows us about this Creator, and if we step out of a literal, historical reading of this creation story and the debates about exactly how He brought this creation into being, we can begin to see an underlying message. This Creator Spirit, this LORD God, values His creation, desires to be a part of it, and longs to be in intimate relationship with it. Indeed, that is how the Hebrew creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 begins, but as our Christmas carol implies, and the continuation of the story from Genesis 3 onward describes, something happens which changes this intimate relationship with humanity and consequently, with creation itself. Somehow, humanity becomes fundamentally disconnected from our Creator, and this relational disconnection leads to violence, darkness, captivity, and death.
Yet, infused throughout this story, there is an unfailing hope. This LORD refuses to give up on His creation or abandon His Image-bearers. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the LORD God continues to reach toward humanity, attempting to speak with them and guide them through the darkness and chaos, always reminding them of the promise that He would one day come to restore what was lost.
That brings us to the two remaining ideas in our Christmas carol verse; “Joy to the world, the Lord is come…”. The carol is proclaiming that through the birth of Jesus, this promise is fulfilled; “the LORD is come”. The Creator God has reached all the way to His creation; Spirit and humanity reconnected in Jesus; so that He could walk with them; rescue them; heal them; reconnect with humanity again; and begin His restorative work.
Now, that is indeed “good news”, not just for some, but for all the world. It is news worth singing about! Hence, the word “joy”. The Gospel of Luke puts it this way, “…the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people…”. (Luke 2:10 NASB)
In English the word “joy” means happiness or great pleasure, but it has a much deeper meaning in Greek, the language of Luke’s gospel. The word is “chara” and it means being deeply aware of this loving “reach”, this “grace” of God. It is a heart-level recognition of the lengths to which this Creator God will go in His desire to reconnect with His Image-bearers and to fulfill His promise to redeem and restore. Much more than mere “happiness”, joy is something we can hold in our hearts no matter our circumstances.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come…”, reminds us of another favorite carol, “Oh Come, Oh Come Immanuel”; the word “Immanuel” meaning God with Us. The Christmas story announces, Jesus is born; the LORD God is here with us, and He has come to fulfill His promise of rescue, redemption, healing, and restoration! Joy to the world!