Sharing Joy

 DEVOTION

                                                          THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE           

SHARING JOY

 

Luke 1:57-66

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. 59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John." 61 They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." 62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

NIV

This is the beginning of the man who was to introduce the Savior to the world. It would not be right to parse this narrative into bits and pieces, yet within there are truths we should explore. First, is the response of the neighbors and relatives to the mercy of God shown to Elizabeth. It is not uncommon for the women friends and family of a young lady who has given birth to her firstborn to celebrate with a baby shower. But Elizabeth was not a young lady although this was her firstborn due to the hand of God. We are already told that Elizabeth and Zechariah were well along in years. Still, celebrating the mercy of God would still be an appropriate response for everyone. Surely Elizabeth told people of the experience her husband had with an angel while he was serving in the temple. We would think she would want people to know why in her being well along in years, she still became pregnant. We also remember the angel Gabrial told Zechariah that many would rejoice because of the birth of John. Gabrial also said that John would be a joy and delight to both Zechariah and Elizabeth. Great things are going to happen in the world, but now we simply see the response of all who knew Elizabeth because of the blessings of the Lord. Should we not also rejoice with others when they experience a blessing from the Lord? Of course, we are all blessed because of Jesus, in fact, that is the greatest blessing all can have if they believe. However, this is about rejoicing with a friend or neighbor because God is doing something special in their lives. It can be easy to become jealous or envious when we see someone being blessed by God. Then again, it might depend on what kind of blessing they receive. The birth of a child is always a blessing that many can celebrate. But what about some other physical blessing? How do we react when someone is blessed financially? How do we respond when someone is lifted up and given a special position, or an advancement? It seems fitting to always be ready to rejoice and be glad when someone we know, especially a fellow believer is blessed by God in a visible way. Still, because all believers are blessed because of Jesus, we would think all of us would spend our entire lives rejoicing, and then we think of that little chorus, “If you’re happy and you know it” with one of the lines being. “if you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it". Of course, we would clap our hands, stomp our feet, and shout, Hurray and how can we do all that and not have our face show that fact that we are happy in the Lord and always rejoicing and being glad, when we share in the joy of others being  blessed of God.