Sermon: Joy and Judgment

Lectionary: Advent 3(C)
Texts: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18

John the Baptist preaching in the desert

During this season, we wish one another “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” or if you are on the other side of the pond, “Happy Christmas.” It almost seems impolite during this period to feel and express anything other than gaiety and happiness.

But for Christians who walk through the season of Advent, we are reminded that there is much wrong in the world, even when stores put cheery songs on repeat, where sparkling decorations and lights line the windows and streets, where parties and merriment fill our calendars.

We are halfway through this journey through the season of Advent. And today we remember joy. The difference in the color of the candle reminds us that there is a moment that defies the sentiment of the rest of the season. Joy can be experienced when darkness sems ever pressing against us, when ever present despair threatens to suffocate, and when dark clouds seem to obscure our vision.

Complicating this discussion of joy is another word that is usually seen as synonymous: happiness. Although superficially joy and happiness might appear to be the same thing and experienced in the same way, psychologists explain that there is a difference. Yes, they have similar properties, but there are significant differences. Cynthia Vinney, a psychologist writes in an article, “You can be happy but not joyous and vice versa.” (Vinney, 2024) In the same piece, she quotes several other psychologists.

“Joy is a deep primary emotion individuals experience when they feel truly connected in relationships, are in alignment with their values, and/or have a sense of meaning and purpose,” Lindsey Rae Ackerman, LMFT, vice president of Clinical Services at Clear Behavioral Health, explains. (Vinney, 2024)

A complex emotion, joy signals pleasure but can also come with “a combination of grief and gratitude,” says Daniel Boscaljon, PhD, cofounder of Alchemy of Love. “Joy is the ability to affirm the goodness of life even in the midst of sorrow.” (Vinney, 2024)

Conversely, happiness is “an emotional state that can occur through momentary experiences and is often dependent on external factors such as an achievement or gaining material satisfaction.” (Vinney, 2024)

The article continues to compare joy and happiness. Omitting further detail, the basic idea is that “happiness and joy are both pleasurable, but happiness is short-term, spontaneous, and tends to be linked to external factors. Joy is more long-term and tends to be linked to intrinsic factors.” (Vinney, 2024) Or in my words, happiness is mostly a reaction to what happens to you, whereas joy appears to be something you can choose and cultivate in your inner being.

Lending additional support to the concept that happiness is determined by outside factors is recent research into happiness. (Jade Wu, 2023) (Jennings, 2024) We have probably heard often a saying, “Money can’t buy happiness.” But the research shows that, in fact, there is a correlation between having money and self-reports of happiness. The usual caveats for research and statistics apply: correlation does not mean causation, it is based on self-reports, and the very definition of “happiness” is ambiguous.

Having covered some of the contemporary ideas about joy and happiness, we now turn to our scripture readings.

The Old Testament reading from Zephaniah is a conclusion to an oracle of judgment against Jerusalem. The portion we heard is where God promises to restore Israel and Jerusalem. In this restored community, false, violent, and boastful speech will be replaced by humility. Acts of selfishness and acts to gain and preserve power over others will be replaced by justice. The community rejoices because they no longer fear God’s judgment on their sins.

In our psalm reading from Isaiah, the lection omitted the first verse which once again alludes to God turning away from judgment against the nations, including Israel, and restoring Judah. The cause for God’s judgment against the nations is once again, injustice and oppression of the powerful against the vulnerable and powerless. An oracle about the “root of Jesse” arising to restore the nations is found immediately before the reading we heard. The result of God’s restoration of God’s community is joy, once more.

Our New Testament reading was from Philippians. This epistle is sometimes referred to as one of Paul’s prison epistles, since there is good consensus that Paul probably wrote this letter from a prison pit in Rome. This epistle exudes joy with nearly every verse. It is evidence that joy is something that cannot be diminished or destroyed by external circumstances. The writing is an exhortation to imitate Christ and Christ’s way of relating to and treating people. One of its messages seems to be that how you treat one another directly affects joy. When you are in right relationship with one another and with God, you grow joy. This message is really quite similar to what the Old Testament prophets spoke to their audiences.

And then we come to the gospel reading. The last verse included in our reading says, “With many other words John appealed to them, proclaiming good news to the people.” (Luke 3:18 CEB). The words John the Baptizer spoke to the people don’t really sound much like good news, but once we understand the context and patterns of prior prophetic oracles, we can understand how John’s words of judgment were seen and received as good news. John was preaching judgment as a necessary precursor to restoration of the community and its relationships with one another and with God.

As a related aside, I do think that John truly believed that judgment would look much like how earlier destruction and exiles of Israel occurred. Based on the categories of people that asked John, “What should we do?”, John believed all of humanity was under judgment – from those that had only a meager amount to call their own, to those who were taking advantage of their position of power and privilege, to those who through their official powers were abusing and oppressing other people – all were under God’s judgment.

But Jesus’ life and words showed the world something different about judgment. In the Gospel of John (not the Baptizer) chapter 3, we read the following,

¹⁷ God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son.

¹⁹ “This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil. ²⁰ All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light. ²¹ Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God. (John 3:17-21)

What we find here is that God is not like Santa Claus in the song Santa Claus is Coming to Town. In that song are found words,

He's making a list and checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness' sake

The God that Jesus came to show isn’t like that. Humanity does their own judging. We already know when things are right or wrong with one another in the community. (Paul, in Romans chapter 1, agrees with John.) Jesus sets the example and standard for how to relate to one another, how to think about fellow human beings, and how to treat one another in love. Being afraid of God and judgment is a natural consequence of consistently and intentionally living against Jesus’ standard.

Conversely, those who are following the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit to live according to Christ’s pattern will naturally come to the light. There is no judgment against those who live in the light. Those who live in the light have nothing to hide. Communities that strive to live to Christ’s standard have nothing to be ashamed of. There is naturally no fear of being found out. There is no judgment and that leads to joy.

As I often do, I want to emphasize the collective and communal aspects of what we have heard so far.

John (the Baptizer) was not just speaking against individual wrongdoing, but also against collective sins. When he exhorts, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same,” (Luke 3:11) he is speaking about our natural tendency to acquire and hoard. We fear that we might not have enough, so we try to ensure our own security by acquiring more than we need. When faced with needs of others, we excuse our not giving by thinking things like, “They don’t deserve it,” or, “I might need it more later,” or, “Someone else can help.” Self-preservation is a collective sin. It doesn’t matter how little or how much one has, it is a temptation that most of us succumb to.

When John says, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect,” (Luke 3:13) he is speaking to the same tendency as before, but also to the temptation to take shortcuts, take advantage of loopholes, and bend rules to benefit oneself. We might excuse this with words like, “I work hard; I deserve it,” or, “No one will know,” or, “Everyone else is doing it.”

When John says, “Don’t cheat or harass anyone, and be satisfied with your pay,” (Luke 3:14) he is still speaking to the same human temptation to succumb to self-preservation, but also to self-aggrandizement. Those who have official powers can abuse the authority granted them to put others down and to belittle others to make oneself feel better about themselves. Same sort of excuses could be made to justify these actions. But additional excuses are also available, such as, “It’s legal,” or, “It’s not unlawful.”

When the entire community, a society, and a nation operates under principles of self-preservation, the ability to have and experience joy is diminished across the board. Conversely, when communities operate with compassion, love, and justice for all as their guiding principles, it increases the capacity for all to have joy.

The Season of Advent is one, a time for repentance. It is a time to look within, both individually and collectively, to return our vision toward Christ and to recommit ourselves to follow Christ more completely. But this is just not change in our philosophical or theological outlook, but a call to action. Can we be better at “letting go” of our desire for security and self-preservation? Can we be better at giving things away to those who are in need? Can we be better at doing what we can to change and reform systems that favor the already-wealthy, powerful and privileged? Can we be better at bringing justice to all and not favoring or disfavoring people based on their position in society?

When we work toward a more just community, society, and nation, we know that we are working toward bringing the good news, the gospel, to all. And in doing so, we know that there is no judgment against that. Whatever may be happening externally, joy and peace and hope infuses this kind of community.

The passage from Philippians continues,

⁸ From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. ⁹ Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

We cultivate joy by becoming more Christlike – through activities of love, compassion, and justice. When we are doing this as individuals and as faith communities, no matter what the world throws at us, together with Paul we can live joy-filled lives no matter what circumstances we face.

References

Jade Wu, P. (2023, November 10). Can Money Really Buy Happiness? Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-savvy-psychologist/202106/can-money-really-buy-happiness

Jennings, J. (2024, February 12). Does Money Buy Happiness? Actually, Yes. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnjennings/2024/02/12/money-buys-happiness-after-all/

Vinney, C. (2024, October 30). Experts Reveal the One Key Difference Between Joy and Happiness. Retrieved from Very Well Mind: https://www.verywellmind.com/joy-vs-happiness-8724682

 

 

 

Sermon: Less is More

Lectionary: Year C, Proper 13
Text: Luke 12:13-21

Saving: Virtue or Vice

During uncertain economic times, who could be faulted for wanting to and saving more? Personal finance advisors recommend three months, six months, and even a full year’s income to be held as savings and insurance against various kinds of financial troubles and catastrophes that could hit the average person and family.

Not everyone can save, and not everyone has the discipline to save, but saving is generally considered a desirable act and even looked up to as a virtue in most societies. This is true not only of North America and Europe, the stereotypical “West”, but also true of many parts of Asia. There may be other regions, but I’m only familiar with what I mentioned.

Most specifically in the United States, we do have Social Security, but it was never designed to be the sole source of income after our working years. The cornerstone of retirement is saving enough during our working years. The virtue of saving is embedded into the history of America. In Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, the authors write,

“Scholars have noted that Protestant Christianity (especially those of Puritan heritage) puts significant emphasis on hard work, frugality and financial independence. If Roman Catholicism talks about God’s preferential care for the poor, Protestants believe that ‘God helps those that help themselves.’ One way this plays out practically is that most Christians recognize the importance of saving money. Investing and putting money in the bank for the future or a rainy day is good stewardship and requires and reinforces another virtue: delayed gratification.”[1]

Conversely, the authors note that in many ancient and modern Middle Eastern and some Asian cultures, saving is not considered a virtue and could even be regarded as a vice.

Parable of the Rich Fool

Today’s reading includes the parable of the rich fool. There is an introductory narrative that sets the context for Jesus telling this parable. From this introduction, we are to understand that the problem being illustrated is greed. But if we set aside what we are supposed to know about this parable and read it from a 21^st century American context, we might wonder what the problem is.

First, the land produces abundantly. The parable doesn’t say why. It could be luck, or (as often is assumed in interpretations of this parable) God’s blessing. But it could be the result of hard work (or most likely, hard work of his hired hands and servants – which has some rather close parallels to some of today’s business and the relationship of owner to employee vs. relationship of corresponding salary and wages).

From a modern business perspective, proceeds of a highly profitable season belong to the owner. Wealth is a private property, to do with it as they see fit. Why should anyone see a problem with acquiring new and better ways of storing the wealth? (Again, plenty of parallels with modern capitalism.)

Why shouldn’t someone who has risked their capital and life not get to enjoy the fruits of their labor and investing? Why shouldn’t they be allowed to “relax, eat, drink, be merry?”[2]

If we are honest with ourselves, don’t we want at least a little bit of this? Wouldn’t it be nice to have enough stored up so that we don’t have to worry much about current and future economic turbulences? Don’t we feel like we should deserve some security for the hard work that we do or have done?

Insatiable Desires

The problem is that humans tend to want more the more they acquire and save. Arthur Brooks writes in The Atlantic on this topic,

According to evolutionary psychology, our tendency to strive for more is perfectly understandable. Throughout most of human history, starvation loomed closer than it does, for the most part, today. A “rich” caveman had a few extra animal skins and arrowheads, and maybe a few piles of seeds and dried fish to spare. With this plenty, he might survive a bad winter.

Our troglodyte ancestors didn’t just want to make it through the winter, though; they had bigger ambitions. They wanted to find allies and mates too, with the goal (whether conscious or not) of passing on their genes. And what would make that possible? Among other things, the accumulation of animal skins, demonstrating greater competence, prowess, and attractiveness than the hominid in the next cave over.

Surprisingly, little has changed since then. Scholars have shown that our acquisitive tendencies persist amid plenty and regularly exceed our needs. This owes to our vestigial urges—software that still exists in our brains from ancient times. [3]

Desire for fame, attractiveness, success, power – these too, are part of our acquisitive natures. Brooks writes further in the same article,

The insatiable goals to acquire more, succeed conspicuously, and be as attractive as possible lead us to objectify one another, and even ourselves. When people see themselves as little more than their attractive bodies, jobs, or bank accounts, it brings great suffering. Studies show that self-objectification is associated with a sense of invisibility and lack of autonomy, and physical self-objectification has a direct relationship with eating disorders and depression in women. Professional self-objectification is a tyranny every bit as nasty. You become a heartless taskmaster to yourself, seeing yourself as nothing more than Homo economicus. Love and fun are sacrificed for another day of work, in search of a positive internal answer to the question Am I successful yet? We become cardboard cutouts of real people.[4]

When we succumb to the treadmill of more, we stop being fully human. We sacrifice our own true selves and our relationships with other people in the pursuit of more and better.

The Rich Fool, Again

Returning to today’s gospel reading, the introductory narrative was about a brother asking Jesus to tell his (probably) older brother to divide the family inheritance so that he could have his share to do with it how he desired (my paraphrase). Here already, is revealed something that would be understood by those in the immediate audience, but is not explicitly stated and therefore, often overlooked by modern readers like us.

We tend to think of inheritance in monetary terms. Money and other securities can be easily divided. But in the ancient world, wealth was most commonly found in land ownership. To divide up the land to distribute inheritance would mean smaller and smaller plots of land for each generation. Land was generally held in common by the family. The entire family and extended family would work the land and the produce would benefit the entire family.

The brother asking (or even demanding) that Jesus order the other brother to allow the division to happen is an indication that a division has already occurred in their relationship, and the division of real estate is desired to finalize the relational split so that the brother could go his own way, away from the family.[5]

The subsequent parable of the rich fool could be imagined similarly to the vision given by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to Ebeneezer Scrooge (borrowing from Dickens, and really, there seems to be some parallels of this parable with A Christmas Carol).[6] I can easily imagine Jesus saying to the brother that came to him, “This is how things will turn out if you continue on your present path.” The brother has already begun to cut off relationships, and by the time of the parable’s telling, he has no one to speak with, save himself. The brother is already more interested in his own possessions than the family or the community, and yes, that singular pursuit will lead to great wealth, but to what end and for whose benefit?

Slavery to Systems

Modern society, especially what we find ourselves living in, places a high value on independence and individualism. Achieving personal success is a cultural value. Society may speak words about valuing families but in practice, tradition, culture, and social policies prioritize work and money over family. Even those who would rather value family are often helpless because the societal systems in place require them to prioritize work, just so they can survive.

Throughout the gospel of Luke Jesus is described as fighting against the economic systems of that time which kept people slaves to the system. Whatever economic and social status one was, there were expectations and requirements. The poor and slaves obviously had to work for their masters and employers, just to survive. Those with more wealth and the truly wealthy clearly had more options and opportunities, yet they were slaves to status itself. In all cases, people were human-doings and not human-beings.

We live with different economic, political, and social systems today. But are we any freer? Are we any less slaves to circumstances, fulfilling what the systems demand and require of us?

A Different System 

The sequel to the gospel of Luke is the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts, at least briefly, a new economic and social system does get implemented.

⁴⁴ All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. (Acts 2:44-45 NRSVue)

³² Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³ With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵ They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 4:32-35 NRSVue)

When we read this, we rebel against it. It goes against everything we think about how the economy is supposed to be. It sounds so unAmerican. And so, we tend to explain it away in a number of ways: Perhaps these early believers were overenthusiastic. Perhaps they took Jesus’ teachings about money and wealth too far. Perhaps they did what they did because they really did believe Jesus would be returning very, very soon and they wouldn’t need earthly possessions. Perhaps Acts is an idealized version of what actually happened.

But could we at least think a little bit about the possibility that this is what Jesus actually intended?

Where to Find Satisfaction

Arthur Brooks, in the article I quoted from earlier, continues,

As we grow older in the West, we generally think we should have a lot to show for our lives—a lot of trophies. According to numerous Eastern philosophies, this is backwards. As we age, we shouldn’t accumulate more to represent ourselves, but rather strip things away to find our true selves—and thus, to find happiness and peace…

In truth, our formula, Satisfaction = getting what you want, leaves out one key component. To be more accurate, it should be:

Satisfaction = what you have ÷ what you want

All of our evolutionary and biological imperatives focus us on increasing the numerator—our haves. But the more significant action is in the denominator—our wants…

The secret to satisfaction is not to increase our haves—that will never work (or at least, it will never last). That is the treadmill formula, not the satisfaction formula. The secret is to manage our wants.[7]

In the remaining portion of the article, Brooks lists a number of things a person can do to help manage our wants and thus improve the possibility of finding satisfaction and happiness.

One step is to increase our sharing. This includes material possessions, but also includes things like experience and knowledge. Even experience and knowledge can be hoarded as a way of maintaining status and power. Let them go. Share.

Another step is to continue to build and grow relationships with family and friends, the ones that matter. Reduce and eliminate activities and relationships that exist only or primarily to maintain or enhance status and position. Share time.[8]

A third step is to think smaller. This can be actual downsizing – getting rid of physical stuff, large and small, that weigh us down and distract us. But it also means noticing the small things in life, the things that often get overlooked because we’re too busy doing something else, too busy thinking about the past or future, or too busy going from one place to another. Share moments of wonder.

The question isn’t whether we should save or not. The question isn’t whether the act of saving is a virtue or a vice. What is prudent and necessary varies depending on cultural, social, and economic contexts.

The question should be, are there ways in which we are sacrificing things that matter – being in community with family, friends, and God – for the empty pursuit of trying to satisfy our wants with more money, status, achievements, and the like?

Could it be that by reducing both what we have and what we want, we can become more dependent on one another? And what if that was one of the pillars of the kingdom of heaven – that we are dependent on one another in a mutually sharing community?

Some things to think about, especially whenever we pray, “May your kingdom come.”[9]

 

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[1] Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, Kindle reader location approximately 2061 to 2065.

[2] Luke 12:19.

[3] How Wanting Less Leads to Satisfaction - The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/03/why-we-are-never-satisfied-happiness/621304/)

[4] Ibid.

[5] Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, Kindle reader, approximate location 3602.

[6] This observation comes, in part, from Feasting on the Gospels—Luke, Volume 2, Kindle reader, approximate location 776.

[7] How Wanting Less Leads to Satisfaction - The Atlantic

[8] Science Says the More of This You Give, the Happier You'll Be (Hint: It's Not Money) | Inc.com (https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/happiness-emotional-intelligence-how-to-be-happy-how-to-spend-time.html)

[9] Luke 11:2b.