Monday, December 24, 2012
Zephaniah 3:14 Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
"ALL MY HEART THIS NIGHT REJOICES ..."
What could be more joyous than rejoicing "with all your heart"? To have a joy that encompassed all our desires, all our hopes and all our dreams, all of our innermost being, would be to have a joy that could not be squelched by the fact that no one in town seemed to understand what was going on, or by finding the sign of God's love wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.
The angels gave the shepherds such a joy when they told of the Savior born in Bethlehem, Christ the LORD. It didn't matter that they were lowly laborers. They had the same enemies as the highest leaders in Judea: sickness, sorrow, sin and death. Of course, we all deserve these things and more, but the angels were happy to announce, in effect:
The Lord has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm (Zephaniah 3:15).
Luke does not specifically state that the angels "sang," but how sweet was their message! It must have been music to the ears of those shepherds, and of many with whom the shepherds shared it. May it also be music to our ears tonight as we remember again the word concerning what had been told them about this child (cp. Luke 2:17).
All my heart this night rejoices
As I hear Far and near
Sweetest angel voices.
"Christ is born," their choirs are singing
Till the air Everywhere
Now with joy is ringing.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 77:1)
