It was C. S. Lewis who invented the phrase, “surprised by joy.” It’s the title of his autobiography. But I suppose that if there were ever people who were supremely surprised by joy, it was the shepherds when the angels appeared in the sky to announce that on that evening in Bethlehem, a Savior had been born.
It’s not so easy to define this word “joy.” It’s related to happiness, which is what we most naturally think of. And yet, it’s far more than happiness. Happiness is the world’s virtue, and it’s related to circumstances. Even the word, “happiness,” suggests that. When things “happen” the way we want, when circumstances unfold the way we would prefer them to unfold, then we’re happy. But, of course, when circumstances are not what we would like, then we are unhappy.
Joy isn’t like that. Joy is something that exists in spite of circumstances, at least in spite of our own personal, earthly circumstances. It’s really a way of saying that joy is from above. Joy is from God. This is undoubtedly right. C. S. Lewis used the word “joy” when he described how God pressed in upon his consciousness and his youth in spite of his resistance and even hostility to God’s demands. And it’s why I speak of the joy of the shepherds. Joy to them was God’s gift. Now it was certainly something that existed in spite of their circumstances because humanly speaking, their circumstances weren’t all that good.
The shepherds in those days were among the lowest of the low. Nobody had a good opinion of shepherds. They were assumed to be the kind of people that would steal from you if you gave them half a chance. They weren’t even allowed to testify in a court of law. It was just assumed that their testimony would be untrustworthy. And in addition to that, although they worked, they were paid very little for it. And the conditions of their labor were extremely hard.
So humanly speaking, the shepherds didn’t have circumstances that would have caused joy to arise up out of anything in themselves. And in addition to that, they had ample cause for the opposite. They actually had great cause to be afraid when they saw the angels. It’s true that earlier in this history, as we have it in Luke’s gospel and also in Matthew’s, a single angel, Gabriel, had appeared, first to Mary to announce the birth of Christ, and then to Joseph to explain that the one that had been conceived in her was of God, and to give the instructions for the naming of the child. And we’re not told in either of those accounts that either Mary or Joseph were made fearful by the appearance of the angel.
But that wasn’t true of the shepherds. Here were shepherds out in the fields at night; it was dark, quiet. Suddenly, an angel appeared in the sky. And we’re told that the effulgence of God’s glory, a bright light, shone all about them. And the angel had this announcement. And then before they had even had an opportunity to adjust to that, suddenly again there was with that angel a company of God’s hosts, a large army of angels in the sky, all singing in exalted harmonies to God’s glory. We’re told that the shepherds were actually terrified. It’s the word the text uses. They weren’t expecting that. It was the last thing in the world they would have expected. Nobody in their circumstances would have expected that kind of an annunciation. And yet, suddenly, there were the angels. And fear seized their hearts. Fear, yes–but in an interesting way, joy, too. Joy in the midst of their terror, joy in spite of their sad circumstances because that’s what the angel said: “I bring you good news of great joy which shall be to all the people.” And that message of great joy focused on the birth of Jesus Christ.
