Behind Day 16 of my Advent Calendar is:
A BRIGHT STAR SHINING
Can you remember a time when you were overjoyed, when it was as if you had too much joy? Can you remember a time when you were so happy that it almost hurt?
I can – It was 21st July 1981
Now I know what you’re thinking, or, at least, what those who know me are thinking. You’re thinking, ‘I bet that’s the date of some famous cricket match’ Well, I’m pleased to be able to inform you that you’re…absolutely right.
Long story short. England v Australia – 3rd test of the summer – at Headingly. Australia had made 401 in their first innings and England, having made 174 all out in theirs, were made to follow on. But despite slumping to 135-7 in their second innings, a fantastic 149 from my schoolboy hero, Ian Botham, meant that Australia were still set a modest target of 129 in their second innings. It should have been easy and, having made 56-1, it looked like they were home and dry. But then Bob Willis tore through the Australian batting line up finishing with 8 for 43 and Australia were all out for 111. So England won by 18 runs.
And as every Australian wicket fell I can still remember experiencing the human equivalent of the zoomies – literally leaping round the back garden. So elated was I that I even did a head over heels under the washing line in celebration of each Australian dismissal! I was 14 at the time – who knows what my mother thought. But who cares, it was just a fantastic day.
My wedding day was quite good too!
The reason I mention all this now is that in Matthew 2:10 we read of the wise men being similarly overjoyed. You know how the story goes. They were travelling from the East to Jerusalem in order that they might worship ‘the one who [had] been born king of Jews’ [Matthew 2:2]. And when they saw the star come to rest over the place where the child was they:
‘rejoiced exceedingly with great joy’
As has been pointed out by others, the wise men didn’t just rejoice, they rejoiced exceedingly. More than that they rejoiced exceedingly with joy, but with a joy that Matthew has to stress is a great joy if he is going to adequately convey just how happy these wise men were. Put all together, the gospel writer’s words are, I think, just about as good a definition of ‘overjoyed’ as you’re ever likely to get.
But it wasn’t the star that made them so happy – rather it is what seeing the star signified. And what the star signified was that they would soon see Jesus. That’s why the wise men were so happy it almost hurt.
I wonder if we are as excited about the prospect of meeting Jesus now, as the wise men were then. Or are we so caught up with the things that tell us that its beginning to look a lot like Christmas that we never enjoy the fact that Jesus has been born?
Because it’s all too easy to get excited by the signs and neglect what it is that those signs are pointing to. Which is about as sensible as heading off for a day at the seaside and then opting instead to stop and spend time admiring the signpost that points to the beach. Such behaviour would be madness. Not only that, rather than leaving us overjoyed, it would leave us underwhelmed.
So how are you approaching Christmas this year? Are you cynically bemoaning the admittedly over commercialisation of Christmas, grumbling at all that you have to do in preparation for the big day and fretting at how much it’s all going to cost?
Or are you approaching Christmas like a wise man – overjoyed at the prospect of meeting Jesus?
*****
And so to today’s song? I did toy with choosing the jaunty theme music from the BBC’s cricket coverage, or 10cc’s ‘I don’t like cricket, I love it’ but in the end I went for ‘I’m a believer’ by the Monkees. Why? Well firstly I read on the internet (so it must be true!) that neuroscientists have rated it is one of the Top 10 happiest songs of all time – well I mean it’s not as though they have anything more important to do.
And secondly because I am a believer too!
Previously from ‘A Christmas Countdown’:
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 15’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 14’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 13’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 12’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 11’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 10’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 9’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 8’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 7’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 6’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 5’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 4’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 3’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 2’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 1’, click here
To read ‘An Advent Calendar – Complete’, click here
Other related posts:
To read ‘Longing for the pavilion whilst enjoying a good innings’, click here
To read ‘WWJD – What would Jack Do?’, click here
To read ‘Somerset CCC – Good for the soul’, click here
Some musings 