“Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.”
I am sure that you are familiar with these lyrics. You may even have sung them one or the other time in the past two weeks. Were you, however, aware of the fact that the lyrics to this familiar Christmas carol are taken from Psalm 98, the same psalm that we use as our responsorial today?
At the time that most of the psalms were written, Israel was surrounded by nations that worshipped other gods and goddesses. These gods and goddesses often took the shape of animals, of grotesque monsters, or even the various heavenly bodies. Israel professed faith in One God. However, this does not mean that they got into discussions about whether the gods and goddesses of the other nations actually existed. As a matter of fact, the psalms oftentimes will reference these other gods as we hear in Psalm 95: “For the LORD is the great God, the great king over all gods. . .” (Psalm 95:3). In other words, it did not matter to the Israelites whether these so-called gods existed. What really mattered was that their God was greater than all the other gods. For them, the God who spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai was the Creator, the great King of the Universe, the Triumphant Warrior who had defeated all the other gods and goddesses.
Psalm 98 is a jubilant cry of victory. It is classified as an “Enthronement Psalm.” The various nations which surrounded Israel held an annual festival in which they commemorated the coronation and enthronement of their king. Israel, in a move that can only be compared with “keeping up with the Joneses,” decided that they needed such a festival as well. So once a year, they took the scroll of the Torah and the Ark of the Covenant and carried it in procession and “re-enthroned” it, as well as the current king,” in a ceremony that was replete with singing and shouts of praise. As we use Psalm 98 in our liturgy throughout the year, we call upon the entire created universe to revere God as our King.
During the Christmas Season, many of our carols and hymns refer to the newborn King. Psalm 98 was taken by Isaac Watts, an Englishman, and fashioned into the very familiar Christmas carol known as “Joy to the World.” The music or tune to which we sing the words of Isaac Watts is known as “Antioch.”
As we respond to the readings in today’s liturgy, we remember that Jesus is our King, our Savior, our Redeemer, and “God With Us.”
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator