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"Weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning."
Sunday, July 7, 2019 Lectionary:
2 Kings 5:1-14; Galatians 6:1-6, 7-16; Luke 10:1-11,16-20; Psalms 30:4-5
Ps. 30:4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Choosing a preaching text in the long green season is hard. The scripture selections are more than one sermon can bear. This week Elisha the prophet is asked to heal a Commander who has leprosy. The Commander believes that he deserves special attention because of his status and the gifts that he brings. He is told by a lowly messenger sent by the prophet to go wash in the Jordan 7 times. Elisha lacked diplomacy even while dealing with a General Patton-like figure. The General learns a lesson in humility that day.
Paul is caught being gentle with the Galatian congregation. In another place he refers to them as dear idiots. (J.B. Philips translation)
The Gospel of Luke reports on a successful evangelism program which becomes a model for old-fashioned evangelism. Get out there and knock on doors. Spread some good news. I have wondered some what it would look like to see Satan fall as Luke reports. In these days of political unrest the Satan image is not hard to find, so perhaps I need to stay away from that text.
Psalm 66 offers a word of hope:
“His anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger but joy comes with the morning.”
Willie Nelson has a new song,“I woke up this morning and I’m still not dead.” That might be a definition of joy when you are past 80. Paul Tillich reminded us that Joy is a word that we don’t use often enough. He believed that we confuse joy with pleasure and happiness. Happiness is a state of the mind and is dependent on many conditions. Joy is the opposite of sorrow, something like a state of blessedness. I grew up singing “when we all get heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.” Matthew speaks of blessedness in Jesus’ beatitudes, but they are future tense. Why then do we have to wait for heaven to experience Joy? In Luke’s take on the Beatitudes, it is possible to know joy now, not some day in heaven. My take: Joy is the feeling that comes when one has resisted evil in all of its forms and is made stronger for the effort.
Jesus will speak of blessedness in the Beatitudes. And according to Luke, we have the state of blessedness right now in this present moment, not (as I was taught) someday. Matthew implies that we wait for the future. Luke has Jesus implying that we have joy now in the midst of trials and tribulations.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the son of a preacher, said that we Christians should look more redeemed.
As the fight has continued within our Church regarding the exclusion of a group of people, I have experienced great joy in watching our congregation move on beyond the current debate.
A young attorney led the congregation in creating a large colorful rainbow banner which now is visible to all who drive by and reads: Without Condition, Without Exception, God loves us all. Come what may from General Conference, this congregation will continue this level of commitment, not for pride, not for resistance, not for others to judge or praise, but simply because we can do no other.
The word rejoice means to penetrate from what seems to be real to the really real. Joy is more than pleasure or happiness. It is knowing, after you have fought the good fight and perhaps lost, that all is well. Joy is to know that in the midst of sorrow and pain, one can still live with one’s self. As sure as there is morning, there is the possibility for joy!
These days I go around humming a tune, “Joy to the world (right now), the Lord has come!” And I woke up this morning at 85, and I still was not dead!”
Dear God, maker of joy and gladness, thank you for life that sparkles, that overcomes all fears, that is your gift to all who seek you in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
The Rev. Bill Cotton of Des Moines is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. Along with colleagues and friends, he produces MEMO for Those Who Preach, which is distributed by email. Subscribe here.