This week I did not feel like rejoicing. I am in the cranky
part of the year (I am a very complicated lady, I most definitely have extended
cranky stages) and was more content to sit and mope and dwell on all the sad things in my life.
Then I saw that this month’s bible study was on rejoicing.
I’m not ashamed to say that my heart sunk and I spent some time dreading
talking about this. What kind of hypocrite did that make me that I was supposed
to talk about rejoicing when all I wanted to do was to complain and pout? And
maybe yell a little too. You know, just get all angry and worked up. But then
we started to get deeper into this study and it became increasingly apparent
that this was the perfect time for this study.
So of course when you think of rejoicing, first off you
think of something fantastic happening. You think of a new baby, a wedding, a
promotion, something that is huge and life altering…or if not that, something
that is really exciting. This was certainly the case for the 72
that were sent out by Jesus to proclaim the message of God. They were
excited, perhaps even rejoicing over the fact that they had authority over the
demons. And honestly, they had ever reason to be excited about that. Think of
your life, think of the things that tempt you, especially those temptations
that are dang near impossible to overcome. That thing that you confess to every
week, that you want so badly to stop doing but you just aren’t able to. Now
imagine having control over it. Imagine not being controlled by it. It’s a good
feeling right? And it’s something that you should be excited about. The danger
comes when that’s where the rejoicing ends. When we, or when the 72, are so
focused on what we are doing right now that we forget about what we really should
be rejoicing in…the promise of everlasting life. That is of course our main source
of rejoicing.
And this is great news. I am excited about this, really I
am, but it’s still not enough to bring me out of my “My life sucks; why should I rejoice?” funk.
Even reading through some of the Pauline descriptions of pain and sorrow being
a blessing really wasn’t doing it. All that did was make me feel like a
terrible Christian because I have way fewer problems (99 problems and
persecution ain’t one) and yet I dwell on them way more and put them right in
the centre of absolutely everything.
And that, my friends, is when it hit me. I put my problems
right in the centre of everything.
Take a minute and go and look at John
16:20-22
Go ahead, I can wait.
It’s even hyperlinked for your ease.
Hope you like the ESV.
You can change it if you like.
You could even pull out your own bible.
Anyways, hopefully by now you have read it.
I love it.
I don’t think I had ever given it too much attention previously.
It was always one of those parts that seemed to be really aimed at the
disciples. I am apparently not the brightest crayon in the box!
There is a crazy amount of comfort in that section. More
than Paul’s intimidating dedication to Christianity is Jesus’ words of
understanding. He begins by saying that he completely understands how the
disciples will feel. He knows that they will feel sorrow and he knows that they
will go through a cranky stage that no one will understand. While the whole
rest of the world is rejoicing, they will be filled with sorrow. This isn’t
just the message for the disciples, it’s the message for us too. When we’re
struggling with feelings of sorrow, even though it feels wrong because the
whole of everyone around us is happy and joyful, it’s ok. It’s a natural
reaction, something that we’re all prone too.
As you have noticed, that isn’t where the passage ends.
Jesus goes on to say that even though
you feel sorrow now, it isn’t forever. Our sorrow will be turned to joy.
It’s a huge promise; the fact that not only will we have
joy, but it will be a joy that is never taken away.
This is the part that we don’t think about when we’re in the
midst of our sorrow. We don’t stop and wonder about the joy that is to come.
Heck, we don’t even think about the things that bring us joy right now. When we’re
in the middle of our sorrow, our grief, our cranky stage, that is all that
there is.
Let’s create a hypothetical situation here. Let’s pretend
that you have an old beater of a car. It is on it’s last legs. But you are a
thrifty person and continue to drive it. The inevitable happens and your car
dies. Since it is May in Saskatchewan
it is pouring rain. Also your phone is dead. It happens to be on a busy street,
where everyone can see you. Oh, and did I mention that you are now late for a
very important meeting? What a day!
Now, let’s play thesaurus and describe your mood. Angry,
grumpy, embarrassed, extremely cranky
and disappointed with the way everything is turning out.
Now let’s play the antonym game. In this hypothetical
situation you are thankful that it happened on a busy road where people could
see you, happy that you could meet new people, excited for the opportunity to
buy a new car and grateful to have a legitimate excuse to miss out on a boring
meeting.
Those aren’t the first things that come to mind. In our sorrowful,
frustrating, embarrassing situations it’s the negative factors to which we hold
fast. We get so entangled in these terrible things that we fail to see how anything
good could possibly come from this.
This is what I think of with the passage from John. Jesus
realizes that we are human, we have human emotions and sorrow and sadness is
part of that. We shouldn’t try and pretend those emotions don’t exist, because
they do, they always will. The important part is that we don’t dwell on these
emotions. We don’t make sorrow the be all and end all of our lives. We realize
that there is more than sorrow. There is joy. We have a great deal for which we
can rejoice, and for which we should rejoice. When we dwell on the negative we
do ourselves a disservice because we neglect everything around us that is meant
to bring us joy.
I will always have my cranky times. There will always be
things that make me sad. You will be filled with sorrow at many times during your
life. What we want to look at is what comes after the sorrow. We look for the
joy that comes from God in all circumstances. We ask God for the strength to
see beyond our sadness and to look instead at his amazing love and that is when
we begin to rejoice.