The Third Sunday after Easter
I Samuel 2: 1-10, Psalm 124, I Peter 2: 11 – 17, John
16: 16-22
Do ye enquire among
yourselves of that I said, “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again,
a little while and ye shall see me?” Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye
shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful,
but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
I had a minor struggle with this verse last week. Not a struggle over the verse’s meaning,
that is very clear. This verse is part
of a discourse Jesus gave to his disciples in the upper room before his
crucifixion. Jesus’ statement, “A little
while and ye shall not see me” refers to Jesus’ impending death that will take
him away from his disciples causing them to weep and lament. Jesus’ statement “a little while and ye shall
see me” is Jesus’ promise that he would be resurrected and his disciples would
once again see him face to face and be given a joy that could never be taken
away.
My struggle with this verse was with its
application. The simple application of
this text is that Jesus promised that his resurrection would give his disciples
a joy that no man could take away. That
promise is still true, Jesus’ resurrection gives all those who follow him a permanent,
everlasting joy that no person or thing can take away. Furthermore, by saying that the disciples
will find joy after his resurrection, I believe Jesus implies that joy is not
mere pleasure or passing fancy, but the sublime encounter with the transcendent,
an encounter only possible with Jesus the incarnate transcendent God. Why would I struggle with Jesus’ teaching
that his resurrection gives all those who follow him joy? This was my struggle: if Christians have a
permanent, everlasting joy then our lives will be different; there will be a
visible and tangible difference in our lives.
In fact, our epistle lesson from I Peter is a good and proper summery of
the difference joy makes in the life of a Christian. St. Peter said, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as stranger and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts…having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as
evildoers, they may be your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in
the day of visitation. Because of
the joy Jesus’ resurrection gives us, we are to abstain from lusts, have honest
conversations, and do good things so that all those who do not believe in
Christ will glorify him. In other words,
our joy is to propel us into evangelism without words. St. Peter continues,”Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lords’ sake…For so
is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of
foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God.” Not
only are we to go about our lives having honest conversations and doing good
things through the joy of Christ, but we are also to submit to those in
authority so that through our well doings, the ignorance and accusations of
foolish men may be silenced. Because of
our joy from Christ, people should, in the words of Tim Keller say, "we cannot do without churches like
this. This church is channeling so much value into our community through its
services to people that if it went out of business, we'd have to raise
everybody's taxes.”[1]
Thus, my struggle – and that of other
Christians - boiled down to this: where is my joy, the joy that propels me away
from temptations and into honest conversations and actions of service?
I believe that many Christians, myself
included, fail to live joyfully because we want Christ’s joy to be for our own
benefit, something that makes us feel good about ourselves. I wanted the joy of Christ to be like the
warm sun on my face, something that makes my existence more pleasant. Instead, joy is for the benefit of others to
the glory of God. Jesus does not give us
his joy to warm our faces; he gives us his joy to warm the cold hearts of those
who do not believe in him. Jesus does
not give us his joy so that the world may see the shiny halo adorning our head,
he gives us his joy so that the world may see the grace of God and give glory
to him. We do not do good works for our
own glory and honor but so that others may glorify God. We do not live submissive and humble lives to
bring honor and glory to ourselves, but so that through our well doing others
may glorify God. Why did I struggle with
this passage of Scripture? I wanted to keep God gift of joy to myself. I wanted God’s gifts to be for my benefit, my
glory, and my honor rather than for his.
I think a great example of how God’s
gift of joy is used for his glory is found in the life of Janani Luwum, an Ugandan
Anglican Archbishop. Janani Luwum was
elected the Archbishop of Uganda in 1974, three years after Idi Amin seized
power of the government. Amin’s
brutality and cruelty are well known and chronicled and while Amin was
committing these atrocious crimes, Archbishop Luwum continually preached about
the Christian’s need to forgive and to love.
However, while preaching about the forgiveness of the Gospel, Luwum
continually wrote and spoke out against Amin’s injustices and bloodletting. Luwum said, “While the opportunity is there,
I preach the Gospel with all my might, and my conscience is clear before God
that I have not sided with the present government which is utterly
self-seeking.” Archbishop Luwum life was
a life of joy, true joy and all the things he did brought glory to God and not
to himself. All Ugandans witnessed Luwum’s
joyful life so that when Amin arrested him on February 16, 1977 on trumped up
charges of treason no one believed Amin.
When Amin announced the next day, February 17, 1977, that Archbishop
Luwum and two other prisoners were killed in an automobile accident caused when
one of the prisoners tried to take control of the vehicle by force, no one
believed Amin. Amin was proved to be
lying when Archbishop Luwum’s body was released to his family for burial and
his family saw a body not crushed from an automobile accident but beaten and
riddled with bullet holes. Archbishop
Luwum’s life of joy silenced the foolish talk of Idi Amin and his death
strengthened the Ugandan Christians. When 25,000 Ugandan’s gathered in their
capitol, Kampala, the following June to celebrate the centennial anniversary of
the preaching of the gospel in their country, many of those gathered had been
converted as a result of seeing the living faith and godly life of Archbishop
Luwum.[2]
Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we
have been given a joy that no man can take away. It is a joy anchored on the throne of Jesus
Christ in heaven and its anchor will hold no matter how much our life rocks and
sways in the storms of life. Betty Smith
once wrote a book called Joy in the
Morning. She was right; joy did come
in the morning, the morning of the first Easter when Jesus rose from the
dead. This joy has never left; it
remains with all those who belong to Jesus Christ and is a visible sign for the
world to see. The question we must ask
is will we attempt to hoard and steal that joy for our benefit or will that joy
use us to warm the cold hearts of others, so that they may join us in the
worship, praise and adoration of our God.