Joy Full
“Joy Full” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! Thanks to Tim for leading worship this morning on short notice, and continued prayers for Rick Rodgers as he recovers at Elkhart General.
The great reversal of Easter is kind of a narrative pratfall for the forces of death and evil. When hope is gone and the Devil has won and the disciples don’t know what to do next, the women go to the tomb early in the morning and when they see that the stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty, Mary Magdalene turns to Mary, the mother of James, and says, “I hope you kept the receipt for these burial spices, because I don’t think we’re going to need them.” And when they encounter the risen Christ he gives them this timeless Easter greeting: Ta-da!
There was a memorable children’s story one Easter Sunday. The storyteller says, “It’s Easter Sunday! Who can tell me what happens on Easter?” One kid says That’s when Santa Claus comes down the chimney with presents! Nope. Is that when you dress up and say Trick or Treat and get candy? Nope. Girl raises her hand and says I know. It’s when Jesus was in the tomb for three days, and then he came out. Yes! Very Good! And if he sees his shadow . . .
Although the new life of Easter is especially relevant for us this morning, there are other biblical mandates and cross-cultural interpretations which may give us reason to pay attention to how varied communities are seeking to be faithful. A Creekside family who was in Gatlinburg for spring break sent me this list of the Hillbilly Ten Commandments. They are out of the traditional order:
- Ain’t but one God.
- Honer yer Ma and Pa.
- No tellin’ tales or gossipin’.
- Git your hide to Sunday meetin’.
- Aint’ nutin’ come before the Lord.
- No foolin’ with another feller’s gal.
- No killin’, ‘sept for critters.
- Quit yer foul mouthin’.
- No takin’ yer kin folk’s stuff.
- Don’t be hankerin’ for it neither. My spell- check did NOT like these one bit
On a slightly more serious note, Jesuit priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote that “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” The author of the little New Testament book of 1 John wrote, Jesus was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
The appropriate response to seeing, hearing, knowing, and believing in the risen Christ is joy. And joy is not simply intellectual assent — I guess I’m supposed to be happy now — joy is an embodied response to what God has done and is continually doing for us. If you got up this morning, and I assume that at least those of you who are here in person managed to do so, we have — every one of us — been given the gift of this day by the grace of God. That reality is true regardless of anything that happens during the day. And in fact, if we meet the day with a sense of joy and possibility and gratitude, better things are liable to happen than if we sulk into another day with our grievances and bitterness clanking behind us. Former member Marti Thompson shared this thought with me in the midst of a cancer diagnosis which led to the end of her life: What if the only things we had today are the things we thanked God for yesterday?
The opening of 1 John is a proclamation of what believers know about Jesus Christ: He is the Word of Life. The believers on that Easter day and afterward see him with their own eyes and touched him with their own hands. If we are people who believe that, people who live in the light of the resurrection, we should be joy full. We should be so full of joy that it is sloshing around and spilling out and getting all over the people around us. Christians should be full of it. There are plenty of things which we don’t always get right: maybe our theology is flawed or incomplete, we may not have a good grasp of church history, or have large portions of scripture memorized and ready to recite. And don’t even get me started on behavior — none of gets that right all the time. But attitude is a place where anyone can start, at any time. Maybe you’ve had a difficult life — you are part of a club with a lot of members, including Jesus himself. Maybe you feel like people don’t appreciate you enough, or recognize you for your special effort and talent — God knows not only what you do, but the contents of your heart. Maybe you feel like you have failed so miserably that you are not worthy of the grace of Christ — God knows not only what you do, but the contents of your heart.
Rejoice! Jesus Christ gives us hope for the future, no matter what our circumstances are today. Christ defeated the ultimate enemy, death, and has the ultimate power of eternal life. So it is worth asking ourselves: what gives us joy? What gives us joy even in the midst of despair and pain? Where do we get the promise life in the midst of death? The answer to all of these questions is supposed Jesus. And if you say you have Jesus but you don’t have joy — you don’t have as much Jesus as you need.
A final story about a children’s story. The storyteller was trying to prompt response from the kids and asked, What has a big fluffy tail and climbs trees and eat nuts? And a bright young man said I know the answer’s supposed to be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.Why are Christians joy full? The answer is supposed to be Jesus. Amen.