Sowing Tear, Reaping Joy

Sowing Tears, Reaping Joy

Presented at County Line Brethren Church on March 21, 2010.
Year C, Fifth Sunday in Lent
Scripture passages: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8

The beginning of Psalm 126 reads like a Psalm of rejoicing. As Mark read, verses 1-3 say this:

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.

They were remembering God's mighty acts. Psalm 126 makes reference to the mighty acts of God in the past. Isaiah 43 recalls that the Lord made a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, drawing out the army of their enemies into a trap and extinguishing the threat entirely. Of course this is referring to the crossing of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army. The psalmist describes the feeling of the Israelites who witnessed this great display of God's power, “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” (vs. 2)

This remembering is an important part of our relationship to God. In times of spiritual drought, we can recall God's faithfulness. In times of loneliness, we can recall God's intimate presence. In times of defeat, we can recall God's many victories. This remembering provides us with spiritual refreshment, companionship, and hope.

There are temptations, however, that must be reckoned with. Indeed, it seems that most, if not all, spiritual gifts have a propensity to degenerate into an emphasis on the gift, instead of the giver. In the case of this gift of remembering God's mighty acts, we may catch ourselves either living in the past rather than the present OR we may become mired in the lament that these are not the good old days. Let's look at both of these possible detours for some insight.

“Living in the past” for us means living back in the 'good old days.' Wow, weren't those great times! God was moving. People's lives were being changed. We had great times of fellowship. We remember how God answered some of our prayers. The church was active and alive. We spent a little time there a few weeks ago, back in the good old days. It is good to visit the past – as long as we don't stay too long. Nostalgia is like chewing gum. It tastes good for awhile. But if we don't leave it behind, it will lose its flavor and ends up on the bottom of our shoes and impede our progress. One of the problems is that when we get stuck to the past, we are not living in the present. When we spend too much time reminiscing about the past, we lose today. Jesus calls us to live in the present.

The second detour that we sometimes take is becoming mired in the lament that today is not the past. In this state of lament, we continually compare the misery of the present with the glory of the past as evidence of our failure and believe that we are doomed. When we are stuck in lament, we are unable to enjoy the mystery of the present, nor are we able to witness God's persistent love notes strewn about our day. Fortunately, scripture leads us to a different, more uplifting and hopeful response.

The beauty of this psalm is that it affirms the spiritual practice of godly nostalgia – that of remembering God's mighty acts and his faithfulness – but it does not get stuck in the past! Furthermore, it also affirms the lament that our present position is a far cry from where we used to be. Indeed, it acknowledges that we are in dire straits, compared to the past glory – but it turns to the Lord as our source of hope for the present! Here is the rest of the Psalm.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

This is a great picture. The Psalmist is asking God to restore their fortune. The picture has the psalmist in the desert of the Negeb. Stephen Bishop says this,

The reference is to the wadis (or creeks) of southern Palestine that remain dry practically the entire year. When the winter rains come, just before planting season, the dry wadis become mighty torrents of water signaling hope to those who work the land. After a time of exile, a time when hope dried up, God restored the people to the land and now, once again they look to God to provide for them in this new situation. (Feasting on the Word)

But it is crucial to note that the request is made of God while embracing the pain of the present. The request was made in the dryness of the desert with tears falling amidst the pain. They felt the dissonance between the past glory and the excruciating pain of their present existence. There is no denial of the pain. There is no attempt to live outside the present.

And it is in that 'present' experience, that painful experience, that the psalmist pleads with God to transform their tears into joy.

Make no mistake this is no shortcut. Just as Lent and the cross are necessary pathways to the resurrection, so tears and pain are necessary pathways to joy and the restoration of the Glory of God. Kimberly L. Clayton puts it this way:

Verses 4-6 remind us that even a dry season or a season of weeping can be fruitful for soil and soul IF lament and hope in God find a balance within. The attention and care given to such seasons of sorrow and grief may become the ground of new life. (Feasting on the Word)

Ms. Clark goes on to give us this great advise.

From our Easter perspective, we know that if we pray only for God to restore life as we have known it in easier or better times, our prayer has fallen short of the hope – and the future – God intends. God has in mind not simply restoration, but resurrection. (Ibid)

It is remarkable that Isaiah 43:18,19 says

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

So, let us not pray to be restored to the 'good old days.' God wants to do something new. God does not desire a return to the way things used to be. Rather God has something fresh and radical for us around the corner. Let us pray for this “new thing” so that when it comes we will be able to perceive it. Let us not rely upon old formulas, but on the Spirit of Lord who breaths new life into new bones for a new purpose.

In this process we learn that while these tears are cast upon dry and barren landscapes sometimes with little hope of fruition, God is in the process of preparing fertile hearts for harvest. God is not searching for old wine skins to fill with new wine. Instead, God has already been preparing new wine skins for a new filling of his Spirit. So, we would do well, amidst our own tears, to plead with God to do a work of resurrection, rather than simply a return to past glory.

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Last week, our passages talked about how God removed the disgrace of the children of Israel. As God prepared the Israelites to take possession of the promised land, he removed the shame of being enslaved and homeless. I spoke of the disgraces of sin, the disgrace of a father and the disgrace of a son. I likened this to the time of Lent and Easter. Lent is a time wherein we come face to face with the dark side of our lives and hearts. The 40 days of Lent are similar, in some respects, to the 40 years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness. Jesus himself spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and fasting prior to his being tempted by the evil one.

40 days or 40 years are not easy. These 40 days or 40 years take us back to the core of our struggles, both individually and corporately. They are times of hunger, times of thirst, times of doubt, times of loss, and times of crisis.

So, as we go through Lent, we are also walking the pathways of the Children of Israel as they walked through the wilderness. As we go through Lent, we join Jesus in his time of want as well as his time of communion with his father in the desert. [By the way, the secret of this intense communion, the desert yields only to those who stay long enough learn] As we go through Lent, we stand alongside the Prodigal Father, eagerly watching for the return of those who have wandered away. And for some of us, we slog through Lent in the muddy footsteps of the Prodigal Son.

For this congregation, the last few years have been an extended Lenten period. It can be likened to a sojourn in the desert, for a long, long time. There have been times of wanting, times of loss, times of sorrow, times of doubt, times of embarrassment, times of prayer and conviction and many times of tears. Some may question the need for such trials and few would choose to enter this desert of their own accord. And yet, scripture repeatedly speaks of these desert times as defining moments in the history of his people individually and his people corporately.

Mary, of the traditional disciples group sometimes known as “Mary, Martha and Lazarus” (affectionately), was having a stressful spring. This particular spring she had walked through the desert of suffering and spent time in the wilderness of tears. Her brother, Lazarus, had died after sending for Jesus and he did not get there in time to restore his health. Mary had cried many tears while in this barren place. Her pain was unbearable, as some of you have had to experience yourselves. She cried out to Jesus and presumed she had been denied. Scripture tells us that when Jesus arrived too late, Mary ran to him and fell at his feet, pouring out her sorrow mixed with a bit of accusation as seen in her comment, “Lord, if only you had been here in time, my brother would not be dead.” Even Jesus wept as he empathized with the depth of their sorrow. Then a few minutes later Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, and Mary saw her stinkin', foul-smelling, dead-for-4-days brother walk out like a mummy still wrapped in his burial cloths. Talk about a roller coaster ride. Then Jesus went away for awhile.

A short time later, just 6 days before the Passover, Jesus stops by again. Mary is simply overcome with gratitude and she throws every ounce of her being at the feet of Jesus, along with an entire bottle of very expensive perfume. She wipes his feet with her hair. The flood of feelings in her soul come pouring out, onto the person of Jesus, the Christ. Jesus says something rather remarkable. Jesus says that it is burial perfume. And it must be noted that Jesus never chastises Mary for her this extravagant gesture. But he does rebuke Judas for his hypocrisy. This has nothing to do with the poor. It has everything to do with the imminent suffering, death and coming resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. It is quite unfortunate that this is missed entirely by so many who get sidetracked by Jesus' misunderstood comment about the poor. Let me just say that the scriptures are saturated with passages in support of social justice for the poor, the weak, the powerless and the disenfranchised. There is no way this comment by Jesus can be understood, except by saying that Jesus is referring to his impending departure and that Mary's expression is directly related to it.

Now, so that we do not become distracted ourselves by Judas' hypocrisy, Mary's experience, her earlier pain and sorrow are quite instructive for us. While she was suffering, she sought the Christ for restoration, as we find in the Psalm. She initially wanted her brother's health restored. She was certainly focused on wanting the 'good old days' to continue. When Lazarus died, Mary fell into the pit of endless lament that those days will never return. She felt as we do sometimes, beginning our sentences with that nostalgic phrase, “if only.” Soon or later, over the next few weeks, 64 teams and their fans will begin their nostalgic phrases the same way, “if only.”

Mary was unaware that God had no intention of simply restoring Lazarus to his former state by simply healing his sickness. Instead, God wanted to bring out the new wine and do a new work of his mercy and grace.

We share in Mary's shortsightedness. We often walk through our own tearful deserts and painful wildernesses pleading for a restoration to those good old days when God is standing close by wanting to issue new wine in new wine skins: a fresh new outpouring of the Spirit.

So, here's the deal. It is good to spend time remembering the glory days of the past – but not to linger. The purpose of this remembering is to be reminded of God's covenant faithfulness which continues even to today. It is also permissible to lament our present state, that it is not the way things used to be (it is painful) – but it is not helpful to remain in this sorrowful position. There is a time for setting aside remembering and to seek not just restoration, but a new work of God in our midst. For this congregation, this is such a time. Let us seek this new work from God in our midst.