Lent leads us into both reflection and expectation. Even as we honor our histories and our ancestries, with all their gifts and their griefs, we anticipate the ways that resurrection can recreate them–and us. The God who inspired “something old” is still at work, bringing Easter ever nearer, promising and fulfilling “something new” for the world.
(Lent 5, 3/13/16)
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Phil. 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8
“Then our mouth was filled with contempt,
and our tongue with shouts of outrage;
then it was said among the nations,
‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ ”
NOT Psalm 126:2
Sometimes what the Bible doesn’t say can be just as telling, just as convicting, as what it does say.
What do the nations of the world see in the people of God? Contempt? Outrage?
For that matter, what do the people I meet every day–the “nations” I encounter–see in me? Maybe not outrage, but probably not joy. Indifference, perhaps. Resignation. Frustration. Fatigue.
But we have a testimony of rejoicing:
“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.’ ”
REALLY Psalm 126:2
What do the nations of the world see in the people of God? What do they see in us, when we meet them every day?
Do they hear our laughter? Do they see our joy?
Do the nations look at us in wonder, murmur to each other that we must surely be blessed? Do they trace our rejoicing back to its Source, to the One who has watered us in our deserts, who has turned our mourning inside-out, who has shown us how to gather laughter into baskets for a feast?
The Lord has done great things for us! Let the people of God sing, laugh, rejoice! When we believe that God has already done great things, we know beyond doubt that we need not aspire, need not scramble, need not contrive to attain greatness. God’s own greatness is our joy, our faith, and our gift. God’s greatness is a fertile field where we expected to find bare rock. God’s greatness transforms the seeds of our sorrows into a joy-filled feast!
Hear the good news: God’s greatness can even transform our contempt into celebration, and our outrage into delight. May this be our witness, our bounty, our prayer. May this, at last, be our song.