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Streams in the Desert |
Ps. 126; Jn. 12: 1-8
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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INTRODUCTION This is a sermon about what happens when great joy is followed by great sorrow, weeping hard on the heels of rejoicing. Sorrow following joy - it happens all the time, in matters both great and small: - the great ship sails away on her festive maiden voyage, but an iceberg is waiting for the Titanic; - your team wins the basketball game in the semi-finals on a basket at the buzzer only to lose in overtime in the finals; - you get accepted by your first choice college and then your girlfriend dumps you; - you graduate summa cum laude, but no one offers you a job; - you get a raise, but your company is downsized, and you lose your job; - you go to the doctor with chest pains, and he tells you, "I've some good news on your heart, but I'm worried about some of your other tests." CLASSIC SORROW-FOLLOWS-JOY STORIES Sorrow following joy - it happens all the time, but you just heard two of the all time stories of sorrow following joy. There is the exuberant cry after Israel's release from captivity, and the quiet delight of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in hosting Jesus. But troubles are coming. 1. Zion When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, it was like a dream come true! The people sang the words which became the hymn, "To God Be the Glory, great things he hath done!" (Psalm 126: 2-3; Wesley L. Forbis, editor, Baptist Hymnal, Fanny J. Crosby, "To God Be the Glory," [Nashville: Convention Press] 1991, No. 4) It was good to shout with joy after having been forced by cruel captors to sing the songs of Zion by the waters of Babylon (Psalm 137). But when they got home, they discovered that the Holy City had turned into a dump with broken walls and burned gates. (Thomas H. Troeger, Rage! Reflect! Rejoice! [Philadelphia: Westminster Press] 1977, p. 66) By the next verse they were groaning for God to restore their fortunes, hoping against hope that their tears would again become shouts of joy. The "poetry of a full heart" gives way to the poetry of an empty heart. (George A. Buttrick, editor, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IV, Psalms, exposition of Psalm 126, Frank H. Ballard [Nashville: Abingdon Press] 1955, p. 664) 2. Lazarus There was great joy when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but great sorrow was coming. Although Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, sooner or later Lazarus would die again, leaving Mary and Martha to revisit their grief with a second round of multiplied tears. We know that the rhythm of life includes sorrow following joy. That is why when our lives are going well, we sometimes have a sense of dread that "it's too good to last." These feelings do not have to break us down. The Bible tells us how to manage this pattern of pain on the heels of happiness. Lent is a time to affirm that we live "by both memory and hope." (Leander Keck, Convener, Editorial Board, The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IV [Nashville: Abingdon Prss] 1996, J. Clinton McCann, Jr., Psalms, p. 1,196) We may sow in tears, but one day "We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves." (Psalm 126: 6; W. Hines Sims, editor, Baptist Hymnal [Nashville: Convention Press] 1956, Knowles Shaw, "Bringing in the Sheaves," No. 432) HOW TO MAKE IT AFTER JOY AND DURING SORROW 1. John Donne Religious people offer many answers to this basic question of life amid suffering. The poet and preacher John Donne offered this comparison. When an orchestra tunes instruments, there is little delight in the exercise except for those who can anticipate the gorgeous music which will follow. Tuning instruments is promise, not performance, a duty which exists for the delight which follows. The point? When the dissonance of life drowns out our joy, consider what is discordant to be the necessary duty to pepare us for coming delights. "Sure," you're thinking, "but that still leaves us with the periods of `tuning our instruments,' and that gets old." 2. Isaiah Isaiah 43, our responsive reading, offered another approach to the suffering after joy phenomenon: Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior...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...I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert..." (vv. 16-20) This image of streams in the desert appears many times in the Hebrew scriptures. In the fourth verse of today's Psalm, we have the reference to watercourses in the Negeb where in a short space of time the dry wadis could turn into whirling torrents. (A. A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms (73-150), Vol. II [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.] 1972, p. 895) This seemed "a miraculous transformation to the water-conscious people of Israel" when "following the winter rains, dry channels could become rushing streams overnight." (Clifton J. Allen, editor, editor, The Broadman Commentary, Vol 4, Psalms by John I Durham [Nashville: Broadman Press] 1971, p. 427) This may give us some comfort, but we want more. 3. C. S. Lewis The Oxford English professor and lay theologian C. S. Lewis takes the "streams in the desert" analogy a step further. When we live through suffering, "we are like people digging channels in a waterless land, in order that when at last the water comes, it may find them ready. There are happy moments, even now, when a trickle creeps along the dry beds; and happy souls to whom this happens often." (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms [New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.] 1958, p. 97) If you long for more than a trickle, perhaps you will find some refreshment from the true story of a family which knew great joy followed by a series of great sorrows, but still found great peace. A CASE STUDY - THE SPAFFORD FAMILY It Is Well with My Soul is a hymn of comfort by two people who managed sorrow following joy. The music is by Philip P. Bliss, a 19th century evangelistic singer who was born in a log house in western Pennsylvania. He died attempting to rescue his wife when a railroad bridge collapsed causing the train on which they were travelling to fall 70 feet into a ravine and burst into flames. He wrote the music for It Is Well with My Soul, and either the words or music for five other works in the brown hymnal. But I want us to concentrate on the family of the man who wrote the words, Horatio Spafford, a Chicago lawyer and friend of the evangelists Moody, Sankey and Bliss. He knew days of peace and happiness as a prosperous attorney in Chicago. He and his wife had four daughters; they were active members of a Presbyterian church. Spafford was a friend and generous supporter of the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody and his song leader, Ira Sankey. Spafford moved among the great persons of his time. He was a director and trustee of the theological school established by Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the reaper. He was professor of medical jurisprudence at a medical school, a Sunday School teacher, and active in YMCA work. On an extended visit in Edinburgh through his friendship with the Astronomer Royal for Scotland he became interested in the archaeology of the Bible. Then things took a turn for the worse. The Chicago fire (remember the legendary Mrs. O'Leary and her cow?) wiped out his considerable real estate holdings on the shore of Lake Michigan. He could have turned against God, arguing that God "owed" better treatment to so active a churchman, but instead of feeling sorry for himself and angry at God, he threw himself into helping others. Horatio and his Swedish wife, Anna Larssen Spafford, gave themselves in relief efforts for fire victims, working to thepoint of exhaustion. When Moody and Sankey left for Great Britain for an evangelistic campaign, Spafford decided to lift the spirits of his family by taking them on an European vacation. He also planned to assist the evangelists in England. Because he was detained by urgent business, Spafford sent his wife and their four daughters ahead, planning to join them in England. The five women sailed on the S. S. Ville du Havre, the most luxurious steamship afloat. It collided with another ship, the Lochearn, and sank in minutes. The four daughters were among the 226 persons who drowned, but Mrs. Spafford was rescued. She sent her husband the message, "Saved Alone." He could have sunk into a whirlpool of depression and bitterness, but he pulled himself together, got on another ship, and sailed across the Atlantic to join his wife in Cardiff, Wales. As the ship drew near the scene of the tragedy, he withdrew to his cabin and prayerfully wrote the words of the hymn It Is Well with My Soul. It is No. 410 in the brown hymnal. At the bottom right corner of the page, you will find the name of the hymn tune, Ville du Havre after the ship on which the four Spafford daughters drowned. But that is not the end of the story. The Spaffords sought to rebuild their family. Two children were born, a son and daughter, amid great joy. You know a "but" is coming. But scarlet fever attacked both children; the boy died. Again Spafford could have railed against God for not sparing his son, but Horatio and Anna were still committed to life even in the face of death. They tried again; another child was born; they named her Grace. Their faith sustained them, but their theology and their unsympathetic Christian friends failed them. Moody preached a doctrine they found hard to accept in light of their tragedies. It was a theology of divine wrath against sinners, divine punishment that was swiftly and everlastingly meted out. Moody called this kind of preaching "shaking people over hell to make them good." The Spaffords were of a different persuasion. Once more the Spaffords could have given up on God and God's people, but they would not let go of their faith until they had worked through to a more wholesome theology. They rejected the notion that their suffering was God's way of punishing them for some unspecified unfaithfulness; they rejected the idea of predetermined salvation or damnation; they rejected the idea that private property (of which they had substantial mounts) could be held at the expense of the poor. For holding such notions they were asked to leave their congregation. They and some like-minded friends began to hold their own meetings and chose the name, "The Overcomers." The break with the church stirred the religious and social circles of Chicago. The Spaffords decided to leave Chicago and move to Jerusalem. Horatio said, "Where my Lord lived, suffered, and conquered...I wish to live, suffer, and especially to conquer." In Jerusalem they also faced misunderstanding. Many in Jerusalem found their wealth and culture, utopian and eschatological ideas difficult to appreciate. For example, when the Spaffords went on ordinary picnics, people ridiculed them for going "to the Mount of Olives with tea and cakes, hoping to be the first to offer the Messiah refreshment" should Jesus come again. The Spaffords could have despaired that even in the Holy City they were subject to twisted misrepresentations of their religious commitent, but" the Overcomers" continued to live as a single religious household, awaiting the fulfillment of biblical teachings as they understood them. In east Jerusalem they established the American Colony, a ministry to Palestinians which still bears fruit. There were many points of outreach: a school, an orphanage, a photography shop selling pictures for tourists, a gift shop offering crafts made in the Holy Land, a hospital, and a four star hotel, still one of Jerusalem's finest. (Once when Chris and I were lost in the old city of Jerusalem, two cheerful Palestinian middle school boys gave us directios in perfect English. I was not surprised to learn that they went to the school connected with the American Colony.) (Jere V. Adams, editor, Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal [Nashville: Convention Press] 1992, pp. 274, 462; Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Devotions [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications] 1990, p. 202; Lester I. Vogel, To See a Promised Land: Americans and the Holy Land in the Nineteenth Century [University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press] 1993, pp. 152-158) Sorrow following joy, a pattern, a repeated rhythm, yet the Spaffords never became bitter, only better. They were not quitters; they were overcomers. They got out of their grief by making sure that life went on, by caring for others, be they the victims of fire in Chicago or of poverty, ignorance and disease in Jerusalem, by believing the Bible as they understood it, by hoping for the presence of Jesus to be with them in suffering and in triumph. CONCLUSION The case of the Spaffords challenges me. I do not know if I would be able to handle their series of tragedies with such steadfast faith. I hope their story will not discourage anyone who has suffered misfortune and not rallied as the Spaffords did. My prayer is that all who suffer and withdraw will one day by the grace of a loving and patient God and by the continuing care of loving and encouraging people choose to know the joy of worship and the sweet fellowship of the faily of God. It is also important to understand that "It is well with my soul" is no smug piety; it is a product forged in the heat of suffering and service. It is of the same stuff as the words of another who knew joy and sorrow. Paul provides a wonderful summary and conclusion: I have learned in whatever state I am to be content; I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.(Philippians 4: 11-13) [This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.] |