In my twice weekly study of Nehemiah, we’re still in chapter 8, and today we observed that the reading of the book of the law caused a strong emotional reaction among those who heard it read and explained.
That reaction was grief and weeping.
Neh. 8:9   And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.†For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. 10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.†11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.†12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
What caused weeping and grief? The Book of the Law was certainly centered on the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy. (If you don’t believe Deuteronomy was written yet, then maybe some proto-Deuteronomic material.) It was all there in advance: the history of the nation and what was at stake in obedience. There was God’s prediction of prosperity, and God’s prediction of idolatry. There was the fact of judgement and the details of the consequences of that judgement.
And here was the sad remnant of that nation, living in a ruined capital, surrounded by enemies, dominated by empire. This pathetic shadow of a “new Jerusalem” was built on the corpses of a destroyed nation. Even the restored walls of Jerusalem could not make up for all that had been destroyed or for all the reasons for that destruction.
In the next chapter, Nehemiah 9, the prayer recorded is a summary history of the Old Testament. And at the conclusion of that prayer, the emotions are honest: We are still slaves, all these years after liberation from Egypt. We have had prosperity, victory and kings. All have failed. We’ve had many chances to keep the covenant and experience its blessings. Instead, we’ve broken the covenant, and God’s anger is justifiable. We are still in exile, when we’ve been released from exile.
Now we know that the direction of all of this is a renewal of covenant obedience under Ezra. This returned community will organize their covenant response as seriously as any time in their history. Their direct spiritual descendants will be the Pharisees, who desired perfect covenant obedience to bring God’s saving actions, but who found Jesus to be too liberal, radical and Kingdom minded (to their exclusion.)
But the Gospel, in the form of God’s promises and mercy, is alive in the midst of all this weeping, grieving and blame.
The Gospel is the invitation to stop grieving, to stop letting the past control the present. The Gospel is an invitation to holy joy. In fact, the Gospel is the command to stop weeping and to feast, to laugh, to share and have a party.
Surrounded by ruins. Deserted. Dominated. Full of suffering and questions. Convicted of their corporate complicity and continuing guilt in the failure to be the people of God. Failed witnesses. A failed mission to be a chosen, holy, priestly nation.
Plenty of reasons for tears, and not many reasons for feasting. But they are commanded to feast, not fast, and to have holy joy, not endless weeping.
Over and over, Jesus declares the days of mourning and grieving are over; that the joy of the Gospel of the Kingdom has come. The Pharisees react predictably: God wants guilty sinners making bigger promises for bigger obedience. The parties and banquets that Jesus’ inaugurates are too much and too soon.
The Pharisees want the weeping and the grieving. The Gospel of God wants us at the banqueting table, laughing, sharing, celebrating.
I wonder….
How many sincere believes go to churches where, week after week, they hear the message of grief and weeping? The law and its convicting demands, but never the Gospel with its invitation to exchange grief for Holy Joy?
How many are told that the “strength” of faith is our serious efforts at obedience and surrender, when all the while “the Joy of the Lord is your strength?”
How many are told about a God who wants sincere faith measured in pain and promises? Guilt and self-hatred?
How many are told, in a hundred different ways, that the message of the Bible is an angry, disappointed God and a weeping, grieving, guilty people? How many would be offended to hear the call to go and eat, drink, share and celebrate?
How many preachers play on these emotions, withholding the Gospel and distorting God’s Good News?
These games are played all over evangelicalism; all over Christianity. They have shaped us far more than we realize. It’s a reason so few are outraged by our acceptance of others or surprised by our unlikely joy.
They see our constant quest to somehow stir ourselves up with entertainment, celebrities and technological wows. Our excitement is artificial. It is not the Gospel. It’s religion, American style, not joy, Jesus-style.
The Gospel tells the people at the tail-end of the Biblical story, the people under the heel of empire and standing in the midst of the judgment of God, to rejoice deeply and continually.
This is the God of the Old Testament speaking in the voice of the one who is to come. This is, in many ways, close to the low point of the Old Testament. But it is the Gospel because even in ruined Jerusalem, under the authority of the Persians and surrounded by many enemies, God is still bringing the Kingdom of his Son. The ruins, the failures, the enemies, the grief- none of it will matter, because Jesus is coming.
Jesus will come to the oppressed, to the grieving, to those captive to empire. He will come to a world where weeping has long ago outrun laughter and reasons for grief and guilt have buried any cause for celebration. Jesus will be born, live, die, live again and rule as Lord in this world. He will turn it upside down.
He will turn our grief, our weeping, our guilt, our failure, our disastrous history of brokenness- he will turn it all upside down. He will banish weeping, bury guilt, abolish despair and bring in a Kingdom where Holy laughter, Holy hilarity, never ends.
The Internet Monk Archives 
Today, the main preaching elder at my church proclaimed from the Bible that the kingdom of God is already here, all around us, if we have the spiritual eyes to see it. Jesus brought the kingdom, and thus, it is already here– not yet fully realized, to be sure, but truly here! *That* is cause for joy!
The elder also preached the realities of sin and judgment, but he did so in order to call unbelievers to come into the kingdom through Christ, so that they can be forgiven of their sins and have peace with God and the resultant joy. I am so thankful for Christ-centered sermons!
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How many are told that the “strength†of faith is our serious efforts at obedience and surrender, when all the while “the Joy of the Lord is your strength?â€
Our pastor teaches that there is no way we are able to live up to the moral demands of Jesus(and the New Testament) out of our own power. So far so good. The only way we can do that is through the empowerment of the Spirit. So we must somehow let Jesus “flow” through us so that those moral demands can be met.
Is this how it’s really supposed to work? Does this fit with the Gospel? Is this what the “in Christ” relationship is all about? Cause it’s about to drive me crazy. If I do not have the power to choose to love my wife as I should(and I don’t) then how do I have the power to “step aside” and let Jesus’ power flow through me?
This is a major focal point of what our pastor teaches and it comes up almost every Sunday. I’ve labeled it “Spirit Enabled Moralism” and I just need to know if he is off base or I’m a lousy Christian.
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IMONK, thanks for the post. The scriptures used are beautiful…beautiful…words of HOPE eternal….the ‘good news’ of Christ’s redemptive act. Through the death of His soul….mine has found life. I feel as the people of Israel…I should just put my face to the ground and weep over my unworthiness.
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JOY is a holy presence that only the redeemed can know. Joy is way beyond emotions of happiness, excitement, or delight. Joy is the literal emotion of holiness spilling from the heart of God into the human heart. Joy cannot be solicited nor demanded. It comes only when willed by God. Joy fills the heart to overflowing with a promise of total acceptance…eternal peace. Joy proves ‘peace on earth…good will towards men.’
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What a wonderful post! Steve, the Orthodox/Armenian/Wesleyan types among us would express it identically.
St. John Chrysostom’s Easter sermon says things very close to what iMonk has said:
“Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!
Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
“You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below.”
Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!
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I agree with the comments of Dave R. I was in my church’s Christmas production, and though I would have liked to have stopped at the birth and just wallowed in that majesty and wonderment, my church likes to get the rest of the story and go all the way through the Resurrection. Anyhow, we sang a song called “Jesus Saves”, and after repeating the phrase “Jesus Saves” about 50 times, and mulling over that truth, and watching Jesus restore a distraught Peter who had betrayed him, I was overwhelmed by the GRACE that God continues to extend to me and to all of us. And I cried tears of JOY every time I sang that song.
Praise God that when we were YET sinners, Jesus died for us. And although we are STILL sinners, Jesus died for us and forgives and restores.
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That’s a good one, Patrick.
I guess it’s more fun to comment on what a jerk that guy Osteen is.
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Thank you for this reminder that Jesus came to give us an abundant life, one that is filled with joy because of the Father’s grace and love. This is especially true this time of year when we see others, even those who claim to follow Christ, trying to fill their lives with a false joy and happiness.
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Joy: the least popular comment thread on Internet Monk in recent memory.
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Thank you, iMonk.
As an aside, I felt tremendous joy recently listening to “For Unto Us a Child is Born” from Handel’s Messiah. The typical gloom in my life disappeared, at least for a time.
For those who need some joy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpHs7LFIsA
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Amen, your message brought tears of Holy Joy. Thank You
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I’ve found it a lot easier to find joy and hope in the middle of grieving for things that happened TO ME. I find it possible to believe God is working good from circumstances outside my control.
But things I DO – the guilt and shame, thinking I’ve disappointed and angered God – these I find very difficult to get past. How can good come from this mess I created? Then I read again Isaiah or the gospels, and hear that the LORD loves and restores and takes joy in his people . . . and once again the gospel shines a bright light into my darkness. “Surprised by Joy” once again.
It is this continuing cycle of deliverence from guilt by the gospel, the message of the reformers, that provided a hope and joy that I could not find in the Wesleyan church(s) of my childhood. I have as much cause for rejoicing in my salvation today, because I am being continually saved, as the day I first turned to Christ.
Thank you Michael for once again sharing the gospel and bringing hope.
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Michael,
My apologies, point taken.
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I think Boethius is right about the difference between happiness and joy: we cannot always be happy but we can always be joyful because joy comes from God, it comes from knowing that I am God’s son or daughter.
Another point may be that joy is the fruit of pain, that Christian joy and Christian suffering are interrelated.
As St JosemarÃa Escrivá writes in Christ is Passing By:
And in The Way of the Cross:
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Amen
Reminds me of Pollyanna, when the preacher stops preaching fire and brimstone and switches to the verses about joy.
Sorry, my wife is makinging me watch older movies again.
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I like to make a distinction between happiness and joy. I have joy, that His mercies are new every morning, and that He is faithful to forgive me daily as I call on His name.
I may not always feel happy because of circumstances in life but I always have joy. I never despair no matter what may come, for death has been defeated.
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What a great example of the tension of the story of redemption! A tension that is alive and well in my realm of christianity. This stirs me to ask a question I’ve been wrestling with…..
How do those of us that lean toward the Wesleyan-Arminian camp express the liberating power of the gospel?
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I’m pretty sure happiness is of the Devil and you’re all going to Hell.
Repent!, etc.
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Michael Bell:
This post has nothing to do with smiling all the time, or with happy clappy style music.
I appreciate your linking the posts, and I’m sure measuring what I say one day against what I say another day could be a full time job, but I don’t want to encourage it. The topic is the Gospel, not whether I smile at the post office lady enough.
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Thank you for this post – I really needed to be reminded of this today.
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I think this is immensely appropriate for Advent 🙂
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The two fit for me. The command to rejoice after realizing the exile was still there doesn’t ignore that the exile happened, and I think that, by way of stretching the metaphor or analogy a bit from the earlier post, Michael was talking about people who may simultaneously say “We have never been enslaved to anyone” while also demanding that people weep. Thus the reference to Pharisees.
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[MOD edited]
I remember meeting my first pentecostals. They seemed so passionate, so joyful, so alive. I had to say to myself, “am I missing something here?” I had to conclude like point 10 in a recent post of yours that I was. People deride “happy, clappy” music. But sometimes I just can’t help singing in a “happy, clappy” way.
“Rejoice, rejoice, Christ is in you.”
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amen.
we need to cast the vision of God’s incredible grace, love, forgiveness, and joy, and then invite people to join it. to leave behind the baggage that they continue to carry and simply sit down and feast on Christ and his community.
in his body God is doing all these things, and more. he is showing his power in weakness. Jesus came to bring the kingdom, a kingdom that overthrows the powers of the world and calls people like us to be his children.
what an amazing God we serve!
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