IS THERE ANYTHING TO CHEER ABOUT?
On letting the light break through
the cracks.
John 16:28-33
"These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world." (KJV)
"I've told you all
this so that trusting me, you will be unshakeable and assured, deeply at
peace. In this godless world you will
continue to experience difficulties, but take heart! I've conquered the
world." (Peterson
"The Message")
Two days
after Donald Trump became President-elect of the United States, Leonard Cohen,
the Canadian folk-singer and prophet for our times, died. He was 82, was struggling with cancer and had
a fall. But I guess he also died of a
broken heart, broken by what was happening in the world, especially south of
the Canadian border. I decided I needed
to hear his voice again. Fortunately we
had the CDs of his famous Live in London Concert with some of his greatest
songs: "Dance with me to the end of love," "The Future,"
"Ain't no cure for love," and most famous of all
"Hallelujah," Yes,
"Hallelujah" or Praise the Lord, the very words with which we will end
this meditation and our service today.
Cohen was Jewish. He may not have been Orthodox, and he was no
saint, but he was steeped in the Bible
and Jewish tradition; he had also dug deeply into the Jesus story. As you listen to his songs, time and again
you hear strong echoes of the prophets and their cry for justice, and Jesus
speaking to us out of his suffering.
Some say Cohen was a prophet of doom, and I guess to some extent he was,
but no more so that the Old Testament prophets, and no more so than Jesus when
he said, as in John gospel, "in the world you will have
tribulation." But there was another
note that sounded in Cohen's songs, an almost whimsical note of joy in living,
and note of grace in the dark places of life.
Who can forget his words,
Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect
offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
As I listened to him sing last week one line
in his conversation between songs struck me: "I have studied the world's
religions and cheerfulness kept breaking through!" Yes, Cohen was not pious or religious in any
conventional sense of those words, but neither were the prophets. And like them he could be scathing in his comments
about religious hypocrisy.
But as he
explored religion in greater depth, he also discovered cheerfulness and
light breaking through. We get a glimmer of true religion, religion
without pretension, religion in which cheerfulness and light keeps breaking
through. "In the world you will
have tribulation," says Jesus, "but be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world." Even as Jesus went
towards Jerusalem and the cross, cheerfulness broke through, a profound joy
that arises when you know you are on the right path even if it is into
suffering. "For the joy that was
set before him, he endured the cross," says the writer to the Hebrews.
Jesus' words
are translated differently in modern versions of the Bible. It no longer sounds quite right, as it might
have to the translators of the Authorised Version, that Jesus was cheering up
his disciples as he journeyed to the cross. So the NRSV has Jesus saying "In the
world you face persecution. But take
courage. I have conquered the
world." Or according to Eugene
Petersen: "Take heart! I've conquered the world." "Take courage" is probably the best
literal translation of the original. But
sometimes "courage" for us means the bravery of a soldier, or the
bravery of a sky-diver, or the bravery of someone who plunges into the sea to
rescue a drowning swimmer. "Take
heart" speaks more directly to us, it is a word of encouragement. So, yes, it is about courage, but in a way
that speaks to us in times when we fear that faith is failing, hope is
disappearing, and love has become a cheap commodity. "Take heart!" "Be of good courage!' "Be of good cheer!" Take your pick,
they all point in the same direction, they complement each other.
But in order
to take heart we need to discern the light breaking through the gloom of bad
politics, bad religion, and even some lousy sporting results. In times of despair about what is happening in
the world, we need to be reminded that Jesus' suffering and death are a prelude
to his resurrection and the gift of his empowering Spirit. In the midst of the darkness we need to see
the "light breaking through the cracks" like a ray of sunshine on
days when darkness covers the earth. When
the world seems to be falling apart, when life's tragedies strike, when bad
guys win elections, when religion lets you down, when injustice seems to
triumph, when things look dismal all around you, take courage and be of good
cheer. Jesus has overcome the world of
tribulation. This is not a cheap cheer,
an escape from reality, it is a profound joy when God's grace enables and
encourages us to take heart.
Everyone of
us has his or her own story of pain and suffering, of loss and despair. These may or may not have anything to do with
the bigger picture, just as Cohen's death may not have had anything to do with
Trump's victory. No, these are our own
personal struggles that weave through our own stories and those of our
families. As some of you know, yesterday
we as a family celebrated Steve's death almost seven years ago now. He would have been 55 years old if he had
lived. It has often been a difficult
road for us to travel and we will feel the pain of our loss. "But
cheerfulness keeps breaking through!"
"There is a crack in everything, for that's how the light gets
in!" So take heart and sing along with Cohen and all the angels of
heaven: "Hallelujah!"
John de
Gruchy
Volmoed 17
November 2016
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