Laetare

Text:  Isaiah 66:10

Theme:  “Laetare”

4^th Sunday in Lent

March 15, 2015

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice greatly with her,

all you who mourn over her.”

Hip, hip, hooray!  It’s Laetare Sunday!  Laetare.  That’s the old title, in the Latin language, for the 4^th Sunday in Lent.  It means “be joyful”!  I might have to try that some time. 

But wait, what is this business, really, about being joyful?  We can’t do that; we’re the frozen chosen Presbyterian church.   We’re supposed to take life like Mona Lisa and keep people guessing whether we’re happy or sad. Besides, it’s Lent.  We must be sorrowful over our ever-present, omni-present sins; change our minds about God (which is what “repentance” means), and then plead for forgiveness. We don’t want to be like singer/songwriter Billy Joel who would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints!  Who or what was it that dared to, or had the audacity to, sneak some joy – inject a little happiness, if you will -- into this ecclesiastical season that is supposed to be gloomy – as gloomy as the cold and overcast weather; as gloomy as the endless road work on University Drive!  Shame on them!  They ought to be brought up on charges!

Don’t waste another second!  Blame the Old Testament major prophet, Isaiah.   It won’t do much good, though.  The statute of limitations has run out.  He’s been dead in his grave for years.  But he himself, or someone who may have sat at his feet to learn, did give us this.  It’s Isaiah 66:10. 

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice greatly with her,

all you who mourn over her.

Isaiah 66:10 is the antiphon and/or refrain in the Introit, or “Entrance Song”, for the 4^th Sunday in Lent!  This morning, I’ve thrown all the lectionary readings out and decided to go with Isaiah 66:10.  I love the church year and the lectionary so much that sometimes, in an exercise of Christian freedom, I depart from them.

Actually, that’s wrong.  I’m not departing from today’s readings.  Together with you, I’m digging deeper into them.  And the “spade” is Isaiah 66:10.

“Rejoice with Jerusalem”!  If we use a historical-geographical principle of interpretation here, then we shouldn’t even be in church.  We ought to be acquiring passports (if we don’t already have them) and making reservations to fly over to Jerusalem.  “Rejoice with Jerusalem”!  It says it right there in the Bible.

However, “Jerusalem” is more than the city that bears its name.  Jerusalem had mount Zion.  It had the temple mount.  It housed the ark of the covenant.  It was the footstool of God on earth.  If you really wanted to be close to God, then you made reservations for Jerusalem. 

In 12^th century Christian circles, a certain Bernard of Morias wrote this:

Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest,

Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice opprest.

I know not, oh, I know not, what joys await us there,

What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.

Yes, Jerusalem had the temple.  But Jesus said:  “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

No longer, then, is the temple the place to be close to God.  The place is the Jesus point.  Jerusalem is where Jesus is, where Jesus has pledged Himself to be for you – that is, in His Name, His Gospel, His Baptism, and His Supper.

One great definition of church is this:  it is the “body of Christ.”  If getting close to God involves where Jesus is, then the church is where it’s at because the church is the body of Jesus Christ.

So you can say the Laetare thing this way:  “Rejoice with the church and be glad for her, all you who love her.  Rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.

“When You Wish Upon a Star” is not in the Bible.  At it’s best, the Bible never indulges us inwishful thinking.  It tells it like it is.  It’s true of life; it’s true of life in the church:  there is rejoicing and there is mourning.  There are joys and there are concerns.

At it’s most recent meeting, the session of this congregation didn’t so much hear reports, make motions, second those motions, and vote.  We made a few decisions, but most of the meeting – what it made like none other that I’ve attended since being here – is that we, as your servant/leaders here, shared freely those things that we could rejoice over and those things that we mourn.  There are great joys about this church.  However, there are also significant concerns.  I’ll be addressing many of these joys and concerns going forward in the season of Easter.

For now, please realize what Laetare Sunday, with its passage from Isaiah 66, is calling us to do:  rejoice over BOTH our gladness and our mourning, both our joys and our concerns.

In and with the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, our mourning is never the last word and our joy will only be made complete.

Happy Laetare!

Amen.