Douglas J. Early

One of the valid criticisms of the Christian church in the US is that it is often too “smiley” and happy. What I mean by “too ‘smiley’ and happy” is that we often come across as inauthentic, superficial, or ignorant of reality. In fairness to the church in the US, this is a similar critique of those in the US, generally, especially as noticed by others when we travel abroad. We as a people are generally far more gregarious, outgoing, and smiley than other cultures. So Christians in the U.S. come about some of this persona fairly naturally.

Still, this persona has been augmented in the church by a lot of dynamic personalities with bad theology (cf. Joel Osteen). There are preachers and teachers who proclaim that if you just believe and trust in Jesus, everything will go well for you – “You will be blessed beyond your wildest imagination.” Such theology is easily proven un-biblical. Take for instance Jesus, the one whom we are supposed to emulate, to follow; Jesus himself was tortured and then executed on a cross. Almost all of the original 12 disciples were also tortured and executed. But even worse than believing this un-biblical theology for ourselves is when those who grieve and mourn, those who are sad and cry, are judged as “unfaithful” or as “not trusting enough.”

I will admit, that some of my frustration and anger over this un-biblical theology is personal. I resonate far more naturally with sadness and depression than happiness and optimism. But I believe that even more than my natural predilection, biblical theology profoundly affirms not only the acceptance of grief and tears as part of our humanity, but God’s blessing of our grief and tears as essential to our relationship to God’s divinity.

Recently, I have been preaching a short series of sermons focusing on the writings of the prophet Joel. Joel was not only a prophet, but also a poet, familiar with grief and tears. Through his powerful and profound words, his God-breathed words, Joel reveals that grieving is an important response to the suffering and pain of this world and our lives. The bulk of this post comes from the first sermon in the series.

I initially turned to Joel in hope of finding wisdom from the scriptures for surviving our current world myself, and perhaps even being able to help some others along the way. Years ago, a friend who had lived through some very difficult times expressed joy at having survived the ordeal with the words, “I feel like God has restored the years the locusts ate.” Noting the blank response in my eyes, she added, “…from the book of Joel.” I pretended that I knew the reference. At the time, I didn’t; but her words stayed with me. As I pondered where in the scriptures I should turn for this present moment, that memory guided me to Joel.

For those now looking at this page with the same blank look I once had, let me give a brief primer on Joel’s story. Joel is one of the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures. He shared a message from God to a people living through waves of locust swarms followed by severe drought. For those of us in the Puget Sound region unfamiliar with the devastation caused by locusts, it is shockingly total in scope. Joel creates a vision for us, “A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number. It has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.” (1:6-7) And of the drought that followed the locusts, we hear in verse 10, “The fields are ruined. The ground is dried up. The grain is destroyed. The new wine is dried up. The oil fails.” Verse 12, “The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered. Pomegranate, palm and apple tree, all the trees of the field are dried up.”

Every aspect of life for those living in the land was horribly affected by these events. People were hungry, thirsty, and displaced.

But Joel doesn’t berate the people for their lack of faith and trust. He doesn’t pretend that all will be well, “Just turn that frown upside down!” This is how Joel commands the people to respond, verse 5 “Wake up, you drunkards, and weep (I’ll come back to that). Wake up. Wail, you drinkers of wine. Wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.” Verse 8, “Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth, grieving for the betrothed of her youth.” Verse 11, “Despair, you farmers. Wail, you vine growers. Grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.” Literally, it translates, “the harvest of the field mourns.”

Years later, Jesus himself, knowing the pain and suffering that lay ahead for his people lived this type of grief many times. In the Gospel According to Luke (19:41), we read that , “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept.” He wept over it! Jesus could foresee the impending doom for the city and it grieved him to the point of tears. We also hear in Hebrews (5:7) that, “…throughout his life, during his days on earth, [Jesus] offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears.” This is what Jesus did in response to the brokenness and suffering experienced in our world.

Joel and Jesus both reveal that grieving is an important, even holy, response to the pain and suffering, the catastrophes and the horrors of our lives and our world. We even have a whole category of psalms in the scriptures for this purpose. Psalms that have been used by God’s people for centuries as prayer, both individually and when gathered together in community. They’re called the Psalms of Lament, and there are many. Walter Brueggemann helps us see how vital these expressions are. He writes, “This language represents honest address to God that moves the relationship to new possibilities of faithfulness that can only be reached through such risky honesty. In the full relationship with God, the season of grief must be taken as seriously as the season of praise. Such language accords well with the theology of the cross. It militates against every theology of glory, against every theology that imagines that all things can be resolved, that there are answers, and that we go from ‘strength to strength’ [which is a biblical quote that is often given by smiley, happy pastors]. It stands as a mark of realism for biblical faith. It is vital because there are situations in which easy, cheap talk of resolution must be avoided.” Grieving is an important, even holy, response to the pain and suffering, the catastrophes and horrors in our lives and in our world.

But first, we have to be awake to reality, and acknowledge the truth. Throughout the opening verses of his message, Joel tries to get the attention of the people. Verse 2, “Hear this, you elders, listen, all you who live in the land.” Verse 5, “Wake up, you drunkards and weep.” Elizabeth Achtemeier asserts that drunkards are addressed not because they are the worst of the sinners; rather, because they will be some of the first people affected by what’s happening. Because, she notes, “…their source of happiness is dependent on the fruit of the vine,” and it’s been wiped out. Her reference to that situation brought to my mind those who vote for politicians who will take away support for their own lives and communities.

Notice as well the despair in Jesus’ words that people wouldn’t wake up to what they were missing. In the gospel passage quoted above, as Jesus approached Jerusalem, saw the city and wept over it, he proclaimed, “If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. [These horrible things will happen because] you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” You didn’t wake up to what was going on, what was true.

We ourselves live in a time in our nation when vast numbers of people and politicians are asleep! They slumber while billionaires hoard more and more wealth, while millions of poor and oppressed lose even the crumbs of food and insurance that fell to the floor from the tables of the rich. They slumber while thousands of human beings, the elderly, women, and children in Palestine starve to death blocked from aid by ruthless powers supported with money and weapons from the U.S. They slumber while cowardly, masked, mercenaries rip human beings from their families and communities and imprison them in concentrations camps.

If these realities do not tear your heart apart, you may still call yourself a human being; but please do not call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. God’s prophets are calling to our world, “Wake up! Look with your eyes; listen with your ears! Wake up!” And for those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear, Joel and Jesus say to us, “weep…wail…mourn…despair…grieve.” It’s not only okay, it’s holy. This is what God is calling us to feel and experience with what is happening to human beings and to creation itself. Wake up and weep, wail, mourn, despair, and grieve!

[For those interested in the original sermon, the podcast can be found HERE]