Joyful Christians

Joyful Christians

Matthew 6:16-18

            I love Robert Louis Stevenson’s writing.  I missed reading his adventure stories as a boy, but I’ve enjoyed getting acquainted with them as an adult.  I have also had the privilege of singing songs written by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams on texts from Stevenson’s poetry.  What we may forget is that Stevenson was also very quotable.  He said, “If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong.”

            Gloomy Christians.  We’ve all seen them, gone to church with them, been trapped in conversations and meetings with them.  What an experience!  Everything is wrong.  They remind me of A.A. Milne’s character Eeyore, the donkey who complains about everything.  He can’t see the bright side of any situation.

            Or maybe they’re like Johnny Carson’s character, Priscilla Goodbody, the NBC censor, who tried to make sure nothing even the slightest bit naughty appeared on the network’s programs.

            Or perhaps like the disciple Thomas.  We call him Doubting Thomas because of his part in the resurrection story, but we might also call him Gloomy Thomas for his comment in John 11:16.  Jesus announces they will be returning to Judea to heal (raise) Lazarus.  On their previous visit, Jesus was almost stoned by the religious leaders.  Thomas, with all the gloom he can muster, says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

            Nowhere in the gospels do we read that Jesus was gloomy or despondent.  We know he was frustrated with his disciples at times because they didn’t undeerstand what he was trying to teach them.  We know he became angry with the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders.  We know he was upset over his coming trials when he prayed in Gethsemane.   We know he suffered pain and agony during his torture and execution.  But there is no record of him ever being gloomy.  He seems to have been a cheerful, happy person as he carried out his ministry.

            The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ teachings on a wide variety of subjects.  It’s a good summary of his message.  If we learn to live by this sermon we will be the kind of people God created us to be.

            Most of the paragraphs in this sermon are short, but each one makes a point about how we should live.  Today’s reading is specifically about fasting, but it is really about our whole approach to the Christian life.

            When some people fasted as part of their religious discipline, they made themselves look sad and gloomy as they walked through town.  They hoped people would see them and say, “Oh, my!  What a good person.  He’s fasting.  Isn’t he wonderful!” 

            Jesus said, “Don’t be like that.  Dress up.  Wash your face until it shines.  Smile.  Look happy.  Be glad you can give up something you enjoy to honor God.  Let (as Robert Louis Stevenson might have said) your morals make you glad.  If you love God and are content in God’s love, let it show in the way you present yourself to the world.”

            No gloomy Christians here.  No dreary moralists.  No Eeyores or Priscilla Goodbodies or Gloomy Thomases in this religion.  God loves us, and we love God.  What is there to be gloomy about?  How can we be sad when we reside in the shelter of God’s love? 

            So…start the day off right.  Wash your face till it shines.  Dress up!  Put a smile on your face.  Let everyone know being a Christian makes you happy.