Laughter and Lament: The Radical Freedom of Joy and SorrowMinta

Free at Last

God is looking for opportunities to be near you. In fact, that might be one of the reasons for the pain of lament. Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1–10) was a rich tax collector, a dishonest and greedy bully, and a pain in the neck. On top of that, he was little and ugly. After his encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus changed radically. He promised to give half of his goods to the poor, and, to those he had cheated, he promised to repay them four times what he had taken from them. But the most amazing part of the story was what Jesus said to Zacchaeus when he told him to come down from the tree, “I’m coming to your house for dinner.” What? Not Zacchaeus! Jesus, he’s a liar, a thief, and a scoundrel. Are you crazy?

Of course a part of the point of that story is the change that took place in the life of Zacchaeus. The major point, though, is that Jesus never asked him to change; and given Jesus’s proclivity to hang out with prostitutes, drunks, and swingers, it is a good bet that Jesus would have had dinner with Zacchaeus if Zacchaeus had never changed.

If you want to see the real Jesus, check out Luke 7:36–50 where there is another story, this one is about a prostitute who crashed a dinner party for Pharisees (yes, Jesus hung out with those who were insufferably self-righteous too). Jesus forgave her sins and never once asked her to change. I suspect there was a change. That kind of thing happened when people hung out with Jesus. It still happens. But in Luke 7 all Jesus did was love her and told her that she was forgiven, even “though her sins were many.” Jesus also said that those who are forgiven little, love little.

The reason those events are recorded in Scripture is because they reflect the real God . . . and who we really are. You’re Zacchaeus and so am I. You’re the prostitute and so am I. We all are. And, believe it or not, Jesus wants to be our friend. When you lament your loss and pain, your fear and sin, and your loneliness and anger, you will discover that Jesus joins you in that dark place. Things don’t always change and sometimes even get worse, but Jesus is there because he is looking for places to be with you.

And when it gets dark, there is a wonderful discovery: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). We all thought that the reason for our pain was like a bill we needed to pay, a dark place we needed to fix, or a sacrifice we needed to make. That’s a lie. His presence is, as it were, present just because he wants to be close to you and me. If that doesn’t make you want to speak in tongues, dance, and laugh, there’s something wrong with you.

You and I don’t have anything to prove, anything to protect, anything to control . . . and no reputation to maintain, no pain to escape, or any circumstance to fear. Perfect love casts out fear. Not your love. His.