Laughter and Lament: The Radical Freedom of Joy and SorrowSample

Called to Shine

There is “glory” in suffering and lament. I believe that every time an unbeliever gets cancer, a Christian gets cancer, so the world will know the difference. It applies to all the dark places where Christians walk. It is the sanctification of lament. Believe it or not, our darkness is the place of our own glorification in the same way the cross was the place of Jesus’s glorification.

John 13 is a wonderful chapter of the Bible. It’s the place where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, identifies Judas as his betrayer, and gives a new commandment about love. One of the interesting things about that chapter is that those events happen right before Jesus’s crucifixion. Referring to his death on the cross, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31). The death that Jesus faced, with all the horror of it, was the place where Jesus was glorified. It’s the reason the writer of Hebrews said that we should look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2, italics added). What’s with that? How can the horror of the crucifixion be the place of glorification and joy?

In the high-priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17, Jesus prays for us, and one of the things Jesus prayed for was our glory: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them . . .” (John 17:22-24).

Love, glory, and joy are all a part of the dark places to which God leads us. Jesus was glorified in his cross, and we are glorified in ours. Not only that, the dark places (even if it doesn’t feel like it) happen because of God’s love. And then we find our glory and surprising joy there.

“Glory” is from a Latin word that references high praise, honor, and admiration, and a rough translation is “Wow!!!” It has to do with brilliant light and it’s what we mean when we say to someone, “Man, you shined!” Jesus “shined” when he went to the cross and we will, too, when we go to ours.

Just as Jesus was glorified in the cross, he was also glorified in coming back from the dead. His story is our story and, while we are glorified in our crosses, don’t forget that we are glorified in our resurrection, too. One has to get to an empty tomb by way of the cross. Just don’t forget the empty tomb.