Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
March 3, 2002
The Third Sunday in Lent

Be of Good Cheer
The Rev. Dr. Robert R. Hansel

Gospel: John 4:5-42

In the 37th chapter of the book of the prophet Jeremiah at the 17th verse we read:

Then King Zedekiah sent for the prophet and had him brought out so that the King might ask him secretly in his house this question-"Is there any word from the Lord?"

Is there any word from the Lord? This, obviously, is a proper question to be asked at any time, in any age. But as we reflect on the events of this past September--the economic collapse of ENRON, a devastating domestic economic recession that has spelled joblessness for millions, continuing slaughter of civilians in the Middle East, and seemingly endless threats of world-wide terrorism--the question raises itself with peculiar and particular relevance right now in Mid-Lenten 2002. Is there any word from the Lord?

So far, we have heard mostly the voices of the prophets of doom. Their message is one of chaos and calamity. Just this week, those who view our present global situation as terminally sick--only minutes from total collapse-- advanced the minute hand of the so-called "Doomsday Clock" to 11:53 p.m. It is a time when there is indeed, as Luke's Gospel puts it, "distress of nations….perplexity; men's hearts failing them for fear when they look at those things coming upon the earth." It is a time when all of us might very well again raise the same questions that King Zedekiah poses to Jeremiah: "Is there any word from the Lord?"

In seeking an answer to this question, religious persons have always turned to Holy Scripture before totally abandoning hope or relinquishing the field to bogus oracles and seers. When we do that, the New Testament accounts concerning Jesus are very instructive. No matter how dreadful the challenges and confrontations with which Jesus is confronted, we find again and again that Jesus invites us to "Be of good cheer." To sick, poor, oppressed and hopeless we find Jesus, again and again, saying, "Be of good cheer."

Is this just "whistling in the dark", pollyannaish, shallow stuff from Jesus? Is he really too dumb to know what's going on? Consider this: there are three separate occasions to where, in spite of all indications to the contrary, Jesus bids us to "Be of good cheer." The first time we hear these words, we are told of a man who has been sick his entire lifetime of a wrenching palsy, an affliction that has taken away all quality of life, that has made him a total outcast. Jesus heals the man, telling him that he has been made whole, that his separation from God's whole will has been restored, and that he has been forgiven and reconciled. It's like he's just received a "Get out of Jail Free" card. Who wouldn't "Be of good cheer" to hear that kind of news? God's PARDON from a lifelong sentence of bondage is certainly sufficient reason to change your whole perspective on life.

The second time we hear the phrase "Be of good cheer" is when Jesus is in the storm-tossed fishing boat with his disciples. They are frightened out of their wits. He doesn't tell them to ignore the winds and waves, that it's only their imagination, or grit your teeth and pull harder on the oars. No, he says a word of total assurance and confidence, "Don't be afraid. Be of good cheer." He invites them to take comfort because, whatever is going on, he's going to be with them. He will stand by their side through the whole ordeal. We will never be alone. A second perfectly understandable reason for us to see things in a completely positive way is God's constant, trustworthy PRESENCE.

The third occasion for us to hear the reassuring words, "Be of good cheer," is when Jesus is taking leave of his disciples to begin his lonely march of death to the Cross. In the face of this incredible prospect, he said what I consider to be the most amazing words recorded in all of literature, "In the world you will have troubles, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." The third basis for remaining calm and confident is God's POWER.

Three New Testament reasons for us, in however difficult or anxiety-ridden the times, to be of good cheer: God's Pardon, Presence, and Power. All of these are promised to us by none other than God's own Son, walking among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The question is, do those words have the same relevance to us right now at the beginning of the twenty-first century, as they had for those who heard and recorded them in the first century? I am absolutely convinced that they do.

Can there still be healing and reconciliation? Do we think that God has somehow closed up shop? God suffers still with us and knows about our proclivities toward hate and violence. These are not new. God continues to work through our limitations to build unity and harmony---in spite of our divisions, lies, and hatred. Nothing can happen that God is not able to use for good---to turn around for our benefit. Even the events of September are even now becoming a wake-up call to let us know how little we understand one another around this globe. It's not to late to do something about that. We can learn from the cost of violence and we can find ways to work together. We will find pardon in acknowledging and seeking to build bridges of understanding among all the peoples of the earth. God's PARDON is still at work; be of good cheer.

Too often we forget about God's PRESENCE. God is still at work, shaping and leading us toward the future. God cares about everything that happens. No sparrow falls without God's knowledge. As the poet Robert Lowell puts it,
"Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch o'er all His own." Hear me well, I'm not saying that God causes everything. I'm saying that God isn't aloof or uninvolved or uncaring--God is around; God is involved; God is ever-PRESENT. And for that, all of us can certainly be of good cheer.

Finally, I hope we haven't forgotten or dismissed the POWER of God to turn all things ultimately to God's own purposes. New responsibilities, new opportunities, even new disasters are all part of a path toward realizing the vision that is God's culmination of human history--mankind's final reunion and reconciliation with the Creator. No shoulder-shrugging, escapism here. No substitute for human responsibility, concern and action. There is no substitute, but there is a powerful ally.

Do you begin to see the dimensions of the "word from the Lord" that we may very well be forgetting in these dark days since September 11? God is not lost, or sleeping, or off on a journey. God is right here with us in the middle of this mess. And God is not a hopeless bystander, wringing his hands. God is here to Pardon, God is intimately Present, and God is Powerful. From all this we can take heart; be of good cheer.

In the ancient city of Carthage, a Roman citizen wrote a letter to a friend of his named Donatus over seventeen hundred years ago:

It is an incredibly bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world….brigands on the high road, pirates on the sea, under all roofs misery and selfishness…an incredibly bad world-yet in the midst of it, I have found here a quiet people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They are often despised and persecuted, but they don't care. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are called Christians, and I have become one of them.

Could anyone say these things of today's modern Christians--about you and about me? And if they could say these things, would there not be more confidence abroad in our world that there is, indeed, some word from the Lord?

The word from God that comes to those who will listen-the Lord's word-is the very same as it always has been: "Be of good cheer." Why? Because we are upheld everyday and in every circumstance by God's PARDON, God's PRESENCE, and God's POWER.

In closing, here's my own paraphrase of God's word for you right now, today:

In this world you will have troubles. There will be strife, hate, lies, violence, and terrorism---fears to struggle through, challenges to face, and battles to be won, but be of good cheer. Because of my pardon, my presence, and my power be assured that I have overcome the world.

Christians now, then, and always are (in the words of the ancient Roman), "...a quiet people. These people, Donatus, are the Christians, and I have become one of them."

How about you?

Copyright 2002 Calvary Episcopal Church

Gospel: John 4:5-42
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world." NRSV

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