The Hilarity of the Gospel

Do you recall the hell-fire and damnation preaching, the “Amen” shouting, the “saw-dust trail” of past decades in the church? Or surely you have heard about it? Although we may not wish to return to them, at times we have become so formal in the life of the church, so staid and sour, that we no longer act or sound like Christians.

There was something marvelously relaxed and joyous about the life of our Lord as he walked this earth. It is something we wish we might duplicate.

In the book of Acts, we read that the early disciples proclaimed the risen Christ with such hilarious joy and exuberance, that they were accused of being addicted to wine. Peter said, ”No, it was too early in the day for that.” This was not alcoholism, but the heady wine of the Spirit. It was that which caused men to see visions, and dream dreams.

Diedrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian, executed on the Nazi gallows, defined “hilaritas”, the Latin word, as a certain confidence in your work; as a certain boldness and defiance of the world and of popular opinion; and as a certain steadfastness that what we do, benefits the world.

The Christian works with a kind of assurance of freedom. We are not under Law, but under Love. The burden of the Law was like shackles of steel. The fruit of Love is exhilaration, joy, peace, and freedom.

The early Christians learned the cost of freedom, but they would not be shackled again. They could be persecuted, burned at the stake, but they would sing as they burned. They could be thrown to the lions, but they went rejoicing.

With our small sacrifices today, have we forgotten the Gospel with its joy, with its Good News? Call me a fool, if you want, for Christ’s sake, but I don’t care. I have Jesus. Accuse me of indulging, if you will, but the only intoxicant I have been drinking is the wine of the Spirit. I have filled my cup with the sacrament of Life, and I am hilariously happy with the Savior!