Sorrow and Trouble Turned into Joy

Roden Crater – Alpha East Tunnel, James Turrell, 1977–current. 854-foot-long subterranean tunnel Earthwork in a volcanic cinder cone. Painted Desert of Northern Arizona.

Into the Heart II, James Turrell. Light installation. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas.

“Cry of a Lady” from the album A Thousand Thoughts. Performed by The Kronos Quartet featuring Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares. Composed by Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley.

Poetry:

“Victory in Defeat”
by Edwin Markham

Defeat may serve as well as victory
To shake the soul and let the glory out.
When the great oak is straining in the wind
The boughs drink in new beauty and the trunk
Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.
Only the soul that knows the mighty grief
Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come
To stretch out spaces in the heart of joy.

ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD

“Shake the soul and let the glory out.”
­­––– Edwin Markham

How many times did she say it over the course of His life? Was it ever easy to say, even when the angel Gabriel, in all his bold glory, shone before her? Was it easy in Cana, asking for a miracle? Had she tearfully said it at her own husband’s death? “Be it done to me according to Your word.” And as she stood before His agony on the cross, could she bring herself to say it?

How ready are we to relinquish our will, to give up what we treasure in life? Do we sometimes not yield our will so much as leave God to wrestle it from our grasp?

Mary must have heard Simeon’s words echo through all the trials and persecutions Jesus endured, “A sword will pierce your own soul, too.” Today’s music selection, “Cry of a Lady,” could easily represent Mary’s and other mourners' plaintive and anguished cries as they stood at the cross.

Today’s artwork and poem have shadows in them. The photographs are from James Turrell’s art installations. One is taken from inside a series of hallways made like tunnels filled with varying colors of light; the other taken from inside a dormant volcano where he constructed tunnels also filled with colored lights. While there is light in the tunnels, there is also darkness and shadow. Our poem wavers between shadow and light. Its shadows start with “defeat,” and follow with weighted phrases like “shake the soul,” “the great oak straining,” and “mighty grief.” But the art and poem both have something else.

InThe Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross, Arthur Pink shows us in Luke 23, that when God had forsaken Jesus on the cross because of our sins, Jesus did not call on God for three dark hours. But the darkness passed and the curtain in the temple was torn in two. There was a turn. Jesus again spoke with God, “Father, into Your hands I commend my Spirit.” Communion was restored between Father and Son signaling something of great importance to come.

Today’s artworks and poem have a turn in them. Turrell’s tunnels open onto bright daylight, like a resurrection light, compared to the artificial lighting and shadows we passed through. And while our poem uses “defeat” twice among its shadows, the balance shifts, there’s a turn. The language presses toward the light with a “new beauty,” and as “the mighty grief” becomes “the mighty rapture.”

Did Mary sense the turn at the cross? She must have laid down her life again, saying, “according to Your word.” And when the news came that the tomb was empty and Jesus had risen, she must have experienced a type of resurrection, like Jesus promised in our John 16 verse, her sorrow turned to joy.

When Gabriel left Mary, she hurried to visit Elizabeth. She greeted her saying, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47). We don’t have a record of anything Mary said after Jesus was raised from the dead. But we know from her that after we lay down our lives and yield to God’s will, we experience a turn, a type of resurrection. And after resurrection, the glory of God.

Prayer:
"Lord, I am utterly dependent on You.
I yield to Your holy will without reserve.
Let Your Word direct me, Your Spirit guide me,
Your grace uphold me, and Your love fill me.
Take my life and make it wholly Yours.
Grant me contentment in all circumstances,
knowing that Your will is always for my good
and Your purpose is always for Your glory.”
–––Charles Spurgeon

Jayne English
Essayist