Have you ever felt relieved that it was “Wednesday”? “Hump day” (as it is sometimes called) seems to be the first day of the week we look forward to so that we can begin our sprint toward the finish line – the weekend. “It’s hump day,” we might think. “The week is half over. I think I can make it the rest of the week. I have this week more than half way behind me. I’ve gotten this far – I can make it the rest of the way.”

That’s the idea with “Laetare.” It won’t be long now. Soon we will be celebrating the resurrection with our Lord. We have a good part of Lent behind us. We are on the home stretch. We think we can make it. It’s the “Wednesday” of the Lenten Season. We are over the hump and sprinting toward the finish line.

In the Old Testament text for today Isaiah speaks of the restoration of Israel. He says, “This is what the Lord says: In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you…” He goes on to say, “Shout for joy, O heavens; Rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.” Isaiah is telling the people that they can rejoice now because of what the Lord promises to them in the future. They can be confident that the Lord will deliver them. They can be assured that the Lord will not forsake them and at the end of the race, they will finish victorious.

And so it is with hump day and with Laetare. All we have to do is get through the middle. If we can do that – it’s all down hill from there. By that time the weekend – Easter is a “fore sure” thing. We can start coasting all the way home.

That’s what gets us to the end – looking ahead and knowing what “will” happen – what is yet to come. Isaiah in the text for today uses the future tense twelve different times. “I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people…They will neither hunger nor thirst…He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.” The Lord has future promises for His people and He has future promises for us.

The Lord knows our suffering and disillusions today. He knows the troubles that we have and because of that – He makes sure to use the future tense for us as well. The same words that were given to the people of Israel promising restoration can be applied to our “future” lives. There will be a time when there will be no more hunger and thirst. There will be a time when pain is taken away. There will be a time when the veil of tears of this world will be lifted and the Lord will come again and take us from this dreaded place. And it is dreaded, even if your life and circumstances right now are all that you could ever hope for.

Now I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news – but its news that we must expect. This news comes our way because of the sin that stains the world we live in. And it’s bad news for us – because of us – and because of others who hurt us. Just like there will be a future deliverance for those in Christ, there will also be before us a future filled with heartache and sadness on this side of eternity. Again, I’m not trying to be the messenger of sadness and doom but it is what it is. And if we have any experience in life at all, we know that it’s all just down the pike for us if it’s not being experienced right now.

I want you to know, beloved in the Lord, you make things worse. You make things harder on yourself and on others. And for what? For a little self satisfaction or a little self promotion? You make things worse for yourself and for others by believing you can get away with it. I don’t know what “it” happens to be in your life right now. Sin manifests itself in our thoughts, words and deeds in different ways. In the back of our minds we just don’t think that what we are plotting, what we are saying, what we are doing, is going to hurt anyone – us included. That’s wrong. God put together His guiding Law to show us there is a standard and when we cross the line – we not only hurt our Lord we hurt ourselves and others. Keep the standard and do not waver.

This is a standard to be kept today and every day we live on this side of eternity – the Ten Commandments. The Law of God is the curb which keeps us on the right path, the mirror which reflects to us the image of the sinners we are and the rule that guides our actions for ourselves and others. This is for today and every day. And so is God’s covenant of grace and forgiveness.

Because our Lord knows that we have already broken the law and deserve nothing but death, He stepped in and took our place. He “restored” His people, you and me, to a new life that comes only by way of Jesus the Savior of the world. And it’s this future hope that gives us every reason – in the midst of hardships and struggles – to rejoice in the name of the Lord. For those people in the Old Testament they could look forward to the Lord fulfilling the promise of the coming Messiah. For us today, we too hear these words and look forward to the same Messiah who promises to return and take His faith to be by His side in eternity forever. This is reason enough to “rejoice” even during Lent.

The late great English writer by the name of G.K. Chesterton wrote about Jesus and why he became a Christian in the book called “Orthodoxy.” Chesterton was once an avowed atheist, who fought Christianity with all his might. Later, the renowned C.S. Lewis would call Chesterton one of his great influences.

Chesterton said that there was a mystique about Jesus that no one understood and that was hidden from all people. It was something that was too great for God to show us when He walked the earth. “Then,” he said, “as I have studied and restudied the life of Jesus, I have discovered that the great secret He kept hidden from everyone was His great joy.”

Christianity without joy is a betrayal of the One we follow. We are a forgiven, redeemed people, who belong to the faithful flock on the way to heaven. We are a people with great joy.

It takes a Christian to understand joy in the midst of hardships. It takes a Christian to realize there is gladness smack dab in the middle of Lent. It takes a Christian to know that Jesus loves you very much. While this is true, I want you to know, that Christians know this joy, but it doesn’t always mean we feel this joy – no matter what season it is. Here is where I would like to make a distinction for you.

There are times of joy – feeling joy. And, there are times of joy – receiving and having joy. One comes and goes all the time. When bad times are upon us, the feeling of joy is difficult to find. When days are good and happiness abounds, the feeling of joy comes easy. The feeling comes and goes. But that’s not the kind of joy that Chesterton pointed out seems hidden or kept a secret. It’s not a secret at all. Its real and it’s a gift and it comes to every person who has faith in the one true God – Jesus the Lord. Joy is more than a feeling – it’s substance that penetrates into the lives of sinners and makes you into a new creation – a saint in the eyes of the Lord.

Laetare – rejoice! It has joy right in the middle. So does Lent – we are on our way to the weekend. We are on our way to Holy Week and then Easter. Rejoice! Hump day is here and Jesus will soon be here as well. Amen

The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.