Sorrow and Laughter

"Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of the fool is in the house of pleasure." Book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." The Gospel of Matthew chapter 5.

There's a difference between being sad and morbid. You will also notice the difference between those who have their own iCloud and those who carry a sadness that speaks of experience and depth. In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians he begins by praising the God of all Comfort who comforts us in order that we can comfort others. We all wonder why there is so much suffering in the world but little is to be gained by wishing it were not so; if it is to be part of life then we can at least be dressing its wounds. And if the best qualification for tending to the hurting is to understand their pain then so be it. The morbid person, on the other hand, sympathises with your misfortune in order that you will sympathise with his. Ironically, the one who most often asks the question doesn't listen to the answer. He's like a beggar in the street with his own pot of pennies for you to transfer to his begging bowl.

On the face of it, the passage from Ecclesiastes seems morbid but it's doubtful the 'house of pleasure' the teacher is referring to would be a tea party or wedding reception; more likely a gambling den or brothel. I don't believe he is advocating a permanent state of gloom but laughter is an expression of a joyful heart regardless of the situation. When Jesus speaks of the blessedness of mourning he recognises that a true mourner (not one feeling sorry for himself) has a measure of the gravity of his condition. True sorrow can be rewarded by true comfort - not to fill your begging bowl but to complete what you lack. Its true that laughter is good medicine and its good to laugh in even the darkest moments but laughter and sadness are not the extremes of our experience.

The prophet Isaiah talks of the 'oil of joy for mourning'. That's not a quick joke to put a smile on your face or a tonic to make you feel better. He's talking of a deep joy that doesn't depend on circumstance or which side of bed you got out of. Pour water over someones head and it will dry but oil sticks. In our quick fix culture we are all too quick to offer a bucket of water to make the miserable person happy rather than having the oil of gladness at hand to alleviate suffering and the oil of joy to comfort those who mourn. Everywhere we look someone is offering a fix but none of us really have the answers. Rather than seeking to be surgeons we should rather be nurses, taking care of those around us and leaving the surgery to him who made us and who alone has the cure.

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