MISFORTUNE NOW IS PLAY

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture 
Colossians 2:8-15
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
 
Devotion
Awake, My Heart, with Gladness by Paul Gerhardt is one of my favorite Easter Hymns. It perfectly captures the joy and the meaning of Easter. I am going to read the whole hymn but then I want to focus in on a couple stanzas that really grabbed my attention as I sung this (10x) on Easter – especially since they so beautifully capture the end of what I just read from Colossians 2.

1 Awake, my heart, with gladness,
See what today is done;
Now, after gloom and sadness,
Comes forth the glorious sun.
My Savior there was laid
Where our bed must be made
When to the realms of light
Our spirit wings its flight.

2 The foe in triumph shouted
When Christ lay in the tomb;
But lo, he now is routed,
His boast is turned to gloom.
For Christ again is free;
In glorious victory
He who is strong to save
Has triumphed o'er the grave.

3 This is a sight that gladdens--
What peace it doth impart!
Now nothing ever saddens
The joy within my heart.
No gloom shall ever shake,
No foe shall ever take
The hope which God's own Son
In love for me hath won.

4 Now hell, its prince, the devil,
Of all their pow'r are shorn;
Now I am safe from evil,
And sin I laugh to scorn.
Grim death with all his might
Cannot my soul affright;
It is a pow'rless form,
Howe'er it rave and storm.

5 The world against me rages,
Its fury I disdain;
Though bitter war it wages,
Its work is all in vain.
My heart from care is free,
No trouble troubles me.
Misfortune now is play,
And night is bright as day.

6 Now I will cling forever
To Christ, my Savior true;
My Lord will leave me never,
Whate'er He passes through.
He rends death's iron chain;
He breaks through sin and pain;
He shatters hell's dark thrall;
I follow Him through all.

7 He brings me to the portal
That leads to bliss untold,
Whereon this rhyme immortal
Is found in script of gold:
"Who there My cross has shared
Finds here a crown prepared;
Who there with Me has died
Shall here be glorified."
​
I want to focus in on stanzas 4 and 5.  One of the things Good Friday and Easter mean for us as Christians is that hell and the devil have been stripped of their power over us. Hell, death, and the devil are powerless because Christ has conquered them. So, we joyously sing, “Now I am safe from evil, And sin I laugh to scorn!” We can laugh at sin and death because even with all its might, no matter how much it raves and storms, grim death cannot scare us because Christ is risen from the dead. Where is our hope as the world cowers in fear in the face of pandemics and economic uncertainty? Our hope is in the crucified and risen Christ  who is strong to save and in glorious victory has triumphed over the grave.

I love how Athanasius talks about this in On the Incarnation: But if a man is gone down even to Hades and stands in awe of the heroes who have descended there, regarding them as gods, yet he may see the fact of Christ’s resurrection and victory over death. He may infer that among them also Christ alone is true God and Lord. For the Lord touched all parts of creation and freed and undeceived all of them from every illusion. As Paul says, “Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he triumphed on the cross”; that no one might by any possibility be any longer deceived but everywhere might find the true Word of God.

The stanza that caught my attention even more than stanza 4 was stanza 5. It is not only the devil that is out to get Christians, it is also the sinful world that is against Christians. It too, like grim death, rages against us but its fury we disdain and hold in contempt – as our Lord does in Psalm 2. All its efforts against the Christian are in vain! So, our hearts can be free from all care and anxiety.  No trouble needs to weigh us down and trouble us. Because of this we sing, “Misfortune now is play, And night is bright as day.”  That is a confession that we can make in faith because of Christ’s victory over death and the grave.

Collect
Gracious Father, I thank you that because You have made me Your child in baptism that I have been united to Christ’s victory over sin, death, hell, the devil, and the sinful world.  Grant me the grace and faith I need to always cling to Him for my salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen