REJOICING & WEEPING WITH OTHERS

Romans 12.15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”

Which would you rather do, rejoice or weep? Or maybe I should say, “which is easier, to rejoice or weep? Actually, it kinda depends. It’s easy to rejoice when your favorite sports team does good, but it can be a lot tougher to rejoice alongside a teammate that rocks it, but your performance was personally disappointing. So yes, weeping isn’t all that much fun, but in many circumstances it’s a lot easier to do (weeping with someone going through a tough time).

There’s a certain precept, I’ll call it the “jealousy factor”, that the closer you are to someone (especially when involved in the same endeavour) the easier it is to be jealous, and hence-tougher to rejoice with them. For example, maybe you’re  never tempted to be jealous when Canada super xc skier Alex Harvey does well in a world cup race. He’s so far out of your league,  but when the local provincial skier with whom you go back & forth in races over achieves in a race and really nails it, the jealousy factor can score pretty high on the envy meter.

The athlete pictured here totally breaks the jealousy factor mould. Gen Morrison is embracing her teammate that had just defeated her for the Olympic spot in their weight category for team Canada. Gen was sharing in her teammates joy, and her teammate was sharing in Gen’s sorrow. What a moment!

Going into the match Gen was the favourite coming off last summer’s PanAm gold medal and recent bronze medal at the world championships. The latter result was the one that gave Canada the Olympic berth in the first place, but Gen had to win that place back at these trials. Going into the match, she pretty much knew it would be close as these two trained daily together and totally knew the strengths, weaknesses, moods and ebbs and flows of each other on a day-to-day basis. This match was epic. It could have gone either way as both athletes entirely wrestled to their absolute potential, and they both were certainly aware of this.

How did the world view this? Did they think she was weak, especially in a sport where you have to be tough in so many ways? Realizing that for so many athletes reaching the Olympics is a life long dream that is the driving force in many a sport career. No, the moment, captured in this picture, was named the international 2015 wrestling highlight moment of the year (Gen was named the Female Canadian wrestler of the year also).

In the Romans 12 verse, the command is given in the context of a body of believers...a close body of believers. I’m sure potential jealousies existed everywhere among this tightknit group of Christians. But what a joy to have a community that could actually live this rejoicing and weeping out together.

It’s an old saying, but it really is true: “shared sorrow is ½ sorrow, but shared joy is double joy”

How cool could it be to genuinely rejoice with your teammates and competitors at the end of a contest no matter your personal result. You’ll be guaranteed a celebration. Proverbs 15.15 says: “...a cheerful heart has a continual feast.”   Now that’s the way to live!!