It’s Contagious

A talented public speaker was asked to recall his most difficult speech assignment …

“That’s easy,” he answered, “it was an address I gave to The National Conference of undertakers. The theme was, ‘How to look sad at a twenty thousand dollar funeral.’”

Now that is truly a difficult assignment, but I can think of one that would have been even more difficult: “How to get the Early Christians to look sad.”

The spirit of joy in the early Christians is one of the dominant characteristics of the New Testament writings. Something so tremendous had happened to those people that it permeated their lives, filled their cup of joy to overflowing. And, as you read about it, if you try to somehow put a lid on it, it just comes bubbling up again. There is no way to hold it back. It’s contagious. And it’s beautiful.

Those early Christians were filled to overflowing with joy because this Jesus who had lived among them, who had…