Category: Easter 4

A Little While as Sojourners

5/1/2023

Jubilate Sunday
John 16:16-23
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 30, 2023

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, by the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” This is what Jesus means when He says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again, a little while, and you will see me.” Jesus will be taken away from His disciples, causing them great pain. But just as the pain in childbirth is worth it on account of the child, so also will the sorrow of the disciples be worth it, because what they receive is much greater.
Jesus said, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” It is interesting that Jesus speaks of his disciples as if they are like a woman going into labor. It is Jesus who will go into labor. Jesus will sweat drops of blood as He prays to His Father to take this cup of woe away from Him. Jesus will be scourged and nailed to a cross, bearing the sins of the whole world. It is Jesus who labors for our sin, yet He does it willingly, knowing that it wins for us eternal life. Jesus’ joy is made complete through His labor, because He wins our salvation, even as a woman is joyful when her labor is over when she holds her child in her arms.
That connection is obvious. But Jesus doesn’t say, “So I will have sorrow on the cross, but I will rise again and my heart will rejoice,” but rather, “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice.” The disciples will have sorrow as their Lord is taken away from them. They will watch from a distance as he is beaten, crucified, and killed. They will hide behind locked doors with great grief and sorrow. But Jesus will return to them, and their hearts will rejoice.
There is nothing worse than having Jesus taken away from you. If Jesus is taken away from you, your salvation is taken away from you. If Jesus is taken away from you, then you are still in your sin. If Jesus is taken away from you, you are damned to hell. And this is very much how the disciples felt in their sorrow. They could not see past the sorrow and grief. Jesus was gone. That’s all they knew.
And this teaches us about true repentance. Repentance has two parts. First, is sorrow over sin. The second is faith. The sorrow over sin is the little while that every Christian must experience in this life. Now, no one can truly grasp the evil of our sins. We’ve all had a guilty conscience, but even the most sorrowful conscience cannot accurately measure the weight of our sin. We look at the crucifix and know what it looked like for Jesus to be nailed to the cross. Yet, not even seeing Jesus crucified with our own eyes can communicate to our human senses the horror of Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus is God’s own Son! He is innocent, yet He bears the sins of the whole world. God’s righteous wrath against our sins is upon Him. God is nailed to a tree! How great must our sins be to require such a tremendous act of sacrifice!
And for this reason, since we cannot grasp the severity of our sins with our senses, true repentance does not depend on how intensely you feel your guilt. If your salvation depended on how sorrowful you were for your sins, you would never have peace, because you would never be certain you were sorrowful enough. Your salvation depends on faith, that is, that you trust in Christ for forgiveness. Christ alone has paid for your sins. You do not pay for your sins by feeling sorry for them. And you will never be sorry enough for your sins.
However, this does not mean that we should not be sorry for our sins! Quite the contrary, we should mourn our sins more than we do. One of the little whiles Jesus speaks of is the little while of sorrow we feel over our sins, before we are refreshed with the Gospel. And this little while happens daily. It is the daily crucifying of our old sinful flesh, the daily repenting of our sins and rising to new life with joy in the Gospel. But there is no rising to joy in the Gospel if there is no killing of the old Adam. There is no joy in Christ if there is not first sorrow over our sin.
So, when we think on the little while of Jesus being taken away from His disciples, we learn a bit of that sorrow over sin we should have as part of our repentance. Jesus was taken away. Their salvation was taken away. Their hope was taken away. Without Jesus, all they can see are the gaping jaws of hell. And that is how we should consider our sin! When we fall into sin, we should not laugh and think it is no big deal. We should not ignore it, as if it has no effect on our souls. We shouldn’t downplay our sin, saying, everyone is a sinner and probably a worse sinner than me. No, we should rightly consider our sin our greatest problem. Our sin separates us from Christ! It separates us from God and His salvation. Our sin would cause our damnation. And however sorrowful you are over your sin, you should know that your sin is even worse than you think. The world laughs at such sorrow over sin. It thinks sin is a game, no big deal. Since everyone does it, it is harmless. And for this reason, the world also does not rejoice in the Gospel.
Feeling sorrow over your sin is not complete repentance. You must also be joyful over the Gospel. And only Christ Jesus can give you that joy. You look at your sins and see that they separate you from God and bring you to hell. But you look at Jesus and see that He took all your sins away from you and bore hell on the cross for you. He has returned victorious. All your sins are nailed to the tree. They can no longer harm Him, so they can no longer harm you. That is the joy that comes after a little while of sorrow, which no one can take away from you.
Yet, Jesus means another thing by this little while besides the daily sorrow over sin and joy in the Gospel. He speaks of the little while when Christ departs from us, and we must sojourn in this world without Him. This little while started when Christ ascended into heaven, leaving His Church on earth with the means of grace by which He continues to minister to His sheep on earth. This little while will end when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.
This means that every Christian is a sojourner the entire time that he lives on this earth. You are a pilgrim, a foreigner, a stranger. This means that this world is not your home. “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21) And since our citizenship is in heaven, and we are foreigners in this land, we behave differently from the citizens of this land. Throughout history, including the history of our own nation, foreigners have moved into other countries. And in their new land, they continued the customs and traditions of their old land. And throughout history, this has caused tension between the foreigner and the native born.
And so, it is with us. We are sojourners, pilgrims, aliens in a strange land. This is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. And for this reason, we conduct our lives differently than the citizens of this world. And the citizens of this world do not take kindly to that. They put pressure on us to assimilate and live like native born worldlings. So, they pressure us and our children to miss church to serve other gods like money and sports. They pressure us to speak crassly, to accept sexual immorality as good and even to participate in it ourselves. And this is difficult enough, because our sinful flesh wants to succumb to these pressures.
Yet, St. Peter warns, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” The passions of the flesh wage war against your soul! This is a somber warning from St. Peter. Following the passions of the flesh and assimilating to live like the heathen do is not harmless. It is waging war against your own soul.
Yet, the pressure of the world and the passions of the flesh only last a little while. The sorrow that follows wicked living is much worse and long-lasting than the “pleasure” wicked living brings. Yet, the joy that follows the sorrow of crucifying the flesh is great and never ends.
Living as a sojourner on this earth is full of grief and sorrow. It means that you will be aware of the battle within your own self between your spirit and your flesh. It means that you will not be accepted by the world, which feels no obligation to follow Jesus’ teaching. It means that you will be aware of Jesus’ absence in this world and the presence of Satan’s reign. This sorrow is real and necessary. Jesus says, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) This cross is being a stranger in this land and being hated for it.
Yet, Jesus calls it only a little while, in Greek micron, like microscope or microbe. It is a tiny little insignificant thing. St. Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18) Not worth comparing. Micron. Little while. Yes, Jesus has been gone for two thousand years. Yes, you endure a lifetime of sojourning. It is still a little while. It is insignificant compared to the joy that will be revealed to us.
And besides all this, this sojourning is not all sorrow and grief. We still have the joy of the Gospel. Jesus has not left us orphans. He has given us the means of grace: Baptism, the Absolution, the preaching of the Gospel, and the Lord’s Supper, through which He is with us always even to the end of the age. We walk with Jesus all the way. And Jesus strengthens us for our journey. We do not eat the food of this pagan land, but we eat the manna our heavenly Father feeds us from heaven, His Holy Word and Sacraments.
And we know how our journey ends, because Christ Jesus has already gone before us. He has endured His little while on the cross for us, bearing our sins and winning for us everlasting life. Therefore, we have joy in the midst of sorrow. We rejoice even as the devil, world, and our sinful flesh give us grief. And the joy we have in Christ, no one can take away from us. The world may take our money, our property, our good reputations, our family, even our lives, but they cannot take our joy in Christ away. Because we hold this joy through faith. And when our course is run, we shall possess this joy in eternity. Amen.

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A Little While And No One Will Take Your Joy from You

5/2/2020

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Christ Preaches the Apostles, Duccio, Date: 1308 - 1311, Public Domain

John 16:16-23
Jubilate Sunday
May 3, 2020

What is the worst-case scenario? We’ve heard a lot about worse case scenarios in the past couple months. Back when the government first began the lock down, there were fears of 2.2 million deaths in the United States due to the coronavirus. Some sources warned of much higher numbers. Early warnings claimed that 3 maybe even 4 percent of people who contracted the virus would die. By God’s grace the mortality rate is much lower than that. Others fear the economic repercussions from the current crisis. Tens of millions of Americans are already out of work. In some areas of the country nearly a quarter of workers are jobless. There are fears that the economic hit could last months or years; that we could enter a new Great Depression. Others worry about possible food shortages and many people going hungry. Mass death, poverty, hunger. What is the worst-case scenario?
The worst-case scenario is to be without Jesus. Jesus says to his disciples, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Jesus says that his disciples will have sorrow. Why will they have sorrow? Because Jesus will be away from them. That is true sorrow. Unless you know Jesus and have faith in him, you cannot understand this sorrow. No one has sorrow like a Christian has sorrow. And no one has joy like a Christian has joy.
Jesus compares this sorrow and joy to the sorrow a woman feels during labor and the joy she feels after a man has been born. There is no naturally occurring pain that is worse than the pain a woman feels when she delivers a baby. We husbands don’t know how our wives feel, no matter how sympathetically we look at them and hold their hands as the pangs of death come upon them. And I doubt we know of such joy that a mother has when she holds her newborn baby in her arms for the first time. Children are the greatest physical blessing we can receive on this earth. They have immortal souls for which Jesus died to save. By God’s grace we can take our children to heaven with us. Sadly, the current generation in its madness despises children and cherishes junk that breaks instead. But this generation doesn’t know what it’s talking about. Jesus does.
For part of my family’s morning devotions, we memorize portions of Scripture. We say a Bible passage every morning until we can say it by heart and then we move on to another Bible passage. The passage we are working on right now is from Galatians chapter 5 where St. Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience, but our New King James Bible translates it long-suffering. To be patient means to have endurance to suffer for a long time. Long-suffering is a fruit of the Spirit, because it is a quality obtained when you have faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, it is a quality of Christ himself. No one is more patient that Jesus Christ. No one has endured greater suffering than our Savior Jesus.
Jesus suffered more than any human being on the cross, when he not only endured excruciating physical torment, but bore the wrath of God against all sins laid on his soul. Yet, he did it patiently and willingly, because he knew what joy he would receive for his suffering. Hebrews 12 states, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.” Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. That joy is our eternal salvation. By Jesus’ merits, we will be present with Christ and the Father and Holy Spirit in inexpressible joy for all eternity!
This faith produces the fruit of patience; long-suffering. The world has sorrows. It deals with pain and death. And we earthlings aren’t very patient. We take pills to cover our pain. We hide from hard work and avoid our problems. We find what is comfortable. Yet, we can’t escape pain and sorrow. But the world doesn’t really know sorrow. Because the world doesn’t really know joy. We know sorrow, because we know what true joy is.
St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”
We do not fear death, because we long to be with Christ. This is different from those who despair without faith in this world, who want to shed this earthly tent and be naked. We do not want to be naked, but further clothed. Our earthly tent is our body. In our body we suffer. We get sick. We feel anxiety. We desire what we cannot have. We lose friends. We die. We Christians, who have turned to Christ in faith desire to please Christ with our bodies; living in purity and holiness. Yet, we often don’t understand our own actions. The good we want to do; we do not do. And the evil we do not want is what we keep on doing. Our sinful desires constantly remind us that we are clothed in a body of death.
This is why we do not truly fear death when we trust in Christ. We look forward to the shedding this earthly tent. Not because we long to be disembodied spirits. Not because we want to cease to exist. Rather, we long to be further clothed. We long for the restoration of our bodies after the image of Christ. Bodies that will be perfect, without sickness, without pain, without sin, invulnerable to any virus, immortal. We know that our bodies will be like this, because Christ Jesus died to sin and is risen imperishable forever. And whoever trusts in Christ shares in his glory.
Those without this faith still suffer. They feel the pains of the body. Anxiety and depression rock their souls. And sadly, some seek to destroy this earthly tent thinking they will then escape all suffering. Of course, that is not the way it works. After this life comes judgment. It is only those who trust in Jesus Christ who escape judgement. Only through faith in Jesus can we escape the suffering of this world.
As long as we live in our earthly bodies, we seek to please our Lord even as we suffer. We seek to help our neighbor, to repent of our sins, to be kind, patient, and loving. We know that it is God’s decision when we will die, not ours. As long as we live, we live for God’s purpose. And when we die, we know that our sorrow comes to an end and our endless joy begins. So, we Christians need endurance until that perfect joy begins.
The coronavirus is most deadly to old and sick people, but even young healthy people can die from it. Of course, even young healthy people die. Even young men grow weary and faint. But consider our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 40. The Lord never grows weary. He never gets tired. That means we, who must suffer here on earth as we are away from the Lord, have a source of strength and energy that we can look to for endurance. And Christ gladly feeds us and sustains us during this little while of sorrow.
You can’t muster endurance to suffer by digging deep inside you. Patience, that is, longsuffering is not a quality that comes from your naturally born sinful flesh. It is a fruit of the Spirit, born in faith in Jesus Christ. That means you receive the strength to endure this present turmoil from Jesus. Jesus strengthened his disciples for that first little while of sorrow by feeding them his very body and blood, which would be given and shed for them on the cross. And he strengthens his entire Church for the little while we must now endure through the proclamation of his Gospel and the distribution of his body and blood, both of which give us the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith.
St. Paul wrote from prison, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13) It is Jesus who strengthens us. He is the one who makes us strongest when we are weakest. We suffer because of our sins. Yet, God in incredible patience bore with our sins for generations and Christ Jesus himself bore them personally on the tree. We suffer because of sickness and worry. Jesus bore in his body and soul every burden we bear. When I exhort you to patience and long-suffering, I am not telling you to lift yourself up by the boot straps and suck it up. I’m telling you to cast all your anxieties on Christ. Lean on him. Listen to him. Hear his forgiveness. Eat his Sacrament. Trust in him!
We’re all suffering now by various degrees. But the worst sorrow we can have is to be away from Jesus. We are all away from Jesus in the sense that he is physically away from our eyes in heaven. Yet, Jesus comes near to us to strengthen us and cheer us with his holy word, his forgiveness and mercy which we receive through faith. Jesus himself strengthens us for this little while of sorrow, so that we might endure until we see him face to face and our joy is fulfilled forever. May God grant this to each and every one of us for Christ’s sake. Amen.

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Jubilate: Easter 3: Godly Sorrow is the Only Path to Eternal Joy

4/23/2018

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John 16:16-23
April 22, 2018

"A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me." What does Jesus mean by "a little while"? Jesus tells us, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy." This little while speaks of two events. During both events Jesus departs from his disciples. And during both events his disciples weep and lament.

The first little while is when Jesus is taken from his disciples just a few hours after he speaks these words. His disciples see him, but only from a distance as he is flogged, condemned to death, and nailed to some timbers. Then his corpse is wrapped in linen, laid in a tomb, and hidden from the eyes of the outside world by a massive stone. For a little while, Jesus was not with them. They had great sorrow. Pilate and the leaders of the Jews drank wine and celebrated. Yet, on the third day Christ appeared to his disciples again and they rejoiced. Weeping tarried through the night, but joy came in the morning.

The second little while includes us Christians, because it is still going on. This little while began when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father. His disciples carried on without their Lord physically with them. And in their Lord's absence they suffered much. Most of them died as martyrs. And Christians throughout the Church have shared in this sorrow.

To be a Christian, you will have sorrow. This is the lesson Jesus teaches us today. Yet, we must make a distinction between worldly sorrow, which unbelievers experience, and godly sorrow, which is experienced only by Christians.

We heard St. Peter in our Epistle lesson, "For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." (1 Peter 2:20) Unbelievers also suffer in this life. Just because you are sorrowful, doesn't mean that you are suffering as a Christian. St. Paul makes a distinction between worldly and godly sorrow in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

The worldly grief is a result of sin. The wages of sin is death. This involves both temporal and eternal punishment. Doing wrong is not good for you. There are consequences for sin. This is why St. Peter says that it not to your credit if you endure suffering as a result of your sin. You're not suffering as a Christian if your wife leaves you because you were unfaithful. You aren't suffering as a Christian if you lose your driver's license for driving drunk. You aren't suffering as a Christian if you get fired for being lazy or go to prison for breaking the law or if no one trusts you because you constantly lie or if your life falls apart, because you constantly avoid God's word and council. Such suffering is worldly grief, that is, grief without faith in Christ.

Unbelievers suffer for different reasons than Christians suffer, because they rejoice for different reasons. The unbeliever rejoices in worldly things, seeking pleasures that last only for a time. Frankly, the unbeliever's joy is self-serving. And it is this very joy that causes the unbeliever sorrow, because such joy is fleeting at best.

It is also important to note that godly grief isn't simply sorrow over sin. Worldly grief includes sorrow over sin. Sin is sorrowful. You don't have to believe in Christ to see the fruitlessness of sin. But such sorrow without faith in Christ is dreadful and hopeless. One can feel terrible for the wrong he has done and regret the harm it has caused himself, but if he does not seek Christ for forgiveness, this remains worldly grief. Worldly sorrow produces death, because worldly sorrow is without faith in Christ.

Godly sorrow is also caused by sin, yet not through sin alone, but through faith, which must battle sin in this life. Your sins cause you grief, because they cause your Lord Jesus grief. The Christian is sorrowful over his own sins, because his sins separate him from God. It is our sins that wounded Christ to his very soul upon the cross. Sin causes the Christian sorrow, because faith in Christ creates a heightened awareness of the damage sin causes.

St. Paul says, "godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation." Repentance is not simply feeling bad for what you've done wrong. It is turning to Christ for forgiveness and desiring never to sin again. Yet, as long as the Christian goes on living in this world, he goes on sinning. So, each of us Christians are constantly sorrowful, repenting of our sins and calling to him who will deliver us from this body of death.

Godly grief is to be constantly at war with the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh. Satan attacks you with lies. He attempts to get you to question God's promises to you. He accuses you of sin, in an attempt to get you to despair and become convinced that you aren't a Christian. He'll do anything that will knock you off the Rock of Christ.

You are also in battle with the world. Although stories of battle seem glorious in storybooks, they rarely feel so glorious as the battle rages. It's not fun to be at enmity with the world. We want the world to like us. We want people to think we're smart and nice. We want to have friends, who respect us. We want to be at peace with our parents and our children. Yet the Psalmist says, "For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in." (Psalm 27:10) and our Lord says, "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household." (Matthew 10:35-36) Battling the world is great and glorious if your enemies are strangers you don't care about. But when faith in the Gospel of Christ sets your own flesh and blood against you the glories of battle get old fast.

And so, the sorrow of the Christian is more intense than most are willing to bear. It sets you against your very self, as Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)

This is not suffering that you experience as a result of sin alone. This is suffering that comes as the result of having faith in Christ in this sinful world. The devil, the world, and your sinful flesh hate Christ. Realizing this is painful. But if you do not realize this, then you will never know Christ Jesus. Godly sorrow is the only way to eternal joy. Before God makes us alive, he first lets us taste death. Before he leads us to light, he first makes us aware of the darkness around and within us. He makes us experience our weakness before he endows us with power, he makes us sinners before he makes us saints. He humbles us before he exalts us. This is the path of repentance and faith in Jesus. It is sorrowful, but it is the only path to Christ.

Jesus said, "So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." Our sorrow is dependent on the fact that we do not see Jesus. When we see Jesus again, our hearts will rejoice and no one will take our joy from us. To be a Christian means that you want to be with Christ Jesus. He is more precious than the entire world, which includes all riches, health, family and friends. This hymn expresses it perfectly, "Lord, Thee I love with all my heart; I pray Thee, ne'er from me depart, With tender mercy cheer me. Earth has no pleasure I would share. Yea, heav'n itself were void and bare If Thou, Lord, wert not near me." Heaven would be an empty wasteland if Jesus were not there. We want to be with Jesus. He is our rock, our fortress, our life, our everything. This is what faith gives us. And this is why we have sorrow.

We have sorrow, because we live in a world where Jesus is departed from us. When asked why his disciples did not fast, Jesus answered, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." (Matthew 9:15) This is the chief, yes, the only reason for godly sorrow. We are separated from Jesus. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, "We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." (vss. 6-8)

Our faith gives us sorrow, because faith makes us want to be with Jesus. But Jesus is away. Yet, faith also gives us much joy, because we know by faith that Jesus will not always be away. He will return and our hearts will rejoice again.

Faith, which gives us so much godly sorrow now also gives us reason to rejoice in our sorrows. For Christ has not left us without hope, but with a certain promise of his return and our salvation. And also, Jesus is not entirely away from us. Rather, at Jesus' departure into heaven he said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Jesus is with us even now, so our faith causes us to rejoice even now.

True, this is not the complete joy we will experience when Christ will banish all earthly sadness and sinning and wipe the last tear from our eye. Yet, through faith we do have joy. Jesus is with us in his Baptism, just as he promised. And so, through faith in this midst of sorrows we rejoice. Jesus is with us in his teaching. Sound doctrine brings comfort in the midst of sorrow. Jesus' disciples were sorrowful, because they did not understand what he meant by a little while. Jesus comforted them by explaining what he meant. And in his explanation, he gave them a promise that they would see him again and they would rejoice with an invulnerable and everlasting joy.

It is also important to note the setting of these words from Jesus. They are sitting at the table where Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood. This is much more than simply a remembrance meal, although it certainly is that. In this meal, Jesus feeds us his true body and blood and imparts to us every blessing from his glorious throne. We feast on the fruits of the cross, which gives us friendship with God. Through this Sacrament, Jesus is always with us, even as he is far away.

Jesus does not leave us high and dry. He doesn't leave us to sorrow without joy. Rather, in our sorrow he gives us joy that only faith can receive, so that we are sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Godly sorrow is not despair. Godly sorrow always has the assurance of joy. Godly sorrow is not something we should wish to avoid. Rather, we gladly follow this road of sorrow. For by this path we will reach the joys that can only be found in Jesus. And this joy will never be taken from us. Amen.

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Jubilate Easter 4:A Little While: Sorrow Turned to Joy

5/8/2017

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John 16:16-23

May 7, 2017

Our Lord Jesus is a master teacher. Just look at how well he explains to his disciples what he means by "a little while." "When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world." It's hard to find physical suffering greater than the labor that accompanies a baby's birth. And you'll be hard pressed to find such joy as to hold your newborn child in your arms.  And so Jesus teaches his disciples that "a little while" means that they will have sorrow, but their sorrow will turn to joy.

Jesus will himself experiences this "little while." He is the only man in human history who truly knows the pain a woman experiences in childbirth. Yet he has experienced an even greater pain and likewise an even greater joy. For a little while our Lord suffered. In the garden with bloody sweat he prayed that if possible his Father would take away this cup. But the Father answered, in a little while your sorrow will turn to joy. And so our Lord suffered abuse, crucifixion and death. He suffered the abandonment from his eternal Father and the punishment for all sins. Yet in a little while he broke death's iron chains and rose victoriously and joyfully from the tomb.

The disciples too experienced this little while. They watched their Lord be taken away from them into the darkness by a band of thugs and for a little while he was out of sight. For a little while he hung on the cross and then laid in the tomb the heavy stone shutting their Lord away from them for what they thought would be forever. For a little while they hid behind locked doors afraid of their Jewish countrymen. But after that while of fear and distress Jesus appeared to them alive and their sorrow gave way to joy. Yet Jesus didn't stay with them. After forty days he ascended into heaven and left his disciples again for a little while. For a little while they faced persecution from the Jews, persecution from the Romans, stonings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, beheadings, crucifixions, and exiles. For a little while these disciples had sorrow. But their sorrow was turned to joy.

The disciples are great examples to us of this "little while." For a little while they are away from Christ and they suffer. They long to be released from this suffering and be united with Christ. St. Paul writes, "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." (Philippians 1:23) And yet he knew that God was using him to minister to his Church on earth. And so St. Paul teaches us, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain." And so we Christians learn how to endure the little while as we suffer and not lose sight of the great joy that is to come.
St. Peter writes in our Epistle lesson, "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." (1 Peter 2:21) And so Christians suffer. A student is not better than his teacher. Christ suffered. So did his apostles. So too will we suffer.

The worst kind of suffering is to suffer for doing wrong. There is no reward in that. To suffer for doing wrong is not to suffer as a Christian, but to bear the consequences of your own sin. We should all try to avoid such suffering. It is far better to suffer for doing what is right.

When Christians suffer for doing what is right they follow in Christ's footsteps. Christ did the works of his Father and for it he was crucified. When we do the works of our Father in heaven we can expect hatred from the world. When you teach your children sexual morality according to Scripture you will be called a bigot. When you confess that abortion kills a child and hurts a woman you will be called hateful. When you confess that Christ Jesus died for our sins and faith in Christ is the only way to salvation, you will be called closed minded. Now these words are far from the stones, blades, and wild beasts that met our fore-bearers of the faith, but words still hurt. And words are persuasive. Do not be persuaded away from this true faith. Endure the suffering. It only lasts a little while.

St. Paul compares the Christian to an athlete. St. Paul disciplined his body and kept it under control, so that he would not after preaching to others be disqualified. Many of us understand this. A runner runs a race, but gets winded during the last one hundred meters. It doesn't matter that he's lead the whole race. He doesn't finish first. I remember losing a wrestling match in double overtime. My opponent escaped with one second left on the clock. If I had hung on one more second I would have won. But I didn't. I let the exhaustion get to me. And so the devil, world, and your own flesh will try to exhaust you. But your Lord says, "in a little while your sorrow will turn to joy."

St. Paul writes, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed..." (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) We suffer hatred and judgment from the world for confessing Christ, for practicing what Jesus has taught us to practice in church, at home, at school, and work. But God does not let us be destroyed. Rather, he reminds us that "this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison." (2 Corinthians 4:17)

When you suffer as a Christian you may desire to depart from this body and be at home with the Lord. All Christians desire this. And as our suffering increases our desire to depart grows greater. And then comes physical suffering. Old age. Death starts giving advances on the wages of sin while your still alive. Your body grows weak. Everything on you hurts. You can't do what you used to do. You can't help the way you used to help. Perhaps you think you've served your purpose. But whether you are young or old, whether you have sorrow because you are persecuted for your faith or you mourn those who have left Jesus' flock, God put you on earth for a reason. God determined to put you here. And he will determine to take you.

The Psalmist says, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalm 139:9). Yes our years may become difficult as Moses wrote, "For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away." (Psalm 90:9-10) But it is God who decides when we will be born and it is God who decides when we will die.

It is a sin for us to decide who will be born and who will die. This is why abortion is such a great crime that cries up to heaven. And now in our own state there are discussions by lawmakers to make assisted suicide legal. And many kind hearted people, who don't want people to suffer are tricked into thinking this is compassionate. But God does not give us permission to take life. He gives the government the authority to take the life of criminals, but not the authority to kill sick people, because we can't find value in their lives. God finds value in your life. And if you are alive God has a purpose for you to be alive. Even when all your physical powers fail you, your prayers and your example are beneficial to Christ's church. We do not determine the value of life by what we see, but by what God tells us.

You are a Christian. God has a purpose for you here on earth. In a little while, he'll take you home. But for now, "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) So whether you are a mother, father, son, daughter, old, young, pastor or layperson, the God who has saved you has you here on earth for a good reason; to love him, to love your neighbor, to confess Christ.

The more I learn of Jesus and his kingdom from Holy Scripture, the more I want to escape this world, to live without sin, without pain, without worry and anxiety, to live with Jesus. But for a little while God has determined to keep me here. To preach God's Word to you and give you God's gifts. To love and care for my wife and children. And to pray for you, for my loved ones, and for anyone who hates me. And so God keeps you here for similar reasons. For a little while anyway, until we die and fly to the Lord or until we rise from the dead and live forever with our risen Lord.

But even during this little while, God gives us joy. Yes, he gives us spouse and children, home and food and stuff. But let's not focus on those lest we turn them into false gods. No, even during this little while that we do not see Jesus, we still get to see him. Not with our own eyes, but by faith. The same night that Jesus told his disciples that in a little while they would not see him and in a little while they would see him he gave them his body and blood to eat and to drink. And he gives us this same meal today. He did this so that we could make it through this little while. For a little while I suffer, but Jesus has given me his body and blood to eat and drink. I'm forgiven and will rise with Christ on the Last Day. For a little while I battle temptation and must repent daily of my sins, but Jesus spoke through his minister and has assured me of the forgiveness of my sins and that he will come again soon.

Jesus does not leave us high and dry. Here we get a foretaste of that unspeakable joy that will come in a little while. Here we get the strength to endure this time that Christ is hidden from our eyes. And until this little while ends Christ will continue to strengthen us through his preaching and Sacrament.

Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

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Rev. James Preus

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