Sorrow into joy

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Easter – Jubilate

1 Peter 2:11-20  +  John 16:16-23

What does it mean if Jesus truly rose from the dead, and lives today, and will never die again? How does it affect things? How does it affect you? We’ve talked about some of the implications over the last few weeks. If Jesus rose from the dead, then death is truly conquered. Sin is truly atoned for. Fear itself has become unnecessary. Today our Scripture lessons point us to yet another implication of Easter, that sorrow is also tempered and temporary and will soon be replaced by endless joy.

The eleven disciples’ confusion was understandable on Maundy Thursday evening. Many astonishing things had happened already that night. Jesus had washed their feet. Judas’ betrayal had been foretold. A new Supper of the body and blood of Jesus had been instituted. Jesus had been cramming many teachings into this last time they would have together before the events of Good Friday. Some things He spoke clearly, other things cryptically. It was one of those cryptic sayings that left the disciples wondering. A little while, and you will not see me. And again, a little while, and you will see me, because I am going to the Father.

There was a very literal sense to those words. In a little while, less than 24 hours, Jesus would be dead and buried, out of sight and seemingly gone forever. In another little while, some 48 hours after He was buried, they would all see Him again, except for Thomas. And then, 40 days later, He would ascend into heaven and go to the Father, at whose right hand He would sit and rule over all things for the benefit of the Church until He returns again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

And the disciples did weep and mourn and were full of sorrow for a little while, while the world rejoiced to have Jesus out of the way. But then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. And the world lost some of its own joy, because, while the world still believed Jesus to be dead, it soon learned that it would have to keep dealing with these pesky Christians who believe He is alive and so refuse to bow before the world and its demands that we should be like them.

Now, you and I, we will never experience what the apostles did, getting to see the Lord risen from the dead. But then, we will also never experience what they experienced, a time, even a little while, when our Lord and our God is dead.

It’s true. We don’t see Jesus. He has risen and gone to the Father. He has removed His visible presence from us for a little while, for our relatively short lives on earth, for the “short” time between His ascension and His coming at the end of the age. The world rejoices not to see Him, because it allows people to do what they want, believe what they want, and rush into every form of perversion and wickedness, because they think Jesus is either dead or a fictional character who doesn’t exist. The only thing that gets in the world’s way are those nagging Christians, at least the ones who remain faithful to the Word of Christ, who keep claiming to have, not “a” truth or “our” truth, but THE truth, who keep preaching about sin and divine judgment and hell, and about God’s earnest desire that all men escape their just condemnation, through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus.

For our part, we Christians also have plenty of sorrow during this time of not seeing Jesus, because, in His visible absence, we’re forced to deal with our own doubts and uncertainties, to struggle against our own sin, and to put up with the world’s hatred and malice. We would all like to see Jesus now and have Him wipe all the bad stuff away, to have Him restore goodness and order to the world, to wipe away every tear from our eyes immediately. But that is not what’s best, either for the world or for us, and God knows it.

But now He does reveal Himself to us, in the Word, in the preaching of His Word, which is a living and active thing, filled with the working of His Holy Spirit. He shows Himself to us in the Gospel, crucified, dead, and buried, but then alive again, and He works in us by His Spirit so that we believe it and know that He lives. And if He lives, then the minister’s absolution has true authority behind it, and the Sacraments have real and living power. If He lives, then all our sorrow and grief is tempered, as the sorrow of a woman in labor is tempered by the knowledge that the pain will have an end, and in the end, it will all have been more than worth it, because a child will be born, and joy will truly begin.

Things may seem bad, but we can know that, in reality, they’re never as bad as they seem, never as bad as the devil tempts you to think they are, because there is this one truth behind everything: Jesus lives. And in a little while you will see Him. Meanwhile, the devil is an already-defeated enemy. The world is an already-defeated enemy. And sin itself is an already-defeated enemy. And nothing that happens to you in this world is beyond the loving control of the Savior who died for you and now lives.

Still, there is grief and sadness in the world for those who love Christ, because things are not yet as they should be in this world, not yet as they will be when He comes again to burn up this world and create it anew. Hatred reigns. Injustice reigns. Depravity reigns. And your own sinful flesh is still active and wishes and strives to reign over you, over your thoughts, over your attitudes, over your words and actions. You must not let it reign. As Peter said in the Epistle, Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; behave well among the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus died to pay for our fleshly lusts and our indulgence of them. He died to atone for our bad behavior among the Gentiles, among unbelievers. So don’t resurrect the lusts and the behaviors for which Christ died. Instead, live in the new life that He gave you when He had you baptized into His death and into His resurrection.

As for the world, let it rejoice in its depravity. Let it revel in its corruption. Let it take pleasure in its lies. These are the birth pains we must put up with for now. And as the pain of childbirth gets worse as the baby is closer and closer to being born, so the pain of the world’s depravity gets worse and worse as Christ is about to return visibly. But just as the pain of childbirth is worth it, so, too, it will be worth all the pain and suffering Christians endure in this world to see Christ in person at the end of the age, or at the end of our earthly life, whichever comes first. And the days and months and even years of sorrow here will seem like just a little while. Then you will see Him. And your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. Amen.