The gospel reading for the fifth Sunday of Easter was John 16:16-22. We have transitioned from hearing accounts of Jesus’ resurrection to now hearing Jesus talk to his disciples about what it will be like for them to see him depart from them and then return. Here is the reading:
A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 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. 21 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. 22 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 spoke to the disciples as his private audience. “A little while and you will see me no longer and again in a little while and you will see me.” They struggled to understand what he meant. Jesus makes this clarifying statement in verse 20: “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 to joy.”
Jesus had one thing in mind when he was talking this way, He is telling the disciples that they will witness his crucifixion while the world watches rejoicing. But this great sorrow will then be replaced by the joy of his rising. This joy is for them- the world does not know or understand this joy.
The world does not understand how Jesus willingly laid down his life so that he could take it up again. The world cannot possibly understand that if Jesus had not risen, then we would still be in our sins.
You may recall the theme for our sermon on Easter Sunday was “Jesus is risen, just as he told us, just as he promised. This chapter of the gospel of John contains some of the promises Jesus made to his disciples about what His crucifixion and resurrection would mean for them from their vantage point.
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away , the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.”
It was to the disciples advantage and ours that Jesus willingly went to the grave. Once in the grave Jesus returned as he promised. If Jesus had only died and not risen, then Satan would have won just like he had won with every death since the fall in Genesis chapter 3. If Jesus had only died and not risen the apostles would not have had the Holy Spirit sent to them to guide them into all truth, preparing them to proclaim salvation in Christ. They would not have had the Holy Spirit to take what belongs to Jesus and declare it to the nations so that what belongs to Jesus would also come to us.
For the church the joy of the resurrection meant that the Holy Spirit would declare Christ’s righteousness to us. The Holy Spirit has continued to do this in the church from one generation to another. Through the message of the Apostles people rejoice in the good news of Christ crucified and risen for us all around the world. In a very short time the sorrow of this world has been changed to joy.
The words Jesus spoke to the disciples in John chapter 16 were recorded for our benefit. Jesus was speaking to the disciples about the specific events of his crucifixion. As a result it would be an inaccurate interpretation of the scripture if we were to read this account of Jesus speaking about his departure and return and conclude that Jesus will leave us for a while, where we will feel sorrow and then he will return to us where we feel joy.
The fact is that Jesus has returned from the grave once and for all. He is not going away from us again. He has sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit once and for all. We do not need any special religious experiences in order to receive the Holy Spirit for the first time. Instead he has already given his church all that belongs to Him. Through Holy Baptism this gift has been given to us.
Yet Jesus knew these words he spoke to the disciples would be spoken to us as well. And these words have great meaning to us because we do still face sorrow in this life. The sin of the world and our own sin brings us sorrow that is quite heavy.
Jesus promises to us that our sorrow will turn into joy. And when this happens, it is like the joy of childbirth, the pain and anguish is remembered no more. Jesus was gone from the disciples a little less than three days- essentially two and a half days. This was such a relatively short time in comparison to the joy that followed.
So also in our life, the sorrows of this life are but a moment as compared to the joy of eternity. We hear in our reading from Revelation:
Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things shall pass away.”
The former things pass away. The separation of man from God since the Fall has passed away. The banishment from the garden of Eden, but a distant memory.
At that time when the former things pass away the sorrows of this life will indeed be a distant memory. Yet now we can feel the sorrow of this fallen world all too vividly. We witness the ways in which the world is against the church just as it was against Jesus. We wonder how we can make it as a church when our younger generations are exposed to so many false teachings and indoctrinations against the truth of God’s Word.
Some Christian historians look at the state of our culture today and conclude that Western Civilization as we know it has already collapsed. There may be pockets of our society where Christian values still prevail in the culture at large, but they only are expected to become smaller with each passing year.
Regardless of what outcomes occur in political elections, we cannot escape the trend that the values and beliefs of the church will continue to be attacked and hated by the world. Yet the same promise of Jesus holds true, “the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.”
The world cannot win. It thought it won when Jesus was on the cross. But Jesus Resurrection changed the script. And so also today, no matter how fallen our culture seems, no matter how disgraceful we see our society act the Resurrection of Jesus insures our sorrow will turn into joy.
One sorrow that I have experienced in my life went on for about 8 years. In the Fall of 2010 my first call into ministry ended after 3 years as an Associate Pastor of Family Life and Youth. Around the time I turned 30 I learned the congregation I was called to did not intend to continue my position as an Associate pastor for both financial reasons and ministry priority reasons. I found myself confronted with the dilemma of being a pastor without a call, a pastor without a home.
Although I may have found periods of time to serve as a vacancy pastor, year after year I struggled with understanding why my career as a pastor continued to be marked by the asterisk of what is called in our church body “Candidate Status”. I struggled to see my wife, and eventually my children see me as a pastor without a call in which to focus my ministry priority around.
I came to believe that this particular sorrow could not change, that although I served with distinction in vacancy settings, although I developed training as a licensed counselor and learned to integrate Christian faith into counseling – it had simply been too long since my full time position was as pastor for a congregation to consider extending a call to me that would be appropriate for my abilities and my family’s needs.
It was as if the promise of the resurrection for some reason would not apply to my career as pastor. And now things are different.
A now it seems these 8 years were but a short moment of time as there is an abundance of need and calling here in this place to serve the Lord’s church as a worker pastor, and it has become clear to me that the events of my career and personal life have put me in position to be more dedicated to serve as an instrument of Christ’s Church than I would if I never went through any of the sorrows of waiting. Jesus’ Resurrection turns the sorrow of this world into joy.
Although Jesus was talking to the disciples about the three days he would be in the tomb, in light of the joy of Easter, we can hear these words in faith to be a reminder of how short a time it will be before Jesus returns. “In in a little while and you will see me.”
In just a little while our own eyes shall see our Lord- we shall experience in all its fullness our sorrow turning to Joy. In just a little while we shall be taken up in the sky with all believers, brought to the marriage feast of the lamb in his kingdom. In just a little while no more sorrow ever again- only joy. Only the Victorious Lamb eternally: As the hymn Thine the Amen Thine the Praise puts it in verse 5, the closing verse:
Thine the glory in the night No more dying only light
Thine the river Thine the tree Then the Lamb eternally
Then the holy holy holy Celebration jubilee
Thine the splendor Thine the brightness only Thee only Thee.