John 16:16-22; 1 Peter 2:11-20; Isaiah 40:25-31
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the
Holy Spirit.
There are many who believe that, if you are a
Christian, well, things should generally go well for you – you shouldn’t
experience any serious or prolonged pain, suffering, or sorrow in your life. The
inevitable outcome of such thinking, of course, is that if you do experience
some significant tribulation, then that is cause either to question the
strength of your faith or the object of your faith, God. Where do people get
such an idea as that? They certainly don’t get it from the teachings of Jesus
or from the Word of God, for they clearly teach that pain, suffering, and
sorrow are the result of sin (original, actual, or otherwise), and that both
the believer and the unbeliever will be afflicted by them throughout their
lives.
In fact, Jesus was straightforward with His disciples,
assuring them that because of their faith in Him, they would experience
more intense pain, suffering, and sorrow than unbelievers. He told them that
the world would hate them because the world hates Him. He told them that people
would want to kill them because of Him. He taught them that the way of the
disciple was the same as the way of the Teacher, and that is the way of the
cross. He taught them that they must die to themselves and lose their lives in
this world to save them in eternity.
And, dearly beloved, Jesus is no less straightforward
with you today. “Truly, truly,” He says to you, “you will weep and lament,
but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful.” You will
endure pain, suffering, and sorrow, says your Lord, but it will come to an end,
and then your sorrow will be turned into joy.
Jesus calls this time of your pain, suffering, and
sorrow that is your life – that is the lives of your parents and grandparents, that
is the lives of your children and your children’s children, that is the lives
of all people from our First Parents to our last children – “a little while.”
“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and
you will see me.” “A little while?” Now, that causes us to ask, along with the
disciples, “What does Jesus mean by ‘a little while’.”
The phrase “a little while” likely causes you some
anxiety and frustration because it is indeterminate, indefinite. We’d so much rather have a definite answer so that
we can prepare and manage for ourselves the pain, suffering, and sorrow during their
designated time. We want to be in control. But that is precisely what your Lord
would release you from: having to be in control, anxiety, frustration, and
pain. For His words, “a little while”, remind you that He is in control: That
is, He is in control of your life. He is in control of your pain, suffering,
and sorrow. And He is in control of the fact that it will end and that your
suffering will be turned into joy. Now, knowing this, do not His words “a
little while,” then, give you something other than frustration, anxiety, and
fear? Do not His words give you hope?
Your Lord Jesus, who has loved you by laying down His
own life in death for you to set you free from your sin, and the frustration,
anxiety, and fear that are its fruits, has also set you free from living in the
bondage of frustration, anxiety, and fear and to pain, suffering, and sorrow in
your life. You need not live as a slave to these things because Jesus has
conquered them for you and has set you free from them. He has placed limits on
both the extent and the time in which they may afflict you, and He has
guaranteed you, not only that they will end, but that you will endure, and that
you will have joy. But the most wonderful and marvelous gift is that, because
of Jesus, you can have that joy even now, even in the “little while” of your
pain, suffering, anxiety, frustration, and fear, knowing that your tribulations
are conquered and that the Lord is their Master, and that He is in control, and
that He uses these trials to discipline His children, to strengthen your faith,
and to produce in you hope.
Now, no one looks forward to pain, suffering, and
sorrow, but you can endure them and even find joy in them when you know that they
are for but a little while, that they will end, and that the end joy surpasses
the tribulation to the extent that it is but a faint memory. Thus, Jesus
provides you the example of a woman in labor, who experiences pain, suffering,
and sorrow, but who faces these trials with confident joy for the gift of her
child that is the fruit of her labor. How many mothers, in the midst of their
labor cry out “Never again!” but after the delivery, for the joy of the child
would gladly do it again. “So you have
sorrow now,” says your Lord, “but I will see you again, and your hearts will
rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
Today we are gathered together, just like the
disciples of our Lord before us gathered each and every Lord’s day, having
basked four weeks in the Paschal joy of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. And today, hearken to Your Lord’s call that you live resurrected lives,
even now, as you walk through the wilderness of this world, the valley of the
shadow of death, where pain, and sorrow, and suffering afflict you and the
Enemy would have you be filled with frustration, anxiety, and fear so that you
lose hope. For, Jesus has conquered your
Enemy and He has released you from slavery to His devices. Your Enemy has no
power over you, that is, unless you give it to him, for Jesus has set you free;
only you can put yourself back in the devil’s chains. Your Enemy the devil
would fill you with frustration, anxiety, and fear as you face your pain,
suffering, and sorrow, so that you forget that Jesus is Lord of these things, that
Jesus is the Lord of your life, so that you lose hope and give way to anger and
hatred, depression and despair. He is a liar, and he is the father of lies! The
devil would have you, for fear of the labor, abort the pregnancy, and miss out
on the new life.
Do not be afraid! Live as people who are free. Fear
God. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows
while suffering unjustly. You have been baptized together into Jesus’ death and
you have been raised in Jesus’ resurrection. You have been born again of water
and the Holy Spirit and nourished with the life and faith of Jesus through His
body and blood. He is not dead, He is risen; He lives, He reigns and, in a
little while, He returns for you. Now is the time of labor – and labor means
pain, suffering, and sorrow – but in a little while, your sorrow will be turned
into joy. And that assurance grants you Peace beyond human understanding, peace
born from faith that confesses “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who is
my strength.” “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not
yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we
shall see Him as he is.” God the Father bestow upon you His Peace in Christ
Jesus and keep you in the True Faith by the gracious workings of the Holy
Spirit.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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