Easter 5
Jn
6:5-15
5/19/19
The Gospel lessons for all of the
Sundays of Eastertide – the Sundays after Easter itself – come from the Gospel
of John. First we hear about Jesus’
appearance to the disciples in the locked room on the evening of Easter, which
was followed a week later by Jesus’ revelation of himself to Thomas. On the next Sunday we hear about Jesus as the
Good Shepherd in John chapter ten.
After that, all of the lessons come
from John chapter sixteen, plus two verses from the end of chapter fifteen.
This material is all part of the section of the Gospel that is often called the
“Farewell Discourse.” These are the
words that Jesus spoke to the disciples after the Last Supper as our Lord and
his disciples made their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. These are all words
that were spoken on the night when Jesus was betrayed.
At first glance that seems rather
odd. After all, we are celebrating the season of Easter and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, not Maundy Thursday. But
actually on closer inspection it soon becomes clear why these reading were
chosen. These readings are preparing us
for what is about to happen. They tell
us that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not
the end of God’s saving work.
Jesus begins our text by saying, “But now I am going to him who sent
me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'
But
because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” From the beginning, Jesus made it clear that
he had not come purely on the basis of his own plan. He said, “For
I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who
sent me.” The Father had sent the Son
into our world in the incarnation. The
Son of God, the Word, had become flesh and dwelt among us because the Father
had sent him to carry out his will.
In our text Jesus looks ahead,
beyond his passion and resurrection, to what is going to happen after that. He says that he will be returning to the
Father – returning to the One who sent him. The disciples’ heads were surely
spinning as they tried to take it all in.
They did not understand what Jesus was saying – that would only be
possible after the resurrection. But any
talk about Jesus leaving caused sorrow to fill their hearts.
Jesus speaks about his
ascension. He speaks about the event that
we will celebrate in a little less than two weeks. Sent from the Father to carry out the will of
the Father for our salvation, Jesus was now going to return to the Father. The
disciples would no longer see Jesus. And of course, we no longer see Jesus.
Jesus states in our text, “But
because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” And it’s not just the disciples who felt that
way. We do too. We want to have Jesus here with us in the
same way the disciples did during his ministry leading up to Holy Week. We want to see his miracles and hear him
teach. If we only had that, everything would
be so different!
We may feel that way. But such ideas can only exist if we ignore
what the Gospels actually say. They are
clear that Jesus performed miracles and taught … and that many people rejected
him. And we are not just talking about
his enemies like the Pharisees. After
one of Jesus’ greatest miracles, the feeding of more than five thousand people,
Jesus taught that he was the bread of life – the true bread that had come down
from heaven. In the end, some of his own followers – his disciples – said, “This
is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
Then we learn that after
that many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said on that
occasion, “No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
We often have it all quite wrong.
When considering Jesus and his saving work, we think only about his
incarnation, his death, and his resurrection.
Christmas Eve, Good Friday and Easter Sunday - I just mentioned the
three biggest occasions of church attendance. And two of those require a person
to come to church in the evening instead of a Sunday morning.
But this morning, Jesus speaks about
his ascension. And he tells us that
it is something of great importance. He says, “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.”
Our Lord says that only his ascension will permit the sending of the
Holy Spirit.
Two
chapters earlier, Jesus had said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” Jesus says that he is going to send another Helper – the Spirit of
truth. The word used here in Greek is
Paraclete, it is probably better to use that term, since the functions of the
Spirit are broader than any one word: he helps, comforts, leads and guides in
John’s Gospel.
To describe
the Spirit as another Paraclete, puts
the Spirit on the same level as Jesus
in importance for us. Our Lord says that
we need the Spirit – the Paraclete – and that the sending of the Spirit can
only occur if Jesus departs. That’s
simply how God works. And I guess in a
way that even makes sense to us – the incarnate Lord in the Gospels is seen in
one place, but the Spirit will carry the work of Jesus to all places.
Jesus
teaches us this morning about the importance of the sending of the Holy
Spirit. Now in John’s Gospel Jesus gives
the Spirit to the disciples as he gives the Office of the Keys – the loosing
and binding of sins. But the Church has
placed these readings in this time of the Church year because it is leading up
to Pentecost – the outpouring of the Spirit that is part of the end times. We learn that Jesus’ saving work does not end
with his resurrection. In fact, it
cannot proceed as it must for us
without his ascension and the sending of the Spirit. The Feast of the Ascension
of our Lord and the Feast of Pentecost are crucial for you and your salvation.
They need to be celebrated as the big time salvation events that they are. And we do indeed have the Divine Service on both
days.
In our
text, Jesus tells us about what the Spirit – the Paraclete will do. We hear: “And when he comes, he will convict
the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin,
because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to
the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the
ruler of this world is judged.”
The Spirit
convicts the world about sin because those of the world do not believe in Jesus
Christ. No one can come to the Father
except through Jesus. To reject Jesus is
to reject God – and rejecting God is the root of all sin. Certainly, you believe in Jesus. But what thoughts, words and actions come
forth from you that do not arise from faith in Christ? What are the things in
your life that contradict faith in the Lord?
The Spirit convicts us of these too in order to lead us to repentance.
The Spirit
convicts the world concerning righteousness, because Jesus has gone to the
Father, and we see him no longer. The ascension of Jesus Christ is his exaltation
and the declaration of his righteousness – of the fact that he has carried out
the Father’s will. In the next chapter
Jesus prays: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you
gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory
that I had with you before the world existed.”
People in
Jesus’ day, and in our day as well, reject Jesus as Lord. But the ascension of Jesus was the
declaration by God that Jesus Christ had done everything necessary for us. And in this we find great comfort, for where
there is repentance and faith in Christ we know that there is forgiveness and
salvation because of him.
Finally,
Jesus says that the Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment, because the
ruler of this world is judged. There are
only two lords in existence – the true One and the false one. For the world – for those trapped in sin who do
not believe in Jesus Christ – the devil is lord. He rules them, though they do not recognize
it. They think they are free, but that
is a lie from the father of lies.
Instead, he seeks to drag them to destruction because is a murderer – always has been; always will be.
The devil may have trapped the world
in sin and death through the Fall. But
the incarnate Son of God entered into the world to free us and give us life. During Holy Week Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world;
now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from
the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Through his death and resurrection
Jesus Christ has judged and defeated the devil.
Where the
devil sought to bring you death, now Jesus gives you life. You have indeed by been born again – you have
been born of water and the Spirit. Through faith you have life now, for Jesus
said, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life.” It is already yours now, and because the
risen Lord won it, this life will never be taken from faith. As Jesus said before he raised Lazarus, “I am
the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall
he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
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