Lent 5
Jn
16:25-37
4/1/20
“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. 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.”
“‘A little while, and you will see
me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.’ 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'?’
So they were saying,
‘What does he mean by 'a little while'? We do not know what he is
talking about.’”
This is what Jesus has just been
saying in chapter sixteen. One can understand then,
why our Lord says at the beginning of our text: “I have said these things to
you in figures of speech.” Jesus has
been saying things that are not straightforward and clear to the disciples. He
is talking about events that go beyond their present ability to understand
them.
Yet
now in our text he says, “The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you
in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.” Jesus points to an approaching time when he
will speak to them about the Father in ways that they will understand. And then
our Lord acknowledges the reception that the disciples have from the Father
because of the way they have received Jesus.
He says, “for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved
me and have believed that I came from God.”
The
disciples in this time before Jesus’ death and resurrection had loved Jesus and
believed that he had come from God. They
may not have understood everything, but they had that part down. And because of
this the Father loved them.
Next
Jesus says, “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and
now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” Our Lord once again refers to his approaching
ascension. In John’s Gospel, Jesus
speaks about his saving work as a whole.
It is one sweeping movement down through the cross into the grave, and
then back upwards in resurrection and ascension. It is something that the disciples will only
be able to understand after his resurrection and in witnessing his ascension.
Have
you ever been in a conversation where you really didn’t understand what was
being said, but you didn’t want to let on that this was the case? Putting the best construction on things, that
is what happens next. But more likely, the disciples probably are so clueless
that they actually believe themselves as they say: “Ah,
now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we
know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this
is why we believe that you came from God.”
Yet our Lord knew full well how
shallow their comprehension was at this point. So Jesus said dismissively, “Do
you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come,
when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me
alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”
At
the Garden of Gethsemane they would abandon Jesus and be scattered. And while it is easy to condemn the disciples
and look down upon them for this failure, our performance is often not all that
different. When moments arise to confess Jesus Christ in word and deed, we do
nothing and remain silent. Or worse than
doing nothing, we go along with the ways of the world as we reject and disobey God’s will.
Jesus
announces the failure that awaits the disciples later that evening. But then he speaks one last statement, before
he completely shifts the focus. Our text
takes us to the end of chapter sixteen.
In the first verse of chapter seventeen we are told, “When Jesus
had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the
hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you
have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to
all whom you have given him.” The
entirety of chapter seventeen is prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father.
This
means the very last statement of Jesus that is addressed to the disciples is
this: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have
peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I
have overcome the world.” Our Lord
announces that in him we have peace.
Earlier Jesus had said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world
gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let
them be afraid.”
Jesus gives
peace. He does not deny that there is
tribulation for those who believe in him.
After all, the difference between Jesus and the world is the difference
between light and darkness. Jesus said, “I have come
into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in
darkness.”
To
believe in Jesus is to call the world what it is. Jesus said: “And this is the
judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the
darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For
everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the
light, lest his works should be exposed.”
Those
who believe in Jesus and walk in light – those whose behavior is shaped and
guided by Jesus – will receive the world’s hatred. Walking in the ways of Jesus will bring
tribulation. And beyond this, there is
the tribulation of a fallen world where sin brings sickness, pain and
death. Our Lord does not promise a free
pass from such things. He says, “in the
world you will have tribulation.”
Yet
then he adds this: “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus says we cannot allow the tribulation to
overwhelm us. It cannot become our focus. Instead, we must take heart. We must listen to the encouragement that he
gives. And the encouragement is this: “I
have overcome the world.”
Jesus
has overcome the world. He did it by
giving his flesh – the flesh of the God-man – on the cross. 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.”
John
says in his first letter, “The reason
the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” By his sacrifice on
the cross our Lord has won forgiveness for us. By his resurrection on the third
day he has defeated death. By his Spirit he has given us new life as we were
born again in the water of Holy Baptism. For this reason, the devil and the
world no longer hold us in their control.
Can
they cause tribulation? Yes. But even
these become things that God now uses for our good. He crucifies the old Adam in us. He turns us away from ourselves and forces us
to look to him in faith. We belong to
God as his children, and so we can trust that even in the midst of tribulations
– even in the midst of a pandemic - he is still at work in our lives.
In
his first epistle, John put it this way: “For everyone who has been born
of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the
world--our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” You are born of God. Your faith is his gift. And it is this faith
in the Son of God that overcomes the world, because he has overcome the world
for you. As the crucified, risen and ascended Lord he has conquered sin and death. Through faith in Jesus Christ that victory is
now yours. And his resurrection victory
will be yours on the Last Day, because Jesus has said, “For this is the will of my
Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in
him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
day."
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