Sermon: Rogate (Easter 6) - 2019

26 May 2019

Text: John 16:23-33

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Teacher.  And this is typically what the disciples call Him: “Rabbi, Teacher.”  And this is no mere title of respect.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior, who has come to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil.  He is the God who comes in the flesh to redeem us.  He is the perfect Human who comes to die as the perfect sacrificial Lamb for us men and for our salvation.  But He is also Jesus, the Teacher, the One who comes to reveal the truth to us.

Last week, we heard our Lord teaching us about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth.  And Jesus is Himself the Truth!  He is the Word by whom all things were made: the design, the Logos, the logic that governs the universe, the order that overcomes chaos, the light that overcomes darkness, the life that overcomes death.  He is the love that drives out all fear, and overcomes evil.

As a teacher, our Lord knows that there are times when it is best to let one’s students figure things out.  Our Lord understands the Socratic Method, as He often guides His hearers into an encounter with the truth by leading them, for example, when He speaks in figures of speech, such as parables – with or without further explanation.  We sometimes learn by struggle.

But there are also times when a good teacher foregoes the Socratic Method and, as the saying goes, “talks turkey,” by telling it like it is.  There are some things that Jesus must tell us outright that we cannot discern by reason, things that we cannot be guided into by clever instruction.  There are times when our Lord is brutally blunt and to the point as He reveals things that we must know.

Our Gospel today is one of those times.  “I have said these things to you in figures of speech,” says our Lord and Teacher.  “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 has come to reveal to mankind, to us, to His creatures, the truth about God the Father.  And to do so requires plain speech, not a guided Socratic walk along a primrose path, but rather direct and clear, unmistakable plain talk.

“For the Father Himself loves you,” He says.

The Father loves you, dear friends.  This is blunt and to the point.  It cannot be misconstrued.  Now Jesus had previously explained this figuratively by means of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but now He comes right out and says it.  In case the parable wasn’t clear, in case you think that the parable doesn’t apply to you, in case you have interpreted it all wrong, here it is: “The Father loves you.”  And because of this love that the Father has for you, He sent His Son, who plainly says: “I came from God.  I came from the Father and have come into the world.”  This is all plain speech.  There is nothing figurative or symbolic here.  Jesus is not a prophet, not a do-gooder, not a literary figure, not a super-hero.  He is the Son of God sent by the Father out of love, to teach us about the Kingdom and to redeem us by His blood shed upon the cross.  And contrary to modern theologians who think they’re so sophisticated by trying to separate the “Historical Jesus” from the “Cosmic Christ,” and all of that other blather, Jesus puts it out there without figurative speech, plain as day.  He came from the Father who loves us; He goes to the cross to save us; and He is leaving the world to go to the Father.  And indeed, “He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.” 

“His disciples said, ‘Ah, now You are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!  Now we know that you know all things and You do not need anyone to question You; this is why we believe that you came from God.”

Jesus came from God the Father, because the Father loves us.  Jesus knows all things, because He is God; He is the Son, the Word Made Flesh.  He is above questioning and interrogation.  And when He says: “Let there be light,” there is light.  And when He says, “Your sins are forgiven,” our sins are forgiven.  And when He says, “This is My body,” it is His body.  For He is not speaking in figures of speech, but plainly.  

Our Lord is talking turkey with us because He knows that we will need to know this truth for what is yet to come.  The disciples will have to endure the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection.  And in their ministry, they will suffer, and many of them will die for the sake of the Gospel that they will preach plainly: the Good News that the Father loves us, and that Jesus has come from the Father for the forgiveness of sins, unto eternal life.  

And we too, dear friends, must bear our own crosses in this fallen world.  For these words of Jesus apply to us as well: “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home.”  For our Lord says to us as well: “In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus is speaking plainly to us, dear brothers and sisters, telling it like it is without figures of speech.  The life of the Christian is the life of the cross.  But take heart, He says.  Literally, this word means “Be courageous, be brave.”  How can we be brave, dear friends, how can we have this courage?  Because Jesus has already overcome the world.  The Greek word that our Lord uses is the word for the Greek god of victory, which our silly world thinks of as merely a brand of tennis shoe: “Nike.”  We can be courageous because Jesus has conquered the world.  He is victorious.  He has vanquished evil.  And why?  Because the Father loves us!  It is just that plain, dear friends!

Our Teacher is revealing all of this to us plainly, and without figures of speech: the Father’s love, the Son’s victory, and our courage.  And He says, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace.”

The Christian faith is all about peace, that is, the harmonious working together of the entire created order.  That peace was shattered by our sin, but it has been restored by Christ, who came from the Father, because the Father loves us.  He rescues us, even in the midst of the tribulation of this fallen and hostile world.  And so, take courage, dear friends, because in Jesus you have peace.  For He has indeed overcome the world.

And because He is victorious, you are victorious.  And you have peace: the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of Christ.  He says this plainly, and we receive it plainly with our hearty: “Amen.”

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.