Sermon: Easter 4 - 2021

25 April 2021

Text: John 16:16-22 (Isa 40:25-31, 1 Pet 2:11-20)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Sorrow is temporary, dear friends.  We have sorrow now, as our Lord teaches us.  We have sorrow now because we live in a fallen world.  We are broken and sinful – just like every other human being that has been born into the world since the Fall in Eden.  We suffer disappointments, estranged relationships, health issues, and death.  Those we love die, and we too are mortal – even as God pronounced the sad curse upon Adam, that we ourselves placed on our own heads by our sin and rebellion.

Jesus taps into this sorrow as He tells His disciples that He will be going away, and they will suffer sorrow in His temporary absence.  But even in His absence, dear friends, He is present in an unseen way, as He is God.  Jesus is with us too, though we don’t experience Him the way the disciples did when he walked the earth with them.

And so we have sorrow in this world – especially as it crumbles seemingly day by day.  Not only do we suffer the way that all of humanity has suffered, we are living in a time of increased hostility and hatred for the Church, where Jesus is, yet again, lied about and attacked.  And we don’t know where this is leading in our lifetimes, or in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren.  And so we have sorrow now.

And, dear friends, our Lord doesn’t sugar-coat things.  The world, the devil, and even our own sinful nature are opposed to Him.  This rebellion against His will assures that things will degrade.  As Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.”  Even as the world exerts power over us, it gloats over us.  The world mocks us, ridicules us, and relishes its tyranny over us – thinking themselves righteous – for they are deceived by the devil, the prince of this world.  And didn’t they do the same to our dear Lord?

But like our sorrow, the devil’s dominion over this world, and over our flesh, is temporary.  And this is how Jesus encourages us: “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.”  All of the sorrow and misery that we see is destined to scatter like storm clouds that blow away and are replaced by clear, blue skies and sunshine.  The things that vex us and seem permanent – even death itself – are really only temporary.  For that is why Jesus came into our world: not to condemn it, but to save it.  Not to judge it, but to redeem it. 

And He does not come to force you to partake of His great re-creation of the universe.  He does not force us to believe.  He offers us a more excellent way: a way of love and joy, of completeness and restoration, a way of life that will have no end.

It is yours by grace, as a free gift.  It costs you nothing, dear brothers and sisters, because it has already been bought and paid for by His blood shed at the cross, and by His body that suffered and died.  This body and blood are given to you as a free gift, as currency with which to pay the burden of the debt that causes all your sorrow.  Jesus extends Himself to you, reaching His hand into the pit where you find yourself, so that He can hoist you out.  For you are powerless to do so on your own.  And that, dear friends, is why we need a Savior!

Our Lord calls to mind Eden again, when He points out the curse that Eve brought upon herself and upon all her daughters: the anguish of her pain, and the sorrow she experiences in giving birth in our fallen world, in her own fallen flesh, birthing another person whose flesh is likewise tainted by sin and death. 

But nevertheless, there is still joy, dear friends.  For even in our sin, we are still multiplying, carrying out the Lord’s mandate by which He brings new life into the world.  There is sorrow in that temporary time of birthing and raising children, but there will be joy when the Lord returns, when the devil is no more, when resurrection replaces death, and when our flesh is cleansed of all unrighteousness.  And in eternity, we will no longer experience the curse of pain and death, of suffering and sorrow.  These memories will be wiped away, replaced by the eternal joy of the new birth.

“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,” says our Lord.  For in this fallen world, there are many who desire nothing more than to take our joy from us.  But “no one” will do so when the little while of our Lord’s time away from us ends.  We will see Him again.  He will come in great glory.  And our sorrow will end, never to return.

This is an ironclad promise of God, dear friends, even as we heard God’s messenger Isaiah yet again: “Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”

We find our strength in this promise, in the reality that our burdens will end, and our temporary sorrow will be replaced by permanent and everlasting joy.  For this prophecy is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has conquered sin, death, and the devil, and who is coming again.

And St. Peter reminds us to keep this sorrowful, fallen life in perspective.  This is not our house.  This is more like an inn.  We are travelers, just passing through.  We are, as he says, “sojourners and exiles.”  As broken as life on this side of the grave is, it is only temporary housing until our true home is built, and we are called to reside there.

And so, Peter teaches us how to endure suffering and sorrow, knowing that it is all temporary.  Let us not get so bogged down in the temporary nature of this life so as to forget our Lord’s words that put it all into perspective: “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…. and no one will take your joy from you!”

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.