X In the Name of Jesus X
John 16,23b-28[29-32]33
Rogate (5. Sonntag nach Ostern) 040 weiß
Cyrillus, boy, Martyr 250/60.
29. May 2011
1. O Lord Jesus Christ, Everlasting Son of the Father, who after Your glorious resurrection did visit and comfort Your sorrowing disciples, in like manner, we beseech You, appear also to us and to Your whole Church, and bring us peace and joy. Set our troubled hearts at rest. Give peace in our times, and enable us always to praise You in Your habitations. O Lord, show Your wounds unto us and unto all sorrowing souls, so that we may at all times withstand the enemies of Your cross and rejoice in Your glorious resurrection. Grant us Your Holy Spirit, so that we may die daily unto sin and walk in newness of life. And, O Blessed Easter Prince, grant that in the day of Your revelation our bodies may appear like unto Your glorified body. Keep us, therefore, we beseech You, in the joys and peace of this Easter season. O Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, are praised and highly exalted forever (Löhe 140-141). Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to John. The holy apostle and evangelist writes: 23Jesus said to His disciples, „In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you. 24Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full. 25I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26In that day you will ask in My Name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. 28I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.“ 29His disciples said, „Ah, now You are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30Now 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.“ 31Jesus answered them, „Do you now believe? 32Behold, 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. 33I have said these things to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.[1] But take heart; I have overcome the world.“ This is our text. 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us the straight and honest truth: we Christians will have tribulation in the world. Jesus is not talking about the trials and tribulations that afflict all men and women because they are sinners living in a sinful world. Such tribulations are natural disasters, such as the tornadoes that have devastated towns like Joplin, MO and Oklahoma City, OK, or raging flood waters that threaten many towns along the Mississippi River, and there are other tribulations that afflict the world as a result of the curse on sin, namely, war, famine, pestilence, and other calamities. Jesus, however, is not speaking about these types of tribulations. Rather, Jesus is specifically discussing the tribulations that afflict only Christians because they are Christians.
4. The world wittingly or unwittingly causes Christians trouble and distress. Such hard sufferings may take the form of active, hostile persecution against Christians because they are believers in Jesus. All of the apostles suffered persecution from the unbelieving world. Likewise, the Early Church endured many difficulties from the world on account of the Christian faith. Such hostilities included their property being confiscated, the church’s Bibles taken away, imprisonment, and even death by many different methods, including the infamous method of placing Christians in Roman stadiums to be killed by gladiators or wild animals. The Early Church suffered such tribulations merely because they were Christians, and nothing more.
5. The Church’s tribulation at the hands of the wicked world continues even in the 21. century. Christians in Africa and Asia are harassed or sold into slavery because they are guilty of being Christians. Christians in America are mocked, ridiculed, treated as ignorant and uneducated fools, and have their Constitutional rights of freedom of religious expression trampled upon. These things happen to us solely because we believe, trust, and confess that Jesus is the crucified and risen Christ who has purchased the forgiveness of the world’s sins.
6. Jesus’ statement: »In the world you will have tribulation.« has been true and is true for the Church. Every generation of Christians has experienced some sort of tribulation. The reason such a tribulation occurs for the Church and Christians is because the Devil and the wicked world conspire against Jesus and His Bride, for as the unbelievers treated Jesus during His lifetime, so will they treat His disciples. Jesus says: »Remember the word that I said to you: „A servant is not greater than his master.“ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you« (John 15,20).
7. Thus, the law tells us: Christians, you will suffer for the sake of your faith in Christ. It is what it is. There is no opting out of such tribulation. Jesus, however, never leaves us dangling by the threats and distress of the law, for He always abundantly presents us the gospel. The law states: „In the world you will have tribulation.“, and the gospel promises: „But take heart; I, Jesus, have overcome the world.“
8. Jesus’ triumph over the world is not some distant, future reality that always seems on the edge of the horizon but never quite materializes. Jesus’ victory, rather, is a real, present victory over the world and the armies of darkness and wickedness. The decisive battle in this millennia-long war fought by Yahweh against the Devil occurred on the cross. There Jesus paid for all sin and bore mankind’s curse. On the third day Jesus rose from His tomb, and death was powerless to detain Him. Eternal life had triumphed over eternal death (triomphe la vie éternelle!).
9. Christ’s victory in and over this world are manifested in the means of grace (Mittelgnade) that the Holy Spirit gives to and maintains in His Church. When the preached law brings sinners to repentance and the preached gospel absolves those sinners, then Christ’s victory in really manifested in this world. When the gospel transforms unbelievers into Christians, then Christ’s victory is advancing upon the earth. As our prayers rise before Yahweh as incense (Psalm 141,2), we are comforted in the knowledge that Yahweh hears and answers our prayers whereby He gives us His victory. When a person is baptized in the Triune Name of God, that person is snatched out of the Devil’s kingdom and safely deposited into Jesus blessed, heavenly reign. Each Sunday that the Lord’s Supper is celebrated and received, Jesus’ body and blood gives Christians the victory as they live as soldiers under the cross the confidence that they are saved and forgiven.
10. Christ’s victory in and over this world is not merely established through His right hand reign of the Church and her means of grace, but Christ’s victory is also established through His left hand reign of the State. Through nations and their armies, Yahweh establishes peace where there is overt wickedness. Through nations and their laws, Yahweh establishes justice where the innocent are denied basic human dignity. The Apostle Paul lays the groundwork for this understanding when he writes to Bishop Timothy: »First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way« (1 Timothy 2,1-2). The holy apostle explains this further in his Epistle to the Romans: »Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but a terror to bad conduct. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for the ruling authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.« (Romans 13,1-4). When nations and their political leaders exercise sanctions, deploy their armies, or engage with other heads of state in political debate, Yahweh is using those sanctions, armies, or debates to bring a more equitable and just society to people who are under the thumb of wicked and corrupt regimes. Through the State, Yahweh keeps gross sinfulness and wickedness at bay so that people can live their lives in peace and security.
11. Thus, through Church and State the Lord Jesus Christ overcomes the Devil and the wicked world. Through the State, Christ keeps wicked and cruel leaders and nations from dominating the vast majority of peaceful people, and through the Church, Christ offers the gospel that routs sin and the Devil. Until Christ returns on the last day, Yahweh, through the Church and the State, will engage in both the spiritual and physical conflicts that engulf our world between God and the Devil. The victory, however, is known and certain. Christ Jesus has won the war. His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave are the twin battles that have successively beaten the Devil and all his wicked hordes. In Christ we have victory over sin, death, and the devil. On the last day, this victory will be manifested throughout the whole earth when Christ returns to inaugurate the victory He has already won outside of Jerusalem on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Amen.
12. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Captain and Champion of our salvation, we shout for joy to You and sing the glory of Your Name in our prayers and hymns of praise. Heed our prayers and encourage our spirits through our songs so that we, Your dear Christian people, who live in this wicked, fallen world fraught with tribulation after tribulation may remain steadfast in the certainty (Gewißheit) that You love us and bring us the victory. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, John © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker. [1] qli/yin (accusative feminine singular): tribulation, trouble, distress, hard circumstances, suffering
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