Seventh Sunday of Easter – John 15:26-16:4

Today we stand in the gap between two momentous events. This past Thursday was Ascension Day. Christ has ascended to His Father and to our Father. Next weekend we’ll celebrate Pentecost, the descent of the promised Holy Spirit. Meanwhile it seems as if this is the saddest day in the entire church year. No Jesus. No Holy Spirit. We’re without our Savior and our Comforter has not yet arrived.

The disciples thought otherwise. Saint Luke writes that the disciples worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Christ is actually nearer to His Church in His ascension. He rules and protects His Church as He sits at the right hand of the Father. He says I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So why should we be sad? Jesus promises the Helper, the Spirit of truth, Who proceeds from the Father. Even in heaven our faithful Savior does not abandon His disciples on earth.

Now that Jesus has returned to His Father, He sends His disciples into all the world to bear witness about Him. Jesus once did this for Himself. Now the disciples are His eyewitnesses and earwitnesses. They testify about Christ’s person and Christ’s office. Jesus lived the perfect life in our place. He suffered much for our sake. He died as our ransom from sin and death. He rose from the dead so that we are able to mock death and live with Him forever.

How will they manage this daunting task? They have a Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. The Holy Spirit removes every obstacle as they bear witness. He ensures the seed of the Gospel will bear fruit where it is planted. Contrary to what our eyes see, the Gospel will have its way with those who hear it. Even if the harvest looks scant from our perspective, the Lord is well-pleased with whatever is harvested. The Spirit is our gift from the Father and the Son and, as Saint James writes, every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, with whom there is no change or even a shadow of turning.

The Spirit is also a Spirit of truth. The Helper makes you sure and certain of the truth so you may not doubt anything that concerns your salvation. Doubt comes easily in our minds. How can a holy and perfect God save an unholy and imperfect sinner like me? What is truth? If there is truth, is it for me? There is truth. The truth is for you. You don’t qualify for the truth; the truth qualifies you and brings you into the joyous mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ.

The Spirit makes you ready to contend for this truth. He makes you ready as you hear the Scriptures read and proclaimed for you. He puts this Word in your heart, your mind, and on your lips so that you are able to bear witness about Jesus Christ in what you say and how you live. Sometimes your witness in how you live ends in death for the sake of Christ. Whether you live or die in your witness, you belong to Jesus. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter of priceless worth, keeps you close to Christ and to His Father.

There is the possibility that you may have to suffer for the sake of the Good News. That’s the part of being a Christian that we hope never happens to us. On our confirmation day we were asked whether we would suffer all things, even death, rather than fall away from the Christian faith. Notice there’s nothing about falling away from the Lutheran Church. What matters is the confession of the Christian faith. In other words, are you willing to die for what Holy Scripture says about your life in Jesus Christ? Are you willing to shed blood for the confession of Scripture in the creeds of Christianity?

Granted this may never happen to us, but it certainly happens to fellow Christians around the world. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that one apostle was martyred not long after Christ’s ascension. We also know Stephen, a deacon for the Church, was martyred for preaching Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, extra-Biblical tradition informs us all of the disciples except for Saint John died a martyr’s death.

We see a glimpse of how the world receives the testimony of the Name of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most telling glimpse of this reception is apathy. Although apathy is perhaps the most passive form of despising God’s Word, it is the most frustrating form. People know, even members of your own family know, the loving-kindness of God the Father in sending His Son Jesus Christ to redeem the world from Satan. Many of these people even call themselves “spiritual”. Perhaps you have caught yourself saying something like that to others. When it comes to rejoicing in the Gifts of salvation with fellow Christians in the Divine Service, pews remain empty. The Gospel is uncomfortable for them to handle. The Gospel is something that is best enjoyed in privacy. The Gospel is there when they need it, but it’s best not to need it all that often. Worst of all is believing Jesus Christ is for you, but to ignore that gift and live as if the Gospel means nothing to you. God keep us from apathy in the Gospel!

As you see, persecution isn’t necessarily the “big ticket” deeds of shedding blood. Those who persecute Christians actually persecute Christ even though they think they are doing God a favor by persecuting Christians. Jesus gives the actual answer why there is persecution: they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. Don’t forget Christ’s words. They should remind you of what our Lord said on the cross about those who despised Him: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.

The Father knows you. The Holy Spirit keeps you close to Christ and the good things Christ gives His Church. You’ve been, as cowboys say, rode hard and put away wet this week. Jesus is ready to serve you. He gives you comfort under bread and wine in His Supper. He gives you forgiveness at this altar and from this pulpit. He puts you in mind of your baptism. He brings the comfort of the Scriptures to your attention. Whether good times or bad times, Christ remains constant. His witness remains constant in the church. The Holy Spirit witnesses the good things that Jesus Christ gives you. You are not alone.

God’s Comfort Comes in the Preached Word

No one in need of comfort, therefore, should wait until the Holy Spirit in all his majesty speaks to him personally from heaven. For the Holy Spirit carries out his witness publicly in the sermon. That is where you must seek and await him, till the word which you hear with your ears witnesses inwardly of Christ in your heart. But such inward witness does not come about until the external, spoken witness of the Word is heard which tells that Christ became man, was crucified, died, and rose again for our sakes.

Martin Luther, House Postil for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (John 15:26-16:4)

Sixth Sunday of Easter – John 16:23b-30

We are all Israelites when it comes to God. We do more grumbling against Him than we do thanking Him. We grumble about our family, our marriage, and our children. We grumble about our congregation, our pastor, and those who sit next to you in the pews. Nothing would get done around here if it wasn’t for me! If only that preacher of ours would do something about all these empty pews! When is that door going to get fixed? When will the church building be cool enough or warm enough! Grumble, grumble, grumble!

Saint James warns us that if we don’t bridle our tongues, we’re going to be in trouble. To grumble is to say to God, “I don’t like the life you have given me. I don’t want all the trials you send me. I want new friends. I want new family. I could do with some new people at church to grouse about.” Grumbling is a symptom of a larger problem: unbelief.

How does God deal with grumbling? He tells the Israelites, “Okay, if you think things are bad now, let’s see you deal with poisonous snakes.” Many Israelites died. Knowing what happened to the Israelites when they grumbled, how is your grumbling these days? Instead of grumbling, take your concerns to the Lord in prayer. He has a ready ear that waits to hear your concerns and answer them according to His gracious will.

Left to our own devices, we would never dare approach God in prayer. We daily sin much and deserve nothing but punishment. So why bother praying? Because Jesus asks us to pray in His name. You are in Christ by virtue of your baptism. All that the Father in heaven has is yours. As a child is not afraid, or should not be afraid, to talk to His Father, you are not afraid to talk to your heavenly Father. Jesus took away every barrier between you and Him in His suffering and death. Why, then, are you so timid? Ask away! The sky’s the limit. You will receive a fair hearing. Jesus prays for you and with you. That is what it means to pray in Christ’s name.

Now that you have no reason to be afraid to pray, for whom or for what could you pray? How about praying for yourself? That’s not an arrogant thing to do. How about praying for strong faith? When it comes to spiritual possessions, God will give whatever you ask…maybe even more than you ask. You could ask for the Word not to be bound but to have free course in this congregation, in your family, and even among your friends and family members who do not believe the Good News of forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ. All those items merely scratch the surface of what you could ask our Father in heaven.

What about earthly possessions? There’s the thing that trips up many people, even those who are fervent in prayer. So often we expect God to give us everything we desire and then some. If we’re bold to ask for spiritual possessions and receive them, then we start getting bold in asking for earthly possessions and expect God to give them to us. We get to the point where we expect God to deliver our petitions in our time and not His time. So we wait. And wait. And wait. Nothing happens. In fact, the opposite might happen. Perhaps even something totally different than what we prayed for could happen.

What happened? God went deaf? No. God has decided to stop listening to us? No. You forgot that when it comes to earthly possessions, you pray as Jesus taught you to pray: Thy will be done. No wonder you grumble against God when you don’t get what you want. Consider Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount. Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

When you ask for earthly things, our Father in heaven gives you what you need. That is not necessarily what you want. It will be good for you, but you probably won’t see it that way. That’s what is behind Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. You often ask for the right thing that is actually the wrong thing. You ask for a stone, but the Father gives you bread. How much better is bread for you than a stone? Why not step outside the church building today, pick up a stone, and try to eat it. Your congregation won’t be paying your dental bill, let alone your physician’s bill to have your stomach pumped.

God the Father has something much better for you than a stone. He has something edible. He has something nourishing. You want something that you think is good. God has something for you far better. Aha! Gotcha, pastor! Suffering is bad for me! I asked God for relief and He gave me more suffering! How do you weasel your way out of that one?

Suffering draws you closer to God. There is a time for everything under heaven. Perhaps this time is your time to suffer. God doesn’t want to push you away. He wants you closer to Him. Times of suffering is when Christians cling to their Lord closer than before. You bear the cross in patience believing that Jesus first bore the cross for you. Your suffering could end at death. Your suffering could end tomorrow. Whenever suffering ends, you have the joy of everlasting life because of Jesus, Who suffered for you.

As Jesus prepares His disciples for His departure to the Father, He promises suffering will be turned into joy. He also promises that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of the message of Jesus Christ. Today Jesus adds that He has overcome the world. What is more, He encourages you to ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. Covered in Christ’s blood, basking in His righteousness, you have the privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. He’s all ears. He wants to give you so many good things. What more is there to say but Amen. Gift received. Yes. Yes, for Jesus’ sake. Yes, indeed.

Fifth Sunday of Easter – John 16:5-15

We are in the midst of our Lord’s long goodbye to His disciples on the night when He was betrayed. Last week, Jesus told them their sorrow will turn to joy. This week, Jesus tells them it’s good that He is going away to His Father.

Unless you’re looking forward to someone leaving because company, like fish, smells bad after three days, someone’s departure is usually seen as bad. I recall when Becky and I were long distance dating before our marriage. More than once did the two of us break down into tears before our parting. We longed to be with one another for the long term. Every moment was precious.

Jesus promises that even though He will go away to His Father, He will send the Holy Spirit. Jesus will remain with them, but not in the way He has been up to this point. Instead of His direct presence, the disciples will have His indirect presence in the Spirit with the preached Word, bread, wine, and water. The Holy Spirit’s work is a source of rich comfort for us.

What comfort does anyone have in being convicted? The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He convicts because the world will not hear the preaching of the Gospel. The world wanted nothing to do with what Jesus preached. Nothing has changed over two millennia. The proclamation of the resurrected Christ is rejected, even to the point of hostile persecution of those who believe in the resurrection of Christ.

Jesus prepares both His disciples and His faithful to suffer for confessing His name. By virtue of your baptism you are given the privilege of witnessing Jesus Christ to your unbelieving neighbors. You don’t get to punt the ball to pastor while you sit back and watch him do all the hard work. Each of you has a mission field of your own. Maybe it is members of your own family. Maybe it is the people next door. Maybe it’s a buddy at the coffee shop. Wherever the location and whoever the person, you testify the Holy Spirit in the hearts of unbelievers.

The Holy Spirit indeed chastises, convicts the world that their unbelief is sin. He proclaims true righteousness that rejects the world is found in Christ alone. The prince of this world is judged along with them. Their cause, his cause, is a lost cause. The world cannot resist the power of your confession. It can be hostile to it to the point of slander and violence, but it cannot resist the truth of Jesus Christ. Though this office of confessing, speaking the truth about your salvation, sounds difficult and unappealing, do not be afraid. The Holy Spirit testifies through you. He strengthens your testimony. He gives you the words to speak to tell the Good News about Jesus.

Not only does the Holy Spirit speak to the unbelieving world, He also speaks to the hearts of the faithful. So often we focus on the lost that we forget the ones found in Christ. All Christians, regardless of where they go to church, are led to the truth through the Holy Spirit working in the preached Word. Because of sin, you’ll never have all the answers. Even I don’t have every answer to every question about the mystery of God’s works. That is why the Spirit guides us ever deeper into the Scriptures. God reveals to us there all that we need to know about our salvation. The heart and soul of the matter is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

That’s the message you hear from this pulpit and in every Bible study. Some weeks the message goes in depth. Other weeks the message is simple. Some Bible studies may leave you confused about God’s love for you in Christ. Other Bible studies unlock a mystery you’ve wondered about most of your life. Behind it all is the Holy Spirit, Who reveals Jesus as Savior and Redeemer. When you recognize Christ as your only hope for salvation, you have consolation in the midst of sin, death, and the constant attacks of the devil.

Though Jesus leaves His disciples, He does not leave them helpless and hopeless. He promises the Holy Spirit. The Spirit always points to Jesus and what Jesus does for you. He convicts the world of sin. He judges the world as condemned because they don’t want to know anything about a Savior.

He also consoles Christ’s faithful flock with the promise of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. Eternal life is yours because you are baptized into Christ. You died to sin at the font. You rose from the dead at the font as a new creation in Christ. Forgiveness is yours at the font and at this altar, where Christ’s true Body and true Blood sustain you in your pilgrimage this side of Paradise. Eating and drinking at this altar foreshadows the greater heavenly banquet that awaits all the company of heaven, including you and me.

As Christ prepares us for His ascension, we are comforted in believing that the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church keeping us close to Christ. The Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and gives it to you. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

Fourth Sunday of Easter – John 16:16-23a

Our life in Jesus Christ is neither a walk in the garden, nor is it an aimless meander. There is a constant alternating of joy and suffering that is a true reflection of life. This alternating of joy and suffering is all a part of the mystery of how the Lord miraculously leads us through life.

The point of our Lord’s words to His disciples in today’s Holy Gospel is to prepare them for this back and forth of life. Jesus says so with a double oath: truly, truly. You can bet the farm that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. We just went through what they went through. The high of Palm Sunday, the low of Jesus’ suffering and death, and then the joy of the resurrection. What a change in such a short time.

Think of the many hymn stanzas that speak about this alternating from sorrow into joy. Stanza five of the hymn “What God Ordains Is Always Good” gives us an accurate picture. “What God ordains is always good: Though I the cup am drinking Which savors now of bitterness, I take it without shrinking. For after grief God gives relief, My heart with comfort filling And all my sorrow stilling.”

You’re going to drink from both cups, sorrow and joy, until the last hour. You’re going to wonder where and when God has abandoned you. You’re going to thank and praise God with sighs of relief. You’re going to have good health and poor health. You’ll have great moments with your family. You’ll also mourn over the grave of a family member. All these moments change like the seasons. Scripture is full of examples of alternating sorrow and joy in life: Job, Jacob, Joseph, and David, for example.

How could the disciples be ready for what lay ahead of them as the Word of the Lord grew if they didn’t experience suffering? They would never have understood the boundless joy of clinging to Christ, love of their Lord and their neighbor, and the blessed hope of eternity. Only in the school of their many crosses did they realize what sin and wrath, salvation and grace were. Only in seeing their Lord suffer first before entering glory did they understand what they had to go through in the pattern of Jesus first going through it. The darkness gave way to light. The resurrection sun shines in their hearts.

Those outside the Christian faith expect that everything has to come up roses for Christians. Nothing bad can happen to them. Consider all the hymns and Scripture verses that confess happiness and contentedness in the Lord. So life has to be so peaceful in the bosom of Abraham. Even we Christians often think this way. When bad things happen to good people we might think the Lord has abandoned that person. That is false and dangerous.

In a life without suffering, in pure joy, no Christian feels the sinner’s lamentation. No Christian learns to lean on Jesus. No Christian knows what it is like to live in God’s undeserved love for sinners in Jesus. Alternating sorrow and joy is crucial to the Christian life. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes: It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons…. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The more the cross, the nearer to heaven.

Consider also the comfort in having both joy and sorrow as a Christian. I know it’s odd to consider sorrow as comfort, but in the hour of darkness the sun of grace shines forth all the more. The death of Jesus Christ scattered His sheep. Rising from the grave, the Good Shepherd gathered His scattered flock, consoled them, strengthened them, and filled them with the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells His disciples 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. In that day you will ask nothing of me.

Nothing but days of suffering with constant tribulations would be unbearable. You would be despondent, lose your faith in God, and perhaps even die outside of Christ. The Lord distributes joy and suffering over your lifetime so that there will be times of joy amidst the burden of the cross. Jeremiah sings in Lamentations chapter three: the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His mercy; for He does not afflict from His heart or grieve the children of men. All it takes is a little joy for a little while to cast off the gloomy clouds of disbelief and doubt.

God, in fact, gives you more times of joy than suffering. That’s hard to believe, especially when the times of sorrow seem to multiply through the years. Consider the disciples had three days of mourning before the resurrection and forty days of rejoicing after the resurrection. Even after Jesus ascended to His Father, they went to the temple and rejoiced as they awaited the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

If you take stock of the days of your life, you will see that the good days far outnumber the bad days. When bad days do come, you then overcome those times with patience knowing it will soon end. Saint Paul calls it a momentary, light trouble. Those words are appropriate to describe your whole life this side of Paradise. All questions of doubt, all lamentations of loss, and every drop of suffering falls into a sea of pleasure. When joy is plentiful, soak it up! When suffering knocks on your door, bear it with longsuffering. Everything has its end in Christ, Whose journey from suffering into glory precedes the same journey you’re on now. In a little while you will see Jesus face to face in the life of the world to come. There is no suffering then. There will be only joy, for Jesus brings joy that no one can snatch from you.

Third Sunday of Easter – John 10:11-16

What does the voice of the Good Shepherd sound like? When asked this question you may respond with how a person’s voice sounds. There’s a particular timbre. Certain words are emphasized more than others. In this case, though, you’re not listening for the sound of a voice. You’re hearing a voice that speaks words that can only come from the Living Word Himself, Jesus Christ.

The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Only Jesus can say these words and actually do what the words say. Rare do we find anyone who would lay down their life for the sake of one person, let alone for the entire world. Jesus does it.

I know My own and My own know Me. To know Jesus is to know life. To be known by Jesus is something that perhaps we don’t often consider. It’s given that a Christian knows Jesus. Maybe you’ve even said to someone, “I know Jesus”. Sometimes you add to that sentence with a personal opinion about what Jesus would or would not know. “I know Jesus wouldn’t like to see you wearing those clothes” or “I know Jesus is on my side when it comes to politics”. No matter your opinion on what Jesus likes or doesn’t like, what joy it is to be known by Jesus. If He does not know you, you have no share with Him, you are bound in your sin, and you are eternally dead.

The work of Satan is to get you to buy in to the lie that Jesus doesn’t know you or care for you. That’s the wolf, the roaring lion as Saint Peter calls him, who is crouching at your door. The hireling, as Jesus calls him, won’t stand in the way of the wolf to protect the flock. There’s nothing in it for him except his own protection. Perhaps the hireling is a partner with the wolf. Perhaps the hireling doesn’t care about the wolf. What matters is that the hireling won’t stop the wolf.

Jesus will stop the wolf dead in his tracks. The wolf has already been stopped, for Jesus has stomped his head by dying for your sin and rising from the dead to give you everlasting life. Your salvation is taken care of by the Good Shepherd. All your transgressions go on Jesus. His bitter pain is your salvation. Satan wants you to think that’s bunk. Satan wants you to believe that you are not good enough to be saved. Satan wants you to trust nothing and no one, including yourself. The only thing that matters for the devil is for you to stay away from the Good Shepherd.

You stay away from Christ at your own peril. Jesus knows you. He knows you won’t listen to His voice. He knows you don’t want to be put into His sheep pen. He knows you are prone to stray. The difference between the Good Shepherd and the hireling is that Jesus will seek you when you stray. He is relentless in His pursuit. When you hear that He is relentless that might make you squirm. The word “relentless” usually has a negative connotation. Think of the police searching for a fugitive. They won’t stop looking for someone accused of a crime. You can run, you can hide, but you won’t get away from the relentless pursuit of justice.

Jesus does not pursue you to give you what you deserve. If He did, no one would survive His pursuit. He would kill you on the spot because you strayed. The image you must see when you consider the Good Shepherd is the image on the cover of this weekend’s bulletin. See the Good Shepherd carry a lamb on His shoulders back to the sheepfold. There is no slaughter here. There is no vengeance here. There is only joy in finding a lost sheep and bringing that sheep back home for a happy reunion with other sheep.

Jesus not only pursues you when you go astray, He also pursues other lost sheep not of this fold. They will listen to My voice, He says. When they listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd, they will hear words that they never imagined hearing from anyone. They will learn that, like you, they are loved by Him. So many people take for granted the words “I love you”. They rarely, if ever, hear them. It’s hard for some fathers to tell their sons “I love you”. Men aren’t supposed to get personal like that. Even mothers neglect to tell their children that they love them.

Jesus never neglects the chance to say “I love you” to you. We prayed in the Introit from Psalm 33, the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. His love for His creation is everywhere. His love for you specifically is found in His Church, where He puts Himself with His Word and with earthly stuff like bread, wine, and water to deliver the goods: forgiveness of sins, everlasting salvation, and life in the Good Shepherd’s eternal sheepfold.

What does the voice of the Good Shepherd sound like? His voice sounds like rescue from the peril of everlasting death. His voice sounds like perpetual gladness amid the world’s bleakness. His voice sounds like eternal joys. You have hope for something beyond this mortal coil. You are a new creation. You are known by Jesus, the Good Shepherd. His goodness never fails.