Here is a copy of my sermon manuscript:
One of the nice things about this part of the Church year is
that for several weeks in a row all our readings come from the same few
chapters of John’s Gospel. This portion of John’s Gospel is known as the “final
discourse” because Jesus gave this instruction on Maundy Thursday, just before
he was arrested. It was his last chance to teach his disciples as he had so
many times before. One of the things that Jesus is doing with his teaching in
the final discourse is preparing his disciples for what is about to happen.
A couple weeks ago you heard Jesus preparing his disciples
for his coming death and resurrection. He said, “A little while and you will
not see me, and again a little while and you will see me.” He goes on to
say that this experience will be like giving birth. When the disciples lose
sight of Jesus it is like when a woman goes into labor. She has sorrow, for her
time has come. She has fear of what might be happening to her. She has pain.
But then, when the child is born, she can no longer be described as fearful or
sad. She has joy. A new little person has been born. So it will be when the
disciples see Jesus again. They have sorrow now, but joy is coming. When every
disciple (including you) will see Jesus the joy will be indescribable. Jesus
adds that nobody will be able to take these disciples’ joy away from them.
I bring this reading up from a couple weeks ago because this
is the portion of John’s Gospel that is just before our Gospel reading today.
Our reading today begins with the words, “In that day.” In what day? In
the day that Jesus has just been talking about—the one that comes after a
little time of sorrow, when they will see Jesus. That is the day when they will
have joy, and nobody will be able to take their joy away from them. When the
disciples saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, they had joy.
Now Jesus is adding to that joy in our reading today. He
says, “In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, Amen, I tell you:
Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not
asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may
be made complete.”
Here we have some thoughts that are almost a little too much
for us. First of all, Jesus ushers us up into heaven before the holy and fiery
God. Jesus is God incarnate. He is enfleshed. The Father is God only, as is the
Holy Spirit. In a way, Jesus, who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,
makes God approachable for us. Jesus is meek and mild and unassuming. He was
born in stable, laid in a manger, and always associated with the lowly.
Children came to him to be blessed by him. He is like our good big brother who
helps us and protects us.
God in his majesty, or you might say, the naked God—as he is
in himself without the covering of Jesus’s flesh—is astounding. This is the God
of Mt. Sinai. There he enveloped the top of the mountain with a thick, dark
cloud. There was thunder and lightning. The earth shook. A trumpet sounded and
only grew louder. The Israelites were so afraid after they heard God speak the
Ten Commandments that they thought they were going to die.
But even here at Mt. Sinai God is hiding himself. It was not
the raw power of God; he gave them only a glimpse. For the Scriptures say that
no one can see God and live. And this makes sense, if you will only think about
it. God is the Creator. He has all power. The vast expanse of the universe is
not even like a back yard to him. Tornados and tsunamis and whatever other powerful
forces we might be able to bring to mind are nothing compared to who he is in
himself.
Jesus says to his disciples that when he is risen from the
dead, they will not go to Jesus for what they need. They will go to the Father.
This is because of the reconciliation that Jesus works between soiled sinners
on the one hand, and the might and holy God on the other. Without the
forgiveness of sins that Jesus works, without his righteousness and holiness
that he gives to us, we could never meet our Maker—or at least we could never
meet him in a way where we would be blessed.
This is the thing about Judgment Day. It is the most
wonderful thing and the most dreadful thing that will have ever happened at the
same time. Those who have been reconciled to God through Jesus’s blood will be
so happy on that day, that words utterly fail in getting across what that will
be like. Those who remain in their sins with a hardened heart where either
there was no faith to begin with or that faith was extinguished by disobedience
and unbelief—those folks will be filled with dread and terror.
If ever we have been frightened of being found out by our
parents when we have done something wrong; if ever we have dreaded seeing the police
pull up when we have done something wrong—these things are only tiny
foreshadowings of that day for those whose conscience has not been washed in
the fountain of Jesus’s blood. They will have all their sins come crashing down
on them at once. God save us all from this terrible fate!
But it is not necessary that we continue to be filled with
fear and dread. This is not just my opinion, nor is it wishful thinking. This
is what Jesus says. In that day when he is resurrected from the dead, and the
disciples see him, they will be filled with joy. They need not go to Jesus for
what they need. They can go to the Father himself. Through faith in Jesus they
are reconciled to God. Through faith in Jesus you are reconciled to God. You
are holy—not because you feel like you are holy, nor by wishful thinking, but by
the work of Jesus on the cross. He did not redeem just a portion of the world.
He redeemed the whole world. By your believing him it is yours.
Jesus’s words in our reading today also clear up a
common—almost a natural—misconception. It is not uncommon for people to imagine
that God the Father is the mean one, the stern one, whereas Jesus is the nice
one. I say that it is almost natural for us to think this, because that is what
the difference in their countenances does to us. There is a difference in the
way these two persons of the Triune God strike a person. As I’ve mentioned, God
in his raw power is awesome. No one can see him and live. In a very real sense
he is dangerous—for he can do unimaginable things. It is only natural for us to
shy away from such a one.
Edith isn’t here today—she’s staying overnight at a friend’s
house—and so I can talk about her a little bit. She is starting to grow out of
this now, but ever since she was a baby she was frightened of men with but one
exception. She wasn’t frightened of her father. But with other men she would
almost turn inside out if they started talking to her. And if they were loud
and brash—that made her fear much worse. She was greatly mistaken with this
fear, because all of the men who would talk to her had good will towards her.
They were nice and friendly. However, what I think she could sense is that they
were not what you would call “safe.” They were not “safe” like women were
“safe.”
In a similar way we can be mistaken about God the Father.
All people are intimated by God. If a person isn’t intimidated by God—even if
he is the biggest and manliest man that ever lived—such a one is a fool with a
capital F. But look what Jesus reveals here. He tells you that you may approach
him and ask him even though he is more powerful and “dangerous” than we can
even imagine. The Father isn’t the mean one; Jesus, the nice one. There is absolutely
no difference whatsoever in what the Father wants and what Jesus wants. All
that Jesus does is nothing other than the Father’s will. The Father says from
heaven, both at Jesus’s baptism as well as at his transfiguration, that this
man is his Son. He is well pleased with him. That means that God the Father is
pleased with everything that Jesus did. Even when Jesus was shamed and spit
upon and beaten and whipped and nailed to a cross—this was the Father’s will.
And why? So that our fellowship may be restored with him.
I say “restored,” because there was not always enmity
between God and us. Sin did that. Therefore with the removal of sin, through
Jesus, the fellowship is restored. Although God is all powerful, although it is
exhilarating to even think about it—much less to experience it, we may be happy
and confident in God’s presence. We may regard him as our dear father and we as
his dear children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may approach him
in our prayers as dear children ask their dear father.
Now realize that you will need to work to believe this, and
therefore to pray. I say you need to work on it, because it does not come
naturally. The devil does not want us to be free and easy and confident with
God. Our reason also says that this is no good, for our reason knows about our
sin. “How can someone like you—How can someone who has done the things that you
have done—dare to be confident and trusting before God? You should run for the
hills!” Faith, which overcomes such thoughts, is a miracle worked by the Holy
Spirit. Christians believe even though they are sinners. They believe that
their righteousness is not in themselves, but in Jesus, who has loved them and
gave himself for them.
It is good for us to have joy. It is good for us to have
confidence. As a preacher I work pretty hard so that you lose your joy and your
confidence in a sense. I work pretty hard that you recognize your sin and fear
God. This is a hard thing to do, because we are so stubborn about recognizing
our guilt. We’re no different than we were when we were children. Have you even
tried to impress upon a child that he or she has done wrong? They become as
slippery as eels! Who can catch them? But once we get caught, once we have been
brought low so that our joy and confidence and faith are no longer in
ourselves, then we are to learn to have our joy and confidence in Christ. Christ’s
redemption is such powerful stuff that it even grants access to the Father. We
can pray to the one who can move mountains.
Fear, dread, shame—these kinds of things are only for this
life. They are like the pains of childbirth. They’re no good. Who wants them? But
who would dare to say that the birth of a child is no good? Likewise, being
born unto eternal life is good, even though it involves pain as we make our
pilgrim way through this veil of tears.
In this section of John’s Gospel Jesus is very encouraging
without engaging in fairy tales. He acknowledges the troubles that his
disciples have. He doesn’t pretend that they don’t exist. But he says, “Hold
on!” And not just any “hold on,” but “hold on to me.” “What I have promised, what
I have said will come true,” Jesus says. “Do you have sorrow now? That’s okay.
Just hold on. Soon you will see Jesus, and your joy will be full, and no one
will be able to take your joy away from you.” Then you will even have the
exhilarating experience of being in God’s glory without being afraid—for reconciliation
has been worked by Jesus’s death and resurrection.
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