In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Christ is risen!
Our liturgical life together as the body of Christ in these Sundays after Easter can be thought of in two distinct parts – at least, when we’re using the historic 1-year lectionary. Easter Sunday and the two Sundays that followed focused on the joys of the Resurrection, Christ’s absolving greeting of peace, and on the Good Shepherd’s gathering of His sheep into the green pastures of His kingdom where He waters and feeds us with His Holy Word and Sacraments.
Beginning today, and continuing for the next two Sundays, we’ll hear more of what Christ would teach us in the 16th chapter of John’s Gospel. We’ll be led away from the peaceful joys of the Resurrection and into the Christian life of trial and warfare. Today’s Gospel Reading starts that journey for us by pointing to the reality of Christ’s Ascension into heaven which He told the disciples was coming, saying: “A little while, and you will see me no longer … ‘because I am going to the Father’?”
We call this Sunday Jubilate – Rejoice Sunday – because ultimately, the sorrow of being separated from Christ that the disciples experienced was turned into a joy that no one could ever take from them as Jesus had promised. That pilgrimage from the sorrow of this world to the never-ending joy of heaven is your pilgrimage … and the pilgrimage of all Christians. And the Word of God appointed to be read this day sets you on that path, readies you for the arduous journey, and comforts you with the promise that in Christ, no one will be able to take your Easter joy away from you for we’ll see Him again in His heavenly kingdom where all such sorrow will be brought to a glorious end.
As Easter Christians, we know that heaven is our true home. Where Christ the Bridegroom has gone, His bride – the Church – longs to follow. But we haven’t been called to our heavenly home yet. We remain in this world – this vale of tears – for as long as God deems best. Whether our time here is many years or only a little while, St. Peter’s instruction and warning to us is the same: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
We who belong to Christ are to take up our many crosses and follow our crucified Lord.
Consider again the words of our Collect: “Almighty God, You show those in error the light of Your truth so that they may return to the way of righteousness. Grant faithfulness to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Church that they may avoid whatever is contrary to their confession and follow all such things as are pleasing to You.”
In this Collect, we pray that as those who’ve been admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Church by baptism and faith might – by God’s grace – live Christian lives that think, do, and say what is pleasing to God and that avoid all such things as are displeasing to God: not only for our own spiritual well-being, but also so we don’t end up disgracing the name of Christ and bringing shame upon our Christian brothers and sisters in the world.
Your life – as one who is baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection – is truly a paradox. You’re in the world, but not of it. And since you’re not of the world, you should always regard yourself as a foreigner and view the world as an outsider looking it. Never imagine for a moment that everything going on out there in the world is good or right or acceptable for you. In a real sense, you should have a certain detachment from the things that the world craves. Wealth, power, pleasures … there are many things in this world that are allowable for the Christian, but the “passions of the flesh” (as St. Peter calls them) are contrary to the Christian life because they “wage war against your soul.” They seek to displace our fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
So, where we have given in to these passions of the flesh, let us repent and receive the forgiveness Christ won for us by His passion, death, and resurrection.
But even though we should have a certain Christian detachment from the world, we also have a duty to the world. If our detachment is one of personal pride and contempt for the world, then we’re being just as sinful as if we’re embracing and participating in the sins of the world.
It’s our Christian duty to set an example. St. Peter writes: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” In other words, we’re to condemn the world by showing it a better way: the way of godliness … the way of Christ. We’re called to show the world what’s wrong with it by doing what is right. And when we do what God would have us do, the world can see the joy, and hope, and comfort that belong to us because we know that Christ has died for our sins, that the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ’s Church, and that eternity in the bliss and joy of heaven is truly ours.
It’s also our Christian duty to be submissive. St. Peter writes: “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”
Wise laws reflect God’s wisdom and just laws reflect God’s justice. Obedience to such laws is the basis for societies. And such societies are God’s means of blessing us with orderliness, liberty, and prosperity.
Now, I’m sure none of us is ever completely happy with our governing authorities. And no particular form of government is commanded by God. But whatever the form of government – republic, democracy, monarchy, oligarchy – whatever the form may be, the authority is from God and Christians are obliged to be obedient to the laws of the land. The exception to this, of course, is when such laws are contrary to God’s will; in which case you are bound by conscience to defy your government “for the Lord’s sake,” as the text says – so that (just as with abstaining from the passions of the flesh) we don’t give a bad name to Christ and our fellow Christians.
St. Peter also teaches us that it’s our duty to serve God and neighbor: “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” This is another paradox of your life as a Christian. In Christ you are free: free from sin, free from death, free from the power of the devil. But the problem is that you sometimes use that freedom as a “cover-up for evil”: thinking that in your freedom, you can do whatever you want. In that sense, we’ve become slaves again: this time, enslaved to ourselves. But Christ has freed us from sin and death to serve God. As a Christian, you’ve been freed – to be a slave. So “Honor everyone [even those who despise you]. Love the brotherhood [- your fellow Christians]. Fear God [giving thanks for the atoning sacrifice of Christ even as you strive by His grace to do His will]. Honor the emperor [even if they’re pagan sinners] … [because] if, when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”
[Jesus said:] “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
Our lives of Christian example, submission, and duty are right now. It’s the first “little while” that Jesus warned us about by warning the disciples, and it’s the “little while” that will be filled with heartache and suffering, trial and tribulation, ridicule and persecution as we strive to be the people of God that we’ve been called to be, but repeatedly fall short of the mark and have to cry out for mercy with contrite hearts brought low by the reality of our sinful flesh.
But then the second “little while” will come. The “little while” when we will see Christ again and our “sorrow will turn into joy.” And Jesus gives us an example of what this will be like – an example that’s perfect for us on this Mothers’ Day as we give thanks to God for the holy vocation of motherhood and for the faithful Christian mother’s who’ve reared us to fear, love and trust in God above all things. Jesus says: “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”
This second “little while” is our great comfort even now. It’s the unsurpassed joy of our certain reunion with the One who bore our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead as the firstfruits of the resurrection. It’s the comfort of knowing that the burdens of this life that weigh so heavily on us as sojourners and exiles will be done away with. And that the anguish we’re experiencing as those who remain faithful will no longer be remembered when our pilgrimage is ended. “You have sorrow now, but [Christ] will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
And to seal that promise to us, and to sustain us on our pilgrimage through this world to the kingdom of heaven, Jesus gave us His Supper. He comes to us here in the Holy Sacrament as He promised and He’ll come again on the Last Day as He promised. So as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the Lord’s death – and receive His forgiveness, life and salvation – until He comes and leads us home to our heavenly fatherland.
Christ is risen!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Pr. Jon Holst