Jubilate (04.29.2012)
St John 16:16-22/Isaiah 40:25-31/1 John 3:1-3
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen,
I usually don’t talk about my family from the pulpit. And that is both good for you and safe for me. But today’s Gospel has caused me to recall the birth of our first daughter, Hannah.
Reading the literature and talking with friends from seminary, my wife decided she wanted to have a nurse-midwife rather than a traditional doctor for prenatal care. With her she created her birth plan, in which she was adamant about having a natural birth – no epidural, no IV’s, no drugs. Brave.
Her water broke at 37 weeks. Not really a problem for baby, but we still had two weeks of birthing classes to go. We ended up learning on the fly during those 18 hours of labor. And of course, it worked out in the end.
But I’ll never forget something the midwife told her about a natural birth. “At that moment when you think you can’t take anymore, when the pain seems so excruciatingly unbearable, and you feel like you can’t go on, that’s when you know its almost over.”
And that’s what happened. After the long day of no painkillers, Niki looked at me through tears saying, “I can’t take much more. If they come back in and say I still haven’t progressed, than give me the drugs!” The nurse came to check and Hannah was already crowning!
And so the great word of comfort from today’s Gospel. Jesus tells the disciples openly and honestly that pain is ahead of them – pain like a woman in childbirth. That’s BAD pain. But it doesn’t go on interminably. It has an end. It lasts for a little while and on the other side of the pain is joy! Your sorrow will be turned to joy! He told them. I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you.
He meant, of course, that He’d see them on Easter – on the other side of the agony and sorrow of the Cross and death and burial. And you remember how carefully John records that encounter on Easter Eve: He showed them His hands and His side, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
But the Church has found in our Lord’s words another application – for we also live in the time of the “little while” of not seeing the Lord. We are people who walk by faith, not sight. John reminds you of this in the Epistle: The reason why the world does not know us is that is did not know Him. Beloved, we ARE God’s children NOW; and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
Holy Baptism has already given you the gift of being a child of God – now – even if you don’t look much like one. If you struggle with doubt and sorrow and grief and pain – hold on, the joy is nearly there. The full unveiling of who you are doesn’t happen until the full unveiling of who He is! That is, at His glorious appearing when we will be transfigured and made like Him!
And so we live in the “little while” between His ascension and His glorious appearing; the “little while” between our Baptism and our being raised from the dead and changed. And in the midst of this “little while” the pains can be big. Anyone who has had joys taken from them knows this. Ask a mother who has lost a child. Ask a wife who has watched her husband’s health deteriorate. Ask a father who suffers from watching one of his children destroy himself.
Israel certainly knew of this kind of pain as they waited for the promises of God to come to fulfillment. They’d known it since Eve, who mistakenly thought Cain was the promised one. Well, they’d have to wait “a little while” longer. The prophet Isaiah records the people’s complaint: My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God. Do you hear your own lament in these words? In the middle of the little while God’s people often feel abandoned, helpless, crying in pain. And sometime they say, “I just can’t take it anymore.”
But Isaiah points to the wondrous “aha” about our God. He does not faint or grow weary. And His understanding – His plan for working out all things to bring blessing to His people – is unsearchable. That means, that you can’t comprehend or grasp it fully, no matter how hard you try. “Ye pure in heart, all bear your part, sing Jesus Christ, our salvation. To set us free forever He is ris’n and sends to all earth’s ends, Good News to save every nation.”
Indeed you can count on this: He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Did you catch that? He uses the little while when you think you’ve had it and are done and can’t possibly go on, to fill you with His power and His strength by His Word. This is exactly what St Paul experiences when God told him: My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. And this is proven in no better place than the Cross.
It’s at that moment of greatest weakness, right in the midst of the little while, when you think: “I can’t do this, I can’t go on, I can’t possibly endure this;” that the Holy Spirit preaches this wondrous sermon to you: They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
You see, because you are waiting for the Lord, by His grace, you know that there is an end to the pain and sorrow of the little while. It has a purpose. On the other side of suffering there will be the unspeakable joy of seeing Him and Him seeing you as He pulls you from death to life. And when He does, oh the laughter! The laughter, the joy, and the mirth! It will fill your heart and set you singing for an eternity. Never to be taken from you.
This is not another “chin-up, cheer-up” speech that we’ve heard before; probably even given before. This is not hope for a brighter future based on some vague notion of a better tomorrow. Christ grounds these words of comfort, you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy, expressly in Himself and what He has already accomplished for you. For he who suffered “for a little while” on your behalf, now gives you His comfort and peace during your “little while.”
A little while. And to get you through, He gives you that which has already gotten through. He gives you His Body and His Blood. He gives you the Body and Blood that knew the pain and sorrow of the Cross, the anguish of abandonment, the full weight of your sin and mine, the terrors of wrath.
A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me. Hear that? He gives you the Body and Blood that not only went through sorrow and pain and death, but the Body and Blood that came out alive, never to die again! The risen Body and Blood of Him who is the Forgiveness of sins and the Destruction of death. As He feeds that precious food into you He whispers, “Hang on, dear child; just a little while. And then I will see you and you will see Me and your sorrows will be turned into joy.”
Beloved in the Lord, see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are!
St. John tells us that everyone who has this hope purifies himself as He, the Lord, is pure. That is, since you know the future outcome – since you know that the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus will stand on this earth, and when He does He will call you from the grave to His side as His beloved and forgiven sister or brother, a coheir of all that is His, and you know that His nail-scarred hand will reach out and touch you and wipe away all the tears – since you know all this, that hope sets you free from fixating too much on this life of pilgrimage, this little while of suffering and pain.
So that when the sorrows come – and come they will – you are able to face them through confident tears. Endure the little while. We enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. Do not lost heart. You have a joy that no one can take from you. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen.
St John 16:16-22/Isaiah 40:25-31/1 John 3:1-3
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen,
I usually don’t talk about my family from the pulpit. And that is both good for you and safe for me. But today’s Gospel has caused me to recall the birth of our first daughter, Hannah.
Reading the literature and talking with friends from seminary, my wife decided she wanted to have a nurse-midwife rather than a traditional doctor for prenatal care. With her she created her birth plan, in which she was adamant about having a natural birth – no epidural, no IV’s, no drugs. Brave.
Her water broke at 37 weeks. Not really a problem for baby, but we still had two weeks of birthing classes to go. We ended up learning on the fly during those 18 hours of labor. And of course, it worked out in the end.
But I’ll never forget something the midwife told her about a natural birth. “At that moment when you think you can’t take anymore, when the pain seems so excruciatingly unbearable, and you feel like you can’t go on, that’s when you know its almost over.”
And that’s what happened. After the long day of no painkillers, Niki looked at me through tears saying, “I can’t take much more. If they come back in and say I still haven’t progressed, than give me the drugs!” The nurse came to check and Hannah was already crowning!
And so the great word of comfort from today’s Gospel. Jesus tells the disciples openly and honestly that pain is ahead of them – pain like a woman in childbirth. That’s BAD pain. But it doesn’t go on interminably. It has an end. It lasts for a little while and on the other side of the pain is joy! Your sorrow will be turned to joy! He told them. I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you.
He meant, of course, that He’d see them on Easter – on the other side of the agony and sorrow of the Cross and death and burial. And you remember how carefully John records that encounter on Easter Eve: He showed them His hands and His side, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
But the Church has found in our Lord’s words another application – for we also live in the time of the “little while” of not seeing the Lord. We are people who walk by faith, not sight. John reminds you of this in the Epistle: The reason why the world does not know us is that is did not know Him. Beloved, we ARE God’s children NOW; and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
Holy Baptism has already given you the gift of being a child of God – now – even if you don’t look much like one. If you struggle with doubt and sorrow and grief and pain – hold on, the joy is nearly there. The full unveiling of who you are doesn’t happen until the full unveiling of who He is! That is, at His glorious appearing when we will be transfigured and made like Him!
And so we live in the “little while” between His ascension and His glorious appearing; the “little while” between our Baptism and our being raised from the dead and changed. And in the midst of this “little while” the pains can be big. Anyone who has had joys taken from them knows this. Ask a mother who has lost a child. Ask a wife who has watched her husband’s health deteriorate. Ask a father who suffers from watching one of his children destroy himself.
Israel certainly knew of this kind of pain as they waited for the promises of God to come to fulfillment. They’d known it since Eve, who mistakenly thought Cain was the promised one. Well, they’d have to wait “a little while” longer. The prophet Isaiah records the people’s complaint: My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God. Do you hear your own lament in these words? In the middle of the little while God’s people often feel abandoned, helpless, crying in pain. And sometime they say, “I just can’t take it anymore.”
But Isaiah points to the wondrous “aha” about our God. He does not faint or grow weary. And His understanding – His plan for working out all things to bring blessing to His people – is unsearchable. That means, that you can’t comprehend or grasp it fully, no matter how hard you try. “Ye pure in heart, all bear your part, sing Jesus Christ, our salvation. To set us free forever He is ris’n and sends to all earth’s ends, Good News to save every nation.”
Indeed you can count on this: He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Did you catch that? He uses the little while when you think you’ve had it and are done and can’t possibly go on, to fill you with His power and His strength by His Word. This is exactly what St Paul experiences when God told him: My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. And this is proven in no better place than the Cross.
It’s at that moment of greatest weakness, right in the midst of the little while, when you think: “I can’t do this, I can’t go on, I can’t possibly endure this;” that the Holy Spirit preaches this wondrous sermon to you: They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
You see, because you are waiting for the Lord, by His grace, you know that there is an end to the pain and sorrow of the little while. It has a purpose. On the other side of suffering there will be the unspeakable joy of seeing Him and Him seeing you as He pulls you from death to life. And when He does, oh the laughter! The laughter, the joy, and the mirth! It will fill your heart and set you singing for an eternity. Never to be taken from you.
This is not another “chin-up, cheer-up” speech that we’ve heard before; probably even given before. This is not hope for a brighter future based on some vague notion of a better tomorrow. Christ grounds these words of comfort, you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy, expressly in Himself and what He has already accomplished for you. For he who suffered “for a little while” on your behalf, now gives you His comfort and peace during your “little while.”
A little while. And to get you through, He gives you that which has already gotten through. He gives you His Body and His Blood. He gives you the Body and Blood that knew the pain and sorrow of the Cross, the anguish of abandonment, the full weight of your sin and mine, the terrors of wrath.
A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me. Hear that? He gives you the Body and Blood that not only went through sorrow and pain and death, but the Body and Blood that came out alive, never to die again! The risen Body and Blood of Him who is the Forgiveness of sins and the Destruction of death. As He feeds that precious food into you He whispers, “Hang on, dear child; just a little while. And then I will see you and you will see Me and your sorrows will be turned into joy.”
Beloved in the Lord, see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are!
St. John tells us that everyone who has this hope purifies himself as He, the Lord, is pure. That is, since you know the future outcome – since you know that the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus will stand on this earth, and when He does He will call you from the grave to His side as His beloved and forgiven sister or brother, a coheir of all that is His, and you know that His nail-scarred hand will reach out and touch you and wipe away all the tears – since you know all this, that hope sets you free from fixating too much on this life of pilgrimage, this little while of suffering and pain.
So that when the sorrows come – and come they will – you are able to face them through confident tears. Endure the little while. We enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. Do not lost heart. You have a joy that no one can take from you. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen.
RSS Feed