Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
What’s
this world coming to? Have you found
yourself asking this question lately? As
you watch the news what do you see?
North Korea is huffing and puffing, several European countries are in
serious financial trouble, and the conflicts in the Middle east continue. What’s the world coming to? But not just the world, look what’s
happening in our own country: a bombing in Boston, an explosion at a fertilizer
plant, poison-filled letters sent to our elected leaders and that’s only what
has happened in the last week and a half or so.
What’s our country coming to?
What’s
a Christian to do? We live in a world
where marriage is on it’s way to being redefined. Babies are still being killed inside the womb
(and even outside the womb if you’ve heard of Dr. Kermit Gosnell in
Pennsylvania.) What’s our country coming
to?
The
Words of Jesus in our text certainly ring true in our ears don’t they? “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep
and lament, but the world will rejoice.”
We look around at this old world and we can plainly see that there
is no lack of sin and trouble. The world
rejoices in sexual sins of all kinds, it rejoices in redefining marriage, it
rejoices in a “woman’s right to choose death” but these things send the heart
of a Christian into sorrow. What are we
to do? What’s our world coming to?
In
our text for this morning, Jesus is preparing His disciples of a life
proclaiming God’s Word in a world that was hostile to it, and as a result,
there were many times of sorrow. Jesus
says in our text, “A little while, and
you will see me not longer; and again a little while, and you will see me…
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will
rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your
sorrow will turn into joy.”
The
Apostle Paul was stoned at Lystra, though he survived, James, the brother of
John, was killed by the sword, and many of the disciples were crucified. And throughout their lives of proclaiming
Christ, they were rejected by their own people.
Society demanded that they conform to the ways of the world, to rejoice
with them in all that the culture celebrated.
But they, instead, went the way of the cross. They suffered for the sake of Jesus, they
went through their birth pangs. No
doubt, they, too, asked, “What’s this world coming to?”
The
Christian Church in America, those who hold fast to the unerring Word of God,
is entering a time of persecution. Will
there be a time when Christians are rounded up, like the apostles, and thrown
in prison for gently calling a sinner to repentance? It’s very possible. Will the Church have to choose between
proclaiming God’s Word and her tax-exempt status? It’s likely.
As Matthew Harrison, President of the Missouri Synod, once said in his
own pithy way concerning these matters, “The world has gone berserk.”
Yet,
even in the midst of this sorrowful world, even in the midst of Christian
persecution, even in the midst of bearing the cross, Jesus gives us comfort
that the sorrows that we bear won’t last forever. The cross is for a time but the joys of
eternity are forever.
We
tend to agonize over the future; we dwell upon what may be ,but our future is
sure and certain because our future is in Christ. Jesus also bore His cross, He was also hated,
but His cross that He bears, He bears for you.
He spent three hours on His cross, winning salvation for you and the world,
and now He is risen, never to die again, and He shall return. He’ll end sorrow. Rejoicing in His presence
will last forever. The woman in labor
bears her pain for a moment but the pain is temporary but after, rejoicing over
the child begins. Even in her pain, she
focuses on the joy to come. As we bear
our pain, the Lord is coming. As I’ve
said before, the Day of Our Lord is closer than it once was, dear friends in
Christ.
And
until His coming, He has sent to us the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, who
guides through this world of sorrow. And
this Spirit of Truth always leads us back to Jesus. The world is going berserk but the Spirit,
through the Word of God, leads us back to the crucified Jesus. The Church is undergoing persecution, but the
Spirit of Truth leads us back to the cross.
The world hates us, but the Spirit leads us back to the empty tomb.
In
a world of crosses, trials, and pain, the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus who has
overcome all of these things. He works
through the Word so that in the midst of sorrow, your heart would yet have the
joy that Christ has died for you; the joy that salvation is yours and even
though the world may take away your goods, fame, child, and wife, there’s one
thing that this old world can’t take from you:
your salvation. Jesus has
prepared for you a place where sorrow has ceased to be, where joy reigns for
eternity.
Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. You have peace! Through Jesus Christ you have access by faith
into this grace in which you stand. So,
in the midst of this sin-sick world, rejoice!
Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that – not only that!-
but you also glory in tribulations. You glory in them because you know that
tribulation produces patience; and patience, character; and character, hope.
And hope doesn’t disappoint. Because the
love of God has been poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit who was
given to you in the gracious waters of Baptism. You are baptized. God loves
you. He died for you, for your hope, for
your character, for your patience. And He’s coming back. So wait on the Lord.
Be of good courage as the world calls you its enemy. Since Christ is for you, who can be against
you?
He is risen and that’s our focus,
that’s what matters. Though we’ve been
sent out as sheep among wolves, the Lord is risen and sorrow lasts for a short
time but the joys of paradise lasts forever.
So let the world do its worst.
Let the world persecute, lie, and slander you for the sake of
Christ. Let the world take away the
Church’s tax-exempt status, we have something far better anyway. Fear not, the time of sorrow is short, but
the risen Lord is coming and our sorrows and crosses that we bear as Christians
shall end and the joys of paradise will be for eternity. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly! Amen.
The peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
