“Overcoming the World” John 16.23-33 Easter 6C, April ’16,

1.                   Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  The message from God’s Word this 6^th Sunday of Easter is taken from John 16:23-33, it’s entitled, “Overcoming the World,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                   Since her husband’s death, Betty spent much of her free time watching TV. She found herself dwelling on the terrible events described by the evening news. She worried about wars and violence, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods. Her friend and next-door neighbor, Debbie, noticed Betty’s pessimism about the world. Concerned that Betty was depressed, Debbie brought a cake over to Betty’s one afternoon. The two friends sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and eating lemon cake.  Betty asked, “Doesn’t what’s going on in the world bother you, Debbie? Don’t you worry about the wars and droughts and starvation in the world?”  Debbie sipped her coffee. “Yes. Those things do trouble me, but I don’t think too much about them.”  “They’re all I can think about. They make me feel so awful,” Betty said. “How do you keep from letting the evil in this world get you down?”  Debbie smiled. “Oh, it gets me down at times, but then I remember how right before he died on the cross, Jesus told his disciples: ‘Take heart; I have overcome the world’ [Jn 16:33]. Jesus is still in charge, no matter what. Evil things happen all the time, but we can always go to God with our concerns, knowing that in the end, through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus has already taken care of all those things on the news. Even death couldn’t prevent him from taking care of us. He’ll be with us—and with the whole world too.”

3.                   Today Jesus offers us confidence that he has overcome our troubled world.  Jesus speaks his farewell sermon to the disciples.  He has told them many things using figures of speech (v 25).  He is building them up to endure the future.  All too soon, they will be scattered, for soon he will be betrayed (v 32).

4.                   The disciples couldn’t imagine living in a world without Jesus, but in a few hours that’s just what they will experience.  They will watch Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death.  They could then truly ask, “What is the world coming to?”

5.                   In this uncertainty, Jesus reassures them.  He assures them of his victory: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (v 33).  Though Jesus had yet to endure his Passion, the outcome was assured.  It was as good as completed (Lk 9:51).  Jesus would accomplish the task set out before him by the Father.  If Jesus has overcome the world, we can be confident about our futures.

6.             But, we often still feel less confident about our futures in this world.  I remember several years ago during the NFL playoffs, the Green Bay Packers were playing the Seattle Seahawks at home in Green Bay. The game went into overtime. When Seattle won the coin toss to start the overtime period, their quarterback said the infamous words: “We want the ball and we’re gonna score!” Well, history tells us they didn’t score, and Green Bay won the game.

7.             Other professional athletes have made such claims, guaranteeing a win, only to have their teams lose. But these kinds of predictions aren’t just found in the world of sports. How many polls during an election season have claimed one particular candidate would win a race, only to have the actual vote go the other way? That’s the problem with making guesses about the future, even with the most reliable information—predictions often end up being wrong.

8.             Certainly we’d have to be uncertain about the future if we’re predicting the future without remembering Christ’s words.  We ask, “What’s the world coming to?”  We agonize about the future.  We worry about the world.  We wrestle with our country’s problems.  We forget what Christ tells us: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace” (v 33).  We overlook the cross and resurrection; by them Jesus is able to say, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (v 33).  We neglect the future: “Now I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (v 28; cf. Acts 1:11).

9.             What are Christian to do, scattered throughout a pagan and unbelieving world that seems to thrive on hatred, violence, and oppression?  Pray!  For life in this uncertain world, Christ assures us that we can pray with confidence—in his name.  Whatever you ask the Father in Jesus’ name, “he will give it to you” (v 23).  The disciples hadn’t asked anything in Jesus’ name, but now Jesus tells them that the time is coming to pray in his name.  “Until now you have asked nothing in my name” (v 24).  “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (v 24).  Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has given us direct access to the Father.

10.          Jesus has given us the Father’s ear: “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (v 27).  As a Christian, we have no need to ask, “What’s the world coming to?” Instead, we ask whatever we need—in the name of Christ, who has overcome it.  Amen.

11.          Please pray with me: “O God, the coming of whose Son into our hearts brings victory, grant to us the peace that the world can’t give.  Grant that in the midst of trouble and tribulation we may rest in the quiet assurance of Your love and find our only joy and hope in You.  Give to all men everywhere that peace that surpasses all understanding and which is to be found only in the merits of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our only Savior.  Amen.”