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. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 6th Sunday of Easter is taken from John 16:23-33, it’s entitled, “Walking with Jesus Through Suffering,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Jesus opens for us a way to walk through suffering and to sing our song of salvation as we pray to our heavenly Father. On the side of a tunnel in southwest Atlanta, there’s a street mural painted by Suzy Schultz. It was part of the Art on the Atlanta Beltline series. Near the opening of a tunnel, tagged with graffiti, stands the portrait of a singer, larger than life. His eyes are closed. His mouth is open. One imagines he fills the air with soulful sound.
3. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem once informed catechumens of a dragon who sat by the road. “In your journey to the Father of souls,” Cyril said, “your way lies past that dragon.” (Cyril of Jerusalem, "The Introductory Lecture" in The Works of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem vol. 1, trans. Leo P. McCauley and Anthony Stephenson (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1969), 82-83). I thought of that quote as I saw this mural. To enter the tunnel, you must walk by the singer. Unlike Cyril’s dragon, however, this singer seeks to save rather than destroy your life. For people immersed in daily life in Atlanta - walking, jogging, or biking this path - the singer beckons them to be aware of another world, a world of grace which overcomes all suffering.
4. Something like this is happening in our reading from John today. Jesus is speaking to His disciples in the upper room. He is drawing His teaching to a close. His disciples are about to enter into the fear and confusion of His Passion. Jesus knows what will happen. As He tells them, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone” (16:32). These disciples who have followed Him for three years, have seen His miracles, and have listened to His teaching, will ultimately desert Him. As darkness falls and evil arises, they will run and leave Jesus alone. He alone will bear the wrath of his Father. He alone will take the curse that has fallen upon all creation. And He alone will be their salvation.
5. Though His song is sorrowful, the words of Jesus promise His disciples life. Running away will not save them. What will save is His victory over sin, evil, and the fallen world. So, as His disciples are about to enter a dark tunnel, Jesus sings to them a song of His victorious love. “I have said these things to you,” Jesus says, “that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (16:33). Jesus will not take His disciples out of the world. He will not offer them a life free from trouble. No, Jesus is honest with us. In this world, we will have tribulation. But we will also have this eternal gift: Peace. Why? Because Jesus, in His death and resurrection, has overcome all sin, suffering, and tribulation in this world.
6. Since her husband’s death, Linda spent much of her free time watching television. She found herself dwelling on the horrific events described by the evening news. She worried about wars and violence, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods. Her friend and next-door neighbor, Vickie, noticed Linda’s pessimism about the world. Concerned that Linda was depressed, Vickie brought a cake over to Linda’s one afternoon. The two friends sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and eating lemon cake. Linda asked, “Doesn’t what’s going on in the world bother you, Vickie? Don’t you worry about the wars and droughts and starvation in the world?” Vickie 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,” Linda said. “How do you keep from letting the evil in this world get you down?” Vickie 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.
7. Jesus offers us confidence that he has overcome our troubled world. Jesus speaks his farewell discourse to the disciples. He has told them many things using figures of speech (John 16:25). He is building them up to endure the future. All too soon, they will be scattered, for soon he will be betrayed (John 16:32). The disciples couldn’t imagine living in a world without Jesus, yet in a few hours that is just what they will experience. They will watch Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death. They could ask, “What is the world coming to?”
8. In this uncertainty, Christ reassures them. Christ assures them of his victory: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Though Christ had yet to endure his cross, the outcome was assured. It was as good as completed (Lk 9:51). Christ would accomplish the task set out before him by the Father. If Christ has overcome the world, we can be confident about our futures.
9. But we often still feel less confident about our futures in this world. I remember many 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.
10. Other professional athletes have made such claims, guaranteeing a win, only to have their teams lose. But these kinds of predictions aren’t relegated to just the stadium or arena. 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.
11. Surely, 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” (John 16:33). We overlook the cross and resurrection; by them Jesus is able to say, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We neglect the future: “Now I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (John 16:28; cf. Acts 1:11).
12. What are Christian to do, scattered throughout a pagan 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” (John 16:23). The disciples had not 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” (John 16:24). “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
13. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has given us direct access to the Father. 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” (John 16:27). As Christians, 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. So, with these words here in John 16, Jesus encourages His disciples then and His disciples today. He opens for us a way to walk through suffering and to sing our song of salvation as we pray to our heavenly Father (16:26-27). The peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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