Easter 5 Cantate – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 16:5-15 “The Sign of the Completed Mission”
May 3, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, through Your Son You promised us Your Holy Spirit, that He should convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: We beseech You, enlighten our hearts, that we may confess our sins, through faith in Christ obtain everlasting righteousness, and in all our trials and temptations retain this consolation: that Christ is Lord over the devil and death and all things, and that He will graciously deliver us out of all our afflictions, and make us forever partakers of eternal salvation; through the same, Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 156)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
[Jesus said:] “But now I am going to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.
All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who gives you the voice to sing His praises, for He has completed His mission for you, as you see Him through the work of His Helper, dear fellow redeemed:
What constitutes a job well done? Is it the amount of tasks that were completed and the order in which they were completed? Is it how fast the job was completed or the quality that was produced by the job? Whatever way we use, we can also measure the success of the job based on its results. If the results bring favor and joy to those who were involved with the job, then it must have been done well. When you think of the job being completed, you don’t think of one of its most important pieces disappearing. Well, even with this information it is not what meets the eye. Jesus tells His disciples, “But now I am going to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.” The Helper is the sign of the completed mission, and the One who goes to the Sender, leaves to be with you always.
As our brains will struggle with this understanding, that someone can leave and yet be with you, it is this way that was always meant to be. And this is not at all like the way we may dream when it comes to our loved ones passing away. Hearing the Word from Jesus, that He must leave, our minds are probably thinking like the disciples. We want Him here just like they wanted Him to always be with them. However, Jesus leaving after completing the mission He was sent here to do was essential, because the disciples otherwise would still have the wrong idea about what kind of kingdom Jesus was going to establish. The completed mission brings a kingdom and reign for all people of all time. This kingdom will be known by all because of the sending of the Helper, as Jesus says, “And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
This is the language of a kingdom. There can be conviction of those who disobey, there is the establishment of righteousness for those who follow the rules, and the king rules, reigns, and judges over his kingdom. Jesus goes on to parse out these three actions of the Helper. The first is one could even touch on the disciples as their hearts are being filled with sorrow. For the Helper comes “concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.” While Jesus is speaking about those who are not His and He continues to want His changing Word preached to them, the disciples have been struggling with the trouble of following His Word as He prepares them for what is to come. The completion of His mission. A mission that will see Him back to His Father. A mission that should see only complete rejoicing, not sorrow.
Doubt and sorrow are easy to come by when the one thing that sustains us is the one thing that looks to be taken away from us. It does look like there is a disadvantage with Christ not physically being here. If He was here, then the world would have to believe what we believe, right? Like the disciples, this can shift our focus to the power that He has rather than the work He is completing. He has completed glorious work for us, but in the highlighting of power being the most important part to what He can do, one of the ways to keep Him here would be to force Him to be our bread king. Maybe it would be good if He would give in to our demands. Power can lead to the great sin of pride. The sin that wants to put us in top competition with God. If we ever think about ourselves and our own wants, we are then present at that first temptation where the temptation is to be like and have the knowledge of God. We witness so many with the mindset of believing they do not need God and are pretty much a god for themselves. Our pride will block the view of the works of the Son, the only completed work that gives us life. For, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).
And this must be the only way to escape the wrath of God because no one has found any other way. Even those who do not believe in Jesus have no excuse. St. Paul points out, They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them (Romans 2:15). Here are the people who have never believed before and God has not thrown them away to be forgotten. With the law written on their hearts, the Holy Spirit then goes into action to convict them of sin and then brings them to the completed work of Christ. God wants to handle our grief, He wants to hear us pray, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? (Psalm 22:1) In these low moments of life, we are forced to put our complete trust in Him. And this is due to the first part of the Helper and what He points out. He must point out our sins; He must convict us. And we must acknowledge the conviction.
As the world can’t grasp the conviction and the disciples don’t yet see the sin they will be convicted of on the night Jesus was betrayed, it is this moment in the heavenly court where the completed mission of Jesus is on full display. With the world convicted and condemned, the next step is to see what the only path of salvation looks like. The Helper reveals this with the unfathomable result of “concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no longer.” How does this solve the condemnation? With Jesus at the Father’s side, it reveals to the world that His great sacrifice on the cross counted for all and now He is not in a fixed location to go and see. He is everywhere at all times. For His people to receive Him, the Holy Spirit comes because Jesus has indeed finished His mission to save the people. Jesus gone is the reason there is now understanding about why He had to suffer and die. It would not be good if He was still on earth because most likely He would still be in the tomb. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:17).
Christ is raised, the mission is over, and the work of the Trinity is a bright light for the world. The disciples, even though it will be hard, will witness the Father with love sending the Son to complete the Father’s mission to save the people of the world. The Son after completing this mission, a perfect job well done, sends the Holy Spirit to give us what He has accomplished on our behalf. He does not let the Spirit do this on His own, but He is active in this distribution, for he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:24-25). The final product of quality production with Jesus gone is Him hearing and answering every prayer.
Every single prayer begins with acknowledging the Spirit’s message. All are sinners and they are declared righteous only through the redemptive work of Christ. With Jesus completing the mission, this redemptive work of salvation, won on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, reveals Satan is condemned. Furthermore, only faith in Christ is the reason you are not condemned with your great enemy. And even if the devil with his little power comes after you and you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. The Holy Spirit will give you a strong voice to confess what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears. St. Peter with the strong voice of the Spirit writes, have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:14-15). In this way of dealing with your neighbors with gentleness and respect about the hope you have in the cross and resurrection, the true enemy is addressed by the Helper. For “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” He is judged with joy because your rejoicing is in his proclaimed demise. The first thing on the morning of the resurrection was to reveal to the devil he lost. He can’t convict the world. Only God can through the Holy Spirit who teaches that the world crucified the Lord of glory. And in that death on the cross, they received the complete forgiveness of sins.
In this great message of your salvation, it can be hard to believe you have more without Jesus being here physically. Jesus says, “All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.” Your understanding is found in your faith in how He comes to you in the Means of Grace. You hear Him in His Word, see Him in the Sacraments, and with Him going back to the Father, there is no more law for the Jews and His grace goes out to the Gentiles. The disciples would have been as they were with fear and no comfort. They would go on to have strength in the Gospel as Jesus told them, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:11-12). With a job perfectly well done, His quote-on-quote absence is the reason for you to rejoice. You are gathered here to see the sign of His mission completed. You have it all, forgiveness in the cross, proof in the resurrection, and great rejoicing in the world to come. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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