Easter 4 Jubilate – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 16:16-23 “From Rejoicing in Sorrow, to Rejoicing in Glory”
April 26, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, of Your fatherly goodness You allow Your children to come under Your chastening rod here on earth, that we might be like Your only-begotten Son in suffering and hereafter in glory: We beseech You, comfort us by Your Holy Spirit in all temptations and afflictions, that we may not fall into despair, but that we may continually trust in Your Son’s promise, that our trials will endure but a little while, and will then be followed by eternal joy; that we thus, in patient hope, may overcome all evil, and at last obtain 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:] “A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
So some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see Me, 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.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who suffered the very pain of the cross, eternal damnation, so you would be set free from deaths eternal grasp and live with Him in joy forever, dear fellow redeemed:
When you study Scripture, have you ever wondered why it is filled with so much tragedy? Of course, it is filled with many places that celebrate the love of God and it gives us the greatest message of joy we will ever hear, but it has so many problems in it. There is rule breaking, there is sorrow and tragedy, and there are accounts that are downright horrific. This is the key to why Scripture has all of this sadness with the message of pure joy. Scripture isn’t just telling a story, but it is telling us history. It is telling our history. And this history has a lot of sadness in it. This history reveals where the Lord’s most prized creation sinned against Him and in doing so, brought evil into the very good world. We have inherited and are in this evil world. And while it appears as though there is no escape or it will take too long to find an escape, Jesus assures us all that this will only last for a little while. It should last for eternity, but because of the sign of the cross, the sorrow you have will cease. Until then, you rejoice in it, and you will rejoice in the kingdom which has no end.
This kingdom is so close as, [Jesus said:] “A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” So some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” This little while is the same one you are waiting for, with a little spin as it pertains to the disciples. This isn’t the first time the disciples were being warned and told to watch for the “Great Event.” They knew the short separation of Holy Week they were going to witness. To see it, is to see sorrow and it reveals the humanity of the disciples, as they do not want to see sorrow. They do not want their Lord and teacher to experience death. This night they will give Him their word about being with Him until the end but their word is not like His Word. Their word is faulty as it sees the sorrow and fear of the incoming soldiers to arrest Him and take Him away.
Maybe now it is clicking about the power that Christ has and they couldn’t understand why He would leave. They have watched Him take care of everything, from the miracle of bread to the driving out of demons. He was quite literally taking away people’s sorrow and giving them joy. And Jesus wants to give the disciples joy, but as they believe that they know better than His teaching and will try to be strong with their own actions, it is these actions that are not listening to the warnings of God’s Word. They are despising the message that Jesus has given them about what will happen and in doing so, their will power to stay awake and pray does not happen. So, as they awake to the horror that is coming, they are going to need some help to get to the point where they confess, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-4).
And the Holy Spirit has truly been sent out. He does this work. And we can actually have a problem with this work. If we are putting our faith in the message of joy then why must we go through this suffering? There is no escaping it in this life as Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see Me, 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.” The enemies will look as though they win and there are times where it will feel deep down as though they have won. The world rejoices all the time about our current condition. The world will cause us great pain as Isaiah prophecies, Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling (Isaiah 21:3-4).
In cross and trial God commands us to go to Him in prayer. This is using His Name according to the second commandment. If we don’t call out to Him and instead go it all alone, our sorrow becomes something we will hold on to. It won’t help our condition and only hurt us as it brings out our selfishness. It feels like there should be somewhere or someone to put on all of the blame for our problems. By not calling on His most holy name and putting our complete trust in Him, we will always fail to see the deliverance He brings. Even when the most horrific event might come our way because of this sinful world throwing everything against us, Isaiah realizes what comes after the pain when he continues saying, we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a few of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead (Isaiah 26:18-19). The pain and suffering of this world will be like death followed by precious new life.
And it is with this new life that the world can rejoice in sorrow for this is a new life given from the perfect life that knew the world’s sorrow and suffered for it. King David confesses where this new life and joy is found and what it does. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). The path of life leads only to the God of salvation. In His presence the world finds joy. And this is a joy in fullness because the path of life lives and reigns at the right hand of God. For in a little while Jesus was gone as He died suffering for the sins of the world and then rose victoriously from the grave. The disciples who didn’t know where He was going would see Him risen. They would see their sorrow turn to joy and it isn’t only found in the resurrection. It continues with them to the end and keeps them going as they would face the horror of life in their deaths for the Gospel. This is the teaching of cross and comfort. And through every moment He is there with the martyrs crying out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10) In a little while God’s judgment will come and He will make His judgment known.
Your enemies of the world, the devil, your sinful flesh will not drag you down in sorrow. For as much as it hurts, you have the understanding of how long the “little while” is. And as you wait, the Father is there for you to go to and He hears you. The Holy Spirit is actively working this in your life. And when you pray from the heart, even when your heart aches, you have joy knowing the Holy Spirit can interpret your aches and your Savior Jesus Christ has taught you a prayer that addresses everything you need. Six petitions of your spiritual needs for your salvation and one petition for your bodily needs until your body is glorified in heaven. This happens because St. John testifies, But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).
This is your new life. And as you are born His because of His death on the cross, because His great suffering for you did finally pass away. He tells you your great pain will find deliverance. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” With joy, your hope was born, your hope died on the cross, and your hope rose from the dead, remembering your anguish no more. Since Jesus knows what you think, why not just go to Him in prayer? In the joy of Easter, the Father gives you life, the Son gives you life, God gives you life. A life to live in this world for in a little while you will see Him. You can confidently confess, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you (Psalm 73:25). For the things of this world will fade away, the sorrow will fade away, and the joy of His cross will remain forever.
This is the joy in glory that is hard to imagine now and will continue to be strange for the world to see. As the world thinks for itself, you point out its flaws as you put your neighbors before yourself. You reveal God’s glorious name to save, revealing the love of Christ. A love that is for all people. The world sees this in the selfless life where faith is found in action. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead (James 2:26). And in those moments where the sorrows and dread cause your works to disappear and your faith to be dead, the Holy Spirit continues to come and revive you again. He points to the Saviors cross and the empty tomb. He points to a body that suffered for the sins of the world and is living and reigning at the right hand of God. And in a little while of enduring this sorrow, the pure joy of life is found in heaven. The great conclusion as Jesus says, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” And you confess, Amen, Amen: that is Yes, Yes, it shall be so. 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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