Easter 4 Jubilate – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 16:16-23 “In a Little While, You Will See Me”
May 11, 2025 | 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 knows, to live in this world means living in sorrow, but He tells you, your sorrow will turn into joy, dear fellow redeemed:
While time can tick away on a clock, time is one of those things you can take physically and figuratively. To take time physically is to set a timer for ten minutes. Or maybe it is for twenty minutes knowing how long the Pastor will preach during His sermon. We can take time figuratively, and we see this being done in Scripture. Jesus begins our text how in a little while, they will not see Him. Now how long is this little while? Maybe, it takes as the candidates in the Seminary found out last Wednesday how long it would be to get through school. Maybe, it is after you finish visiting with family across the country, and that will be the next time you see them. Unlike these “little whiles,” that aren’t guaranteed, we can always take Jesus at His Word. Everything He tells us is a promise He keeps. And He keeps the promise that we will see Him and He will take us away from our hardships. [Jesus said:] “A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
Even though Jesus had told them this before, the disciples are having a hard time grasping this and now in the upper room. Hearing everything Jesus is telling them; their minds are probably stirring that something is about to happen. Again, Jesus has told them what is going to happen. He is going to leave them because He is going to die, and He will come back! In love, Jesus doesn’t just sit at the table and let them stew. He wants them to be calm, and He knows He can calm them. 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’? This isn’t the first time we see our Savior know the thoughts of people. This is our Savior God. This is how much He cares about His people. He knows their thoughts, and He immediately comes to them to tell them He knows what troubles them and He will fix it.
Now the answer the disciples were given to their question was most likely not what they wanted to hear. He says, “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.” This is a terrible answer, especially when we dive in and see how strong this lament will be. The disciples will weep and wail. We know exactly what they will weep and wail about. On this dark Thursday night, there will be nothing they can do, and they will watch Him be taken to the cross and executed. After this horrific sight, yes, it looks like Jesus won’t be seen for a while. The disciples were told to trust in God. At the most crucial hour, they fled, wept, and wailed for what looked like the end.
Now we know how it ends. We know that in a little while, they will see their Savior again. Like it was for the disciples, the echoes of the enemies rejoicing are still familiar to us. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:39-42). Jesus is mocked at the end, knew this mocking was going to happen and would continue. We know they will mock us because of our faith. Jesus tells us to be strong and have courage, but we know how many times we are like the disciples when the “going gets tough.”
As we reflect on our own lives the thoughts of distress and lamenting, our sorrow tries to distract us from our Savior, but Jesus didn’t just come down for Himself, or to be a band-aid to make us feel good every once and a while. He has experienced everything we have experienced. He was tempted with every temptation we faced. He had the weight of the sins of the world on His shoulders and He knew the suffering He would have to endure. The disciple’s wailing was for their sorrow. Jesus wept over our failings. As we endured the crosses in our lives; crosses because of something we have done, or crosses given to us by God, Like Jeremiah, So I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me (Lamentations 3:18-20a). This sorrow we have, because of Christ and His work will turn into joy for in a little while it will be gone in the hope of our Savior who comes to us.
As we are tempted to think this will never happen, our text teaches how the disciples did in fact see their Lord again. “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” This text that begins as a text of sorrow immediately finds comfort in the results of Holy Week. Jesus is arrested, tried, and crucified, only to rise again destroying death and appears before His disciples. They see the marks of the nails and spear. They see Him in the flesh and the joy they had; they would have through the rest of their lives. It didn’t matter that Jesus would leave them with His ascension. They held onto their joy knowing that they would see Jesus soon. They would see Him when they were called to be with Him in death. This is the hope they had in their ministry.
This hope they had couldn’t have been their own. They had begun the evening by not understanding Jesus and fleeing for their lives. Jesus had to go from them for a little while, but He keeps His promises and in a little while, in three days, they saw Him again. They could do nothing to help their situation. Their situation was only made better by the work and love of their Savior. Jesus goes, but He goes to the cross for the forgiveness of their sins. And because of Jesus standing in the flesh in front of them, they knew their sins were indeed forgiven. Their sorrow had been turned into joy and they now had hope. In their ministry they were encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). They knew they were still in the world, and it would still be tough. The world would continue to fight back. They would survive their earthly tribulations, and, in their death, they would enter the kingdom of God.
The same kingdom of God you also will enter when it is time. That “little while” will feel so far away, but Jesus tells you that in a little while you will see Him. He doesn’t tell you it will get easier. He knows that there will be days of lament. In those days, He reveals to you how He is still with you. St. Peter, an eye witness who knew He had joy wrote, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him (1 Peter 1:6-8). You have not seen Jesus in the flesh. You have not seen the marks of the nails or the spear. Yet, you love Him because He has done the impossible for you. He has taken away all your sins and gives you an eternal joy that can never be taken away from you.
It will be hard to see this joy. The only place you can look for is in the joy of the Easter message. The day might be getting farther away, but you come here to celebrate Easter every Sunday. It will only be this message you learn how you will survive your crosses. These crosses that you have, teach you that God doesn’t give them to you because He hates you. He gives them to you because He loves you. They are for your greater good, because in the depths, your only escape from your crosses is the cross of your Savior. This miraculous love! As you fully rely on Christ, He then teaches you how “soon” it will be for your pain to disappear. “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.”
The world will try to convince you not to rely on Him in the hour. Through the pains and anguish, you know your God keeps His promises. You continue to ask for help in prayer, knowing your prayers do not fall on deaf ears. He continues to remind you this life is only for a little while. St. Paul writes, For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17). In the moments where it seems life is too much to bear, Jesus comes to you to take your burdens. And you do see Him. You see Him in this service where you hear His voice, and you see His body and blood. These blessings are brought to you from the same timeless, Easter message. Your Savior died for you, and He rose from the dead to confirm to you all He has done. With comfort and joy, you can rejoice at this time. Your Savior will carry you through this path of life and soon, you will see Him in His kingdom which has no end. As you leave today to go into the week, hear the comforting word of your Lord, He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen (Revelation 22:20-21).
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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