Thursday, November 12 –
We are
working our way through the Gospel of John and today our reading is from John
16:1 – 15. After you have finished the
reading, please come back and we’ll look at it together.
Most people I know want to be happy. We
live our lives arranging things so that happiness will occur more often than
the opposite. One of the biblical
distinctions is that happiness is temporary, depending upon the circumstances,
while Joy is sustained peacefulness in the interior of our being – even when
the circumstances are not so good. It is
Joy that the angel proclaimed at Jesus’ birth, and, now near his death, it is
Joy that Jesus tells his disciples that he wants them to have even though
things are not what they wanted, or expected.
Jesus
walked with his disciples through the Temple on their way to the Garden of
Gethsemane. It was late on the Thursday
evening and they had celebrated Passover in an Upper Room in Jerusalem. Jesus shocked them when he said there was a
betrayer among them, and also that he would soon be leaving. Now, as they walk out of the city, he returns
to the two crucial things they needed to be aware of – and the first was that
they should be aware that they will suffer intensely for their commitment to
Him.
“All
this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you
out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you
will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things
because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so
that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I
did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you” (16:1-4).
He had
begun this conversation at the end of chapter 15, saying “If the world hates
you, you know that they hated me also…if they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute you…” (15:18, 20). The
opposition from those who will not accept Jesus as both Savior and Lord is
inevitable. “God has called you to
Christ’s side, and the wind is now in Christ’s face in this land; and since you
are with him you cannot expect the sheltered or the sunny side of the hill.” [1]
He wanted them to understand that even their families will turn against
them if they do not believe. What is it
about Jesus that causes the reaction? It
isn’t because he was a good teacher, or because he healed people, and did good
things. The reaction to Jesus is because
of his exclusive claim that “I am the way, the truth, the life, and no one
comes to the Father except through me” (14:6). The main source of their expected opposition
will come from religious Jews who will force them out of the synagogue, and
when killing them, will believe they are doing God’s will. There have been martyrs for the faith in
every century since Jesus established the church. Jesus does not hide the truth from them.
The
promised Holy Spirit was new to the disciples.
All of this must have struck them in a confusing way. He talked about leaving, suffering, their
love for one another, and the helper who would come alongside of them. Could they hear it all? Probably not.
Yet Jesus reinforces the work of the Holy Spirit to encourage them and
give them hope.
“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” (16:5-7)
The
Spirit will come even as they face their apprehensions and fears. They thought of nothing else except that he
was going away, but they also didn’t know what the future would hold for them
once Jesus is gone. The truth Jesus
conveys about the Spirit who would come to them from Jesus’ own command.
And
when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning
righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no
longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (16:8-11)
The
Spirit has a work to the world that does not yet believe. Some will believe as the Holy Spirit enlivens
their heart and mind to believe. The
Holy Spirit – Jesus says – will do three specific things to make the unbeliever
believer: First, make “sin” known – for
it is for our Sin that Jesus died.
Second, make “righteousness” known – for the Father receives all that
are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and only in his righteousness can
we be made righteous. Lastly, He will
make “judgment” known – for it is in Christ alone that our eternal future is
secured, but without Christ, judgment awaits to condemn. Our sin makes us guilty, our righteousness
from Christ makes us forgiven, and Christ’s death took the judgment of our Sin
upon himself at the cross. How does the
Holy Spirit do this work? In and through
the proclamation of the Gospel. It is
the message of the Church – inside and out.
“I
still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will
not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he
will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for
he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has
is mine; therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you”
(16:12-15).
It
seems so overwhelming at times to think about all God has planned for his
church. Martin Luther had a great
concept of the power of the Gospel in the heart of the church’s leaders and
members. He knew that there was no
internal power within himself to do the work of God. It was the Holy Spirit that would work
through the people of God. The Holy
Spirit will remind us of what the truth is, and he will speak the truth in and
through us as we yield to Him. The Holy
Spirit has one goal in mind – to work in the believer so that Father and Son
are glorified. It is the power of the
Holy Spirit that empowers us to do the work of God.
In the
midst of all this information, Jesus returns to the initial shocking news –
he’s leaving them (16:16-17) and he’s returning to the Father. They are still confused (16:18) and so Jesus
begins to alleviate their concerns by telling them that at the end of this all,
instead of sadness, they will experience Joy.
I doubt they thought that possible.
“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. 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. 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. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to
you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive,
that your joy may be full” (16:20-24).
The metaphor
is helpful. As a husband I could only
watch my wife go through the pain of
labor, but the pain turned to joy as each of our children emerged. So also, the pain the disciples felt would
not last, and they would see that Jesus knew all would be changed. “In that day” refers to the fulfillment that
would come from the resurrected Christ, and after the resurrection, the
Ascended Christ who would send the Spirit on Pentecost. Now they didn’t see it, then they would!
Jesus
concludes this last piece of teaching with reminders that what they don’t know
now, they soon will know, and understand that it is all coming from the
Father’s love.
“I
have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I
will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly
about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say
to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves
you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I
came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the
world and going to the Father” (16:25-28).
As he
ends, they speak up – “now we get it, and we do believe you come from God”
(16:29-30). Yet with a mixture of speaking
about the truth of their humanity (you will be scattered), he reminds
them that the Father knows, and all will eventually be changed, and God’s peace
would return to them.
“Jesus
answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it
has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me
alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these
things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (16:31-33).
The
Divine mixture is the promise to the disciples – and down through the ages, to
us also. Love, Joy, Peace are outcomes
of honest faith. It is not because the
circumstances are always good – in fact, at times they can be tragic. It is God who speaks these into us as we
learn to trust in Him. He says to them
what we also need to hear – “take heart” – be strong, have courage,
trust, don’t doubt or despair, because “I have overcome the world”. Take God’s “love” with assurance and let him
turn your troubles into “Joy”, and experience the “peace” that passes all
understanding.
Peace
Comments