Jubilate (Easter 4), 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. John 16:16-22
Jubilate
May 11, 2025
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to his disciples, “A little while, and you will see me no longer, and again a little while and you will see me.” Our Lord spoke these words on the night when He was betrayed: Maundy Thursday. He was speaking of his death and resurrection, preparing His disciples for what was about to happen. In a little while, Jesus would be arrested, sentenced to death, beaten, led through the streets, carrying his own cross, being mocked by the crowds, and finally nailed to that cross and hung high atop of Calvary for all to see as he died a most painful death. His body was then laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus died and was buried. Thus, at that time, the disciples no longer saw Jesus. He was dead. Gone.
He told them that this would fill them with sorrow. They would weep and lament, while the godless Roman pagans and the unbelieving Jews around them rejoiced. But Jesus assured them that this would last only a little while. Our Lord promised His disciples that their sorrow would turn to joy. He promised that they would see Him again. Their hearts would rejoice, and no one would take their joy from them. Their sorrow lasted but for a little while. Their joy would last forever.
A little while. These three words are either a warning or a promise. For those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, these words are a warning. There’s only a little while for unbelieving sinners to repent. Before His death, Jesus had been warning the Jews, telling them that they only had a little while to repent. He says to the Pharisees in John 7, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” Here, He is speaking about His ascension into heaven. But He tells the Pharisees that they would not be able to go where he is, they wouldn't go to heaven; they wouldn't inherit eternal life. This is because they didn’t believe in Him while they lived on earth.
He shares a similar warning in John 12: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.” If someone were to reject the light, if someone were to refuse to believe in Jesus Christ, there will come a time when it is too late to be saved. As long as a man has life, there is time for him to be saved. But our earthly lives last only a little while. St. Paul also warns that there’s only a little while for us to come to Christ and be saved by faith in him and what He’s done. “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” (Romans 13) The Day of Judgment is near. The time is short. The hour has come to wake up. The time to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, to repent of sin and believe in Christ’s atoning death and His resurrection for the justification of the world, is now.
But unbelievers, those who continue to scoff at our Lord and not make room for Him in their hearts, foolishly squander this little bit of time that God gives them. The sinful world rejoices in its rejection of Christ; the sinful world rejoices and celebrates what is detestable to God. The sinful world rejoices in its rejection of the truth that God created man in His image as male and female. The sinful world rejoices in making a mockery of Godly things, such as the institution of marriage which God created to be a lifelong union between one man and one woman. The sinful world rejoices in taking the lives of the unborn and all types of innocent people into its own hands. The sinful world rejoices in its endless list of idols and false gods. The sinful world rejoices in what is indecent and unchaste. And on and on it goes.
The sinful world is busy rejoicing in all its sinful ways. It isn’t rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus. The world has no time for Easter and the joy we have in what it promises. The world thinks the joy it finds in sin will last forever. But this so-called “joy,” this false joy of the world, lasts only a little while. There will come a time when the fleeting joy that those who hardened their hearts to Jesus Christ will be sent to a place of eternal pain. Those who walk in darkness throughout their days on earth will remain in darkness for all eternity. For Jesus’ enemies, His words about having only a little while longer were words of condemnation and judgment.
The opposite was true for the disciples. The opposite is true for us. Present sorrow gives way to eternal joy to those who believe. Jesus spoke to His disciples to comfort them with these words. In a little while, the disciples would witness Jesus die. They would be filled with sorrow. And their weeping and lamenting would get worse as they saw so many rejoice and celebrate His death. But that sorrow would turn to joy. Jesus promised that though they would be filled with sorrow when He died and when they couldn't see Him anymore, it would last only a little while. He promised them that they would see Him again. Then they would rejoice, their hearts filled with inexpressible joy, and no one would be able to take their joy from them. Seeing the risen Christ with their own eyes and knowing what that meant for them and all mankind, brought joy to their grieving hearts. The disciples’ sorrow lasted only a little while. Then they saw the resurrected Jesus in the flesh, very much alive. Thus, they had joy that no one took away.
What about us? Is not the same true for us? This present life is filled with sorrow for those who believe. We see the world rejoice; we see immorality of every kind cheered and celebrated in public. We are reviled and ridiculed for believing what we believe. We deal with the realities of sin and death in us as our bodies fail and ultimately fade. We mourn those who have passed and must come to terms with our own eventual passing. We deal with brokenness and divisions in our home, in our community, in our state and country and all around the world. We see all that goes on around us and we don’t rejoice; we are filled with great sorrow. All of us come here today with baggage—our own sins and the suffering of what others have done to us by their sins. But our Lord makes a promise to us. Just as the disciples saw the Risen Lord and saw Him ascend into heaven, we, too, will see the Lord, in all his splendor and majesty, descend to us on the Last Day. We will see Him face to face, and we will be like Him. He is coming back.
A little while. That’s all it is. It may seem like an eternity to us. But a thousand years to the Lord is as one day, and a day as a thousand years. That day is nearer now than when we first believed. This is the joy that is promised to us. And this joy already has begun to fill our hearts with peace and hope, even if we have not yet fully realized this joy. It is a joy that no one can take from us.
So we do not lose heart, no matter what may cause us sorrow in this life. We are preserved in the faith by God's Word and, by God’s grace through the promises He makes to us in His Word. Our faith is growing, even and especially when things are the most difficult to bear. St. Paul says, “though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comprehension, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.”
We do not see our Risen Savior right now. We do not see our glorified, risen bodies. We do not see ourselves free from sin and every evil. But with eyes of faith, we behold our Savior and look to Him. With eyes of faith, we can, in fact, look onward into our future and see and know what lies ahead of us. God has told us what our future looks like, and so we know the blessings that await us. We will see the Lord. Because He lives, we also will live. Because He lives, in the midst of our present sorrow, whatever is causing it, we know that we have an eternal joy.
Jesus told His disciples that they would see Him again. We are promised the very same thing. We are God’s children now, and what will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is. When that happens, all sorrows will cease forever, and your joy will have no end.
In +Jesus’ Name
