Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
Weeping, lamentation, and sorrow; these are just a few of the things that our Lord promises His disciples in our Gospel lesson this morning. These words seem more appropriate for the season of Lent than they do for Easter, don’t they? And yet, here they are coming from the lips of our Lord smack dab in the middle of the Easter season! Seems a bit odd and more than a little ominous, don’t you think?
When we look at these words of our Lord in context, we understand that He is speaking about His impending Passion. These words of our Lord are spoken on the night of His betrayal, before the events of Gethsemane. So, since we know the rest of the story, we can see how the Lord was preparing His disciples for the fact that He would be leaving them “for a little while”. And that is great…for them. What is the point for us here today, some two thousand years later? If we understand this in an eschatological sense, which is certainly one of the ways in which we can read and hear these word, our Lord’s returning for the last Day certainly doesn’t seem like a “little while” now, does it? There is, however, another way to hear and understand these words that is much more comforting and applicable for us gathered together this morning.
In order to hear these words in a way that we might appreciate, let us first take a look at something that our dear Lord doesn’t say. When Jesus warn His disciples of the things that are to come, He says this; “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”, but what He doesn’t say is just what, exactly, they will lament, and over what they will be sorrowful. And that is an important point. Luther, in his sermon on this text, points out that “This is spoken to all Christians…[H]e mentions here no sorrow nor trial, He simply says they shall weep, lament, and be sorrowful, for the Christian has many persecutions…it is therefore the lot of the Christian constantly to suffer misfortune, persecution, trials and adversity…They dare not look for anything better as long as they are here.”
Now, keep in mind, when I said that these were words that we could “appreciate”, I didn’t mean that they would be easy to hear! What I mean is that our dear Lord speaks these truths across the time and generations that divide His disciples and His Church today. For while it is true that the disciples would weep and lament the loss of the Lord from their physical presence, so it is true that each of us, as the Church today, weep and lament the apparent absence of our Lord in our times of trial, temptation, and grief. Who among us, when going through a particularly difficult time in our lives, hasn’t wondered if our Lord had simply forgotten about us? Which of us hasn’t wondered if God hadn’t forsaken us because of something we did…or failed to do? Who hasn’t wondered why all the bad things seem to happen to all the good people in this world and life?
And that is exactly what the trials and temptations which we face are designed to do; obscure the truth of who our God is and lead us to forget the Words and promises that He has spoken to us over and over again. Sure, we like to hear all about how much our God loves us, but that doesn’t seem to agree with His promise that we will weep and lament even while the world rejoices. In fact, those two things seem mutually exclusive! And yet the truth is that sin and corruption still fill this world and the hearts of all mankind, that each of us are still sinners who thoroughly enjoy being steeped in the sins of our own making, and that as long as we live in this corrupted and fallen world, these things will befall us; sometimes the trials and temptations will be many, and sometimes they will be few, but rest assured that, just as our Lord promises, they will come. And in those times when our faith is tested, when comfort seems a far off and distant thing, and our loving God and Father seems so absent, there is a hope to which we may cling which is promised by our Lord today. It is those three little words which are repeated seven times in our Gospel lesson this morning. Those words are “a little while”. Yes, Jesus certainly meant them, in one sense, as a reference for the short span of three days that He would be gone from His disciple’s presence. But they may also be understood here to give us hope and strength in the midst of our trials and temptations. For while they may seem as though they will never come to an end, our dear Lord promises that they will last only “a little while”.
In the Greek the word used by Jesus here is “μικρός” (MIK-ros), from which comes the English word “micro”, as in “microscopic”, or “something that is so small it cannot be seen by the human eye”. While that may not be incredibly important for you to know, I think it is a very comforting and powerful thing. For this time of lamentation, weeping, and sorrow will last but a short time; both in the grand scheme of things and in each of our lives as well. For while those things that assault and assail us may serve to hide our Lord’s presence from us as we are going through them, He does not leave us alone for long. In one of Luther’s sermons I came across a point made by the Reformer that conveyed the great hope that we Christians have; “Therefore, should a person come into like fear and misery of conscience, he ought to call to mind these words, and say: Well, a change is taking place. Christ says, A little while and ye shall see me again. It will not last long. Keep calm. It is a matter of only a short time and then Christ will permit us to see Him again.”
But at this point you may be wondering why. Why does God even permit such things to take place in the lives of His followers? If He loves us so much why doesn’t He simply keep these things from us? Well, to quote Luther once more, it is: “In order to suppress and subdue the free will, so that it may not seek an expedient in their works; but rather become a fool in God’s works and learn thereby to trust and depend on God alone.” In short, these trials and temptations that we endure are a reminder to us of the great and profound love that our Lord has for us! Just as the Law drives the sinner into despair of his own works so that he might find eternal comfort in the Gospel promises of God, so too the trials and temptations that we Christians face in this life and world drive us to find our hope in the gifts that have been won for us by our Lord’s blessed death on the cross for all of our sins. Because Christ has died for us, we know that the suffering we face in this world will last only “a little while”, because our God and Father has redeemed us from the sin that has corrupted every facet of His creation. Because we have been redeemed by the perfect and precious blood of the sinless Lamb of God, we no longer belong to this world, but to Him who makes all things new!
Though for a little while we will not see Him, we who have been redeemed at the price of His blood will see our Lord when He calls us, by name, to be with Him where He is. While the trials and temptations of this life may, for a short time, obscure the Lord from our view, He continues to be with us through His means of grace through which we hear His voice of promise and love in the blessed words of Holy Absolution. No matter what the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh tell you, Christ’s Words remain faithful and true; you are His, and the eternal consequences of your sins have been paid in full through the shedding of His blood and His innocent suffering and death. He speaks these promises to you so that, while you may not see Him, you may rest secure in the hope and comfort that He is nearer to you than you may believe in the midst of your trials and temptations in this life.
More than that He presents Himself to you here in His holy supper, in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine so that you might receive His very body and blood as a pledge and sign of His fidelity and love for you. Here, this day, you have your Lord; speaking to you words of forgiveness, and bringing you the life and salvation that freely flow from such a blessed and wonderful gift. So keep calm, dear Christian, and rest assured that the troubles of the day will not last long but will, and indeed already have been, taken care of by your Lord Jesus Christ. For in Him, with Him, and through Him, you have nothing left to fear in this life and world. For He has redeemed you with His precious blood, made you His own, and as such He will guard and protect you all of the days of your life so that you may dwell in the house of your Lord forever!
Amen.