Fourth Sunday of Easter April 17, 2016
Easter 4
John 16:16-22
April 17, 2016
“A Little While”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Gospel reading this morning from John 16 is on Maundy Thursday evening, the night before Jesus dies on the cross. And He says this, “A little while and you will see Me no longer and again a little while and you will see Me.” He says that they will have sorrow for a while, but He will see them again and they will rejoice and no one will take their joy from them.
“A little while and you will see Me no more.” That also happens to be the song of our poor Easter lily right down here. Did you wonder why in the world somebody hadn’t taken this poor, browning Lily out of the room? Well, now you know. We’re going to weep for this poor lily because it tells our story. Just three weeks ago this Lily was standing up tall with life. Easter morning. It rejoiced to be part of the celebration. There were hymns, choirs, trumpet, and rejoicing. But now what? Now look at the Lily. What happened?
Today Jesus reminds us in the Scripture readings that the sorrow isn’t all over in this world. This Lily also reminds us. All that big joy of Easter morning is only “a little while”. Then it must each year take us back into the very real sorrows of this world. We’re still living in this world of sin. A world where lilies don’t live forever but they wither and die. A world where we don’t only have joy but also, for a little while, we have sorrow. It can’t always be trumpets and choirs and Easter hymns. That will be when Jesus comes again. But a little while—we deal with sorrows.
Take Jesus’ illustration of the mother and her sorrows of labor. He compares this whole thing to a mother’s sorrow and pain in labor before her child is born. He says that when the baby is born she no longer remembers the anguish. She’s just full of joy that her baby is born. But maybe you moms out there can help me out with this one. After the baby is born, is it always and ever pure joy? Is it always like that first joyous moment when you first hold your baby? It’s not, right?
Of course not, that initial joy is only a little while. Then comes a little while of crying. Then a little while of changing diapers. Then a little while of sleepless nights. Then a little while of worrying and fretting over your children. Then a little while of sicknesses, colds, and flus. Then a little while of toddler rebellion. Then a little while of potty mouths. And the little whiles go on and on. Yes, you have joy through all of it. But it’s always joy mixed with sorrows.
So it is for us. Jesus went through the labor pains on Good Friday. He suffered a worst labor than any other mother has ever suffered. He died there in labor and delivery to give us new life. And on Easter morning we and all of the Church were born into everlasting life. This was pure joy for Jesus. In Holy Baptism, you are born new through Jesus’ death and resurrection and that is pure joy for Jesus. You are forgiven. You are made new. You have everlasting life. That’s why we have such a celebration every Easter morning.
But now, just like every mother knows, so Jesus knows that now we will have little whiles of sorrow. This world is full of little whiles. When Jesus comes again and He see us and we see Him—then the joy will be perfect and complete and Easter morning will never go away. But for now—for a little while—that joy is mixed with sorrow. But it is also—only for a little while.
A little while—some of you must go on here in this world without husbands. Without wives. Without children. Without parents. Without friends. A little while you are separated. A little while you grieve. A little while you must go out to the cemetery and visit graves. A little while your Easter joy is mixed with sadness because death has seemed to win. But it hasn’t. This is only for a little while. A little while and you will see Jesus again. And when you see Him—you will also see those who have died in Him. This sorrow is only—a little while.
A little while—some of you must suffer from bullies. Some of you are robbed of joy because others pick on you, put you down, and abuse you. For some of you it’s at school. Some at work. Some at home. Some in your family. This little while can seem like an eternity. But it’s not. Bullies will not win forever. A little while and you will see Jesus. This sorrow, too, is only—a little while.
A little while—that’s how long we’ll have to endure the horror of abortion in this country. Sometimes you may think that we’ve always had abortion. But we haven’t. It’s only been a little while. And it will only be a little while. Because soon enough, Jesus will put it to an end. Just like He will bring joy to all those who have been victims of abortion. In a little while, all of the pain of abortion will be over. For everyone. Forever. This sorrow of abortion is truly—only a little while.
Same for all of the sorrow in our country. Right now our country has a very vocal group of people who are angry that states are passing laws to keep men out of women’s bathrooms and keep everyone safe. We may throw up our hands and say, “Oh, our country is done for.” But this too—is only a little while. No matter who is elected President—it will only be for a little while.
A little while—some of you have to suffer under the burden of a sin that you can’t seem to get away from. A little while you have to battle guilt and shame. A little while you have to battle the devil who wants to destroy you with that sin. But this, too, is only a little while. Joy will come to you. Jesus will come to you. His forgiveness will come to you.
This is the way it is in this world of sin and death. All your sorrows are for a little while. You have Jesus. He promises it will only be a little while. And then will come joy.
This is the way it has always been for God’s people. Think of Noah and his family in the Ark. Forty days and forty nights they were full of sorrow as it rained and rained and rained. They thought of all those who died in the flood. Then many more days of rocking on the waves waiting for the waters to recede. But it was only—a little while. The sun came out again. The land dried out again. Trees began to bud again. And when they stepped out of the ark, God gave them a rainbow to remind them of His promise.
Or Joseph sitting in prison stewing about His brothers who had betrayed Him and sold Him as a slave. This was only a little while. A little while and he was now head of the prison. A little while and he was interpreting dreams. A little while and he was now second in command to Pharaoh over all of Egypt. A little while and he saw his brothers again and forgave them. A little while and he saw his father Jacob again. Of course, all of his descendants were again slaves there in Egypt. But then a little while and God raised up Moses. And then a little while and they were crossing the Red Sea.
Or think of poor Ruth and Naomi. Their husbands were gone. They had nothing. This was only a little while. They went back to Bethlehem. Ruth met Boaz. God worked through him. He became her redeemer and married her and saved the family. It was only—a little while.
That’s what all your sorrows are in this world—a little while. A little while and the sun will shine again. Now we’re often like the disciples in the Gospel reading today—we’re confused. They keep saying, “What does He mean by “a little while”?” That’s what we’d also like to know? How long will be this “little while”? How long will we have to suffer with this or that? How long is the little while before we go home to heaven? How long is the little while that we have to deal with bullies or illness or war or whatever it is.
But here’s what we do know. Through all these little whiles of sorrow, Jesus is still with us. We don’t know how long we will have to go through little whiles of sorrow, but we know that Jesus is with us. And He gives us joy every little while that He comes to us in His Word and Sacraments. Jesus doesn’t want us going any “long while” without Him. So we have His Word. We have prayer. We have His holy Communion. And we do not want to go any long while without them.
Jesus ascended into heaven. A little while and the disciples didn’t see Him anymore. But Jesus didn’t leave them and He hasn’t left us. This is only for a little while and we will see Jesus again. And in this little while—we continue to see Him in His Word and Sacraments and that gives us joy. We need that Holy Communion to give us strength for all the little whiles of sorrow in this world. We need that Holy Communion to give us Jesus and the Holy Spirit so that we will have confidence that the sorrows are only for a little while.
Because it’s only a little while—and we will see Jesus again. He will come on the Last Day and we will all rejoice. Because then—the little while will be done. Then Easter lilies will never fade again. Then there will be no more sorrow. Jesus says that in that day, “No one will take your joy from you.” A little while, friends. A little while. Be with us, Jesus, and come again. Amen.