Easter 6 The Sunday of Prayer May 21, 2017
Easter 6 Rogate
John 16:23-33
May 21, 2017
“The Conqueror”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The name of this Sunday is Rogate, which means “ask” / “pray”. It comes from the Gospel reading. Jesus tells His disciples to pray. To ask for whatever in His name. We’ll talk about prayer in a bit. But then after His words about prayer He says, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The word “overcome” there is often translated elsewhere in the Bible as “conquer”. Jesus has conquered the world. Overcome it.
That might make us think of our graduates today. Congratulations to all our graduates. High school graduation is this afternoon. And to our college graduates (if any of them are here today) – many congrats to you as well. When you get to a graduation, there’s very much a sense that you have “conquered”. Just like Jesus says in the Gospel reading, right? Conquered the world! You did it. Four years of classes and papers and homework and tests and grades and schedules and extracurriculars and whatever else… Four years and you conquered it! You overcame!
And now you are ready to conquer the world! Right? It’s like one of those cartoons where the evil villain is always trying to take over the world! Yes, this is what we’re all trying to do, right? To overcome the world? To conquer? To win?
Yes, we are. We’re all trying to conquer the world. Of course, we can’t. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. We’re trying to stay healthy and fit. Conquerors of our bodies. Strong and in shape! We’re trying to stay wealthy and on top of our finances. Conquerors of stuff! We’re trying to stay happy and keep away any sadness. Never down in the dumps! We’re trying to stay smart and on top of all that’s going on in the world. On top of the latest technology. On top of the latest fads. On top of the latest news. All of us, in one way or another, are trying to conquer the world. All by ourselves.
And…it won’t happen. You can’t. You cannot overcome the world. For one, you are entirely too much of a sinner. Yes, you and I manage to make some good decisions. Maybe we even manage to get some good grades. Manage to pass some classes. But we cannot manage to have a pure heart. We cannot manage to love God perfectly. Nor can we manage to love our neighbors perfectly. Nor can we manage to keep our sinful desires all in check. We screw up. We sin. We hate. We get angry. We’re jealous. We’re selfish. We lust. We hurt others. And we can’t overcome our sin.
We also can’t overcome death. We’re all dying. Even a strong, young high school graduate isn’t immune. None of us can overcome aging. Getting old. None of us can overcome weakness and fatigue. We all get tired. None of us can overcome cancer if it comes for us. Yes, some “beat” cancer. And I think all the Relay for Life stuff is great. This idea that we’ve “beaten” cancer. But, of course, we all know that when it comes to cancer—it’s mostly out of our hands. Sometimes treatments work and other times they can’t beat it.
And we also can’t overcome the devil. He is stronger than us. And smarter. And craftier. He gets us into all kinds of lies, into all kinds of selfishness and pride, and into all kinds of vanity. Most Christians today think they’ve beaten the devil because they just ignore him and act like he doesn’t exist. But, of course, we Christians know…that’s not beating him! That only makes him stronger. He can work all the easier on you if you don’t believe he’s even there. We can’t beat him.
But this isn’t all meant to be a big downer today—on this day of exciting graduations! Not at all. Just that we all—graduates and all of us alike—we all need to know that we cannot conquer this world! We can’t. Jesus says, “In this world you will have tribulation!” It’s the truth. Forget about trying to avoid it. You will have tribulation. You will suffer. You will be sick. You will fail. You will sin. You will be tempted and you will be tried.
But YOU don’t have to overcome the world! Because Jesus already has. “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world!” He has conquered for you! Here we go, graduates and all of us alike, into this world we go to work and play—and we have absolutely nothing to fear because our Savior Jesus has already overcome it all. He has conquered the world for you. Your sin is forgiven. Death is defeated and you have eternal life. And the devil has no power over you. What else do you have to fear? Nothing. Jesus has conquered!
Think of the things that we’re most often afraid of. Getting sick? Yes, this is very scary. But Jesus has conquered the world. He has conquered death. He says, “Whoever live and believe in me will never die.” He rose on Easter morning! And for us, death is nothing but going to sleep and rising to eternal life.
What else are we scared of? Having no money? Yes, this is scary in the world we live in. But money is just money. Kinda obvious, right? It’s just money. It’s not life. Life can go on without money. God provides our daily bread. He does. He takes care of us. Jesus says that if God takes care of the grass and the birds—He most certainly will take care of you.
What else? Are we scared of our country going down the drain? Are we scared of how Christians are going to be treated in our country in the near future? Are we scared of others thinking we’re weird because we still believe that the Bible is true? That church is important? Are you scared of being the not normal one who stands up against the things in our culture that are destroying families and children? Things like abortion and horribly misleading and harmful teaching on sex and gender and things like full out acceptance of same sex marriage? Are you scared?
Don’t be. Jesus has overcome the world. What can man do to you? That’s what St. Paul asks. He says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
You and I have nothing to be afraid of. Yes, we will have tribulation and trials in this world. Count on it. You will have tribulations with your own sin. And with the sin of others. It is a sinful world we live in. Yet Jesus has conquered it and you don’t need to be afraid. Each day He will cover you with His grace. Every Sunday He will preach His comforting word to you and invite you to receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
You will conquer! Because you’re with Jesus. You know that the book of Revelation has this word “conquer” 15 different times?! Revelation is this great big wonderful picture of how God has conquered the world in Jesus Christ our Savior. And it’s a picture of how you, too, will conquer over sin and death. You will. Take, for instance, Revelation 2:7, “To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Or Revelation 3:5, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Or Revelation 21:6-7, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”
You cannot conquer the world on your own. Believe in Jesus Christ the Conqueror. He is your hope and your peace. Now this then is why Jesus teaches us so much about prayer today. Because you and I cannot conquer this world, but instead we will indeed have much tribulation, He has given us the glorious gift of prayer. Because you have been baptized into Jesus Christ the Conqueror, the Mediator, you are a child of God and can ASK or PRAY for whatever you need.
I know that so often you and I are somewhat even scared to pray. We feel that God must be angry with us because of things we’ve done. We feel He must be angry with us because we haven’t prayed in a while. We feel like we’re not very good at praying. We never have very good words. But we must get past all those things and trust what He tells us.
He wants to hear your prayers. Always. Jesus’ words are so clear. “Ask,” He says. Ask. Go ahead and ask. Ask God. What’s bothering you? What are you scared of? What have you done wrong? Ask God. Ask Him. His ears are open because you are His son or daughter in Jesus Christ. His ears are open because Jesus your Savior has conquered all your sin. He’s overcome it.
You and I need prayer. We need it a lot. In this world we’re having lots of tribulation. Prayer brings us peace and joy. Prayer focuses our hearts and minds on our heavenly Father who loves us and on our Savior Jesus who has conquered for us. So pray often. Pray in the morning when you wake up. Pray before all your meals. Pray whenever you’re scared or in trouble. Pray when you need forgiveness. Pray at night before you go to bed. Say the Lord’s Prayer often. Just pray.
Because you can’t conquer the world. You can’t. Just like the evil villain never ends up conquering. You won’t either. Not by yourself. But Jesus has. He has overcome your sin, your death, and the devil. So take heart; He has conquered! Amen.