Easter 4 May 8, 2022 The Sunday of Joy
Easter 4
John 16:16-22
May 8, 2022
“And No One Will Take Your Joy From You”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus makes a really big promise to His disciples today and also to us in the Gospel reading. Here it is: “I will see you again (that’s on Easter and afterward)…I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Look at that promise. That’s huge. That’s a promise you can all go home with today and keep for the rest of your life on this earth. No one will take your joy from you. Jesus rose from the dead and the disciples saw Him again just like He said they would. He’s alive. He forgives your sin and will take you to heaven. So there you go. No one will take that joy—Jesus, in a word—no one will take your joy in Jesus away from you. Do you believe that? Because if you do it’s yours. It’s your promise from Jesus for all time—a joy that no one will take away.
Now all that remains then is for us to talk about what specific and particular joy is this that won’t be taken away. Because, obviously, we don’t always feel joyful. There are days we feel terrible. There are days that are really hard and sad. So we’ve got to be clear here. What specific joy is this that you and I have in Jesus Christ that no one will ever take away. To answer that, we’re going to talk a bit about our mothers. It is Mother’s Day, for one. But even more important, Jesus is the one who brings up a mother’s joy. He uses a mother and her baby to explain the joy the disciples would have.
Jesus told the disciples that they’d have great sorrow for a little while. We know what that little while was. It was from Good Friday afternoon until Easter Sunday. It was the hardest days of their entire lives. They had put their whole lives behind Jesus and then they believed it was all for nothing. Jesus had died and their hope was lost.
But He promised that it would only be a little while and then their sorrow would turn into joy. The very thing that brought them sadness, which was Jesus’ death on the cross, would afterward be their very joy because He rose and His death was salvation from our sins.
So to explain this Jesus says, “When a woman’s giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come.” That’s her hour of pain and suffering, of course. Her hour of labor. “But,” Jesus says, “when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” The very thing that brought her pain and sorrow—the labor and delivery—is now her joy because it brought this human being into the world. So also the cross of Good Friday became the greatest joy because it brought salvation to the world and Jesus rose from death.
However, after that is where we run into a problem with the example of the mother’s joy. Because then Jesus ups the promise big time and says, “I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Very sadly, we can’t say that same thing about a mother’s joy, can we? The fact is, there are a number of things in this world that would take away a mothers’ joy. Because, very sadly and tragically, even babies can be taken away from us in this world of sin.
One of the saddest and hardest sorrows for a mother is to go through the entire labor and delivery and her child doesn’t survive the childbirth. Many women throughout history have suffered this great sorrow. Many others have suffered the sorrow of their baby only living a very short time after birth and then dying. Many, many, many other mothers have suffered the sorrow of their baby not making it to birth. Some of these women even suffering multiple miscarriages. Many other would-be mothers have suffered the great sorrow of children never conceived. Children they have prayed for and never received because God never gave them. Other mothers have suffered the great sorrow of losing a son or daughter while they were still but young and not even an adult yet. Other mothers have had children die before them and uttered those words, “A mother shouldn’t outlive her children.”
Please understand. Mothers have great, great joy in their children. However, even mother’s day isn’t untouchable joy, is it? For many it brings also sorrow. Mothers need a joy even greater than their children if they would get through this world. Mothers need a greater joy that will never, ever be taken away from them. And in the very same way, mothers want that same thing for their children. They want their children to have a joy that is so great it can never be taken away from them.
Everyone in this room has a mother. What do you think is the ultimate thing your Mom would want for you? I asked a group of ladies at the nursing home the other day and it took about 2 milliseconds for them to answer, “To be happy.” That’s right, isn’t it? A mother wants her children to be happy. So how about a happiness, a joy, that can never ever be taken away from them? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate happiness your Mom would want for you? A joy that can never be taken away?
Yes, and that’s what Jesus promises. He is the joy of every mother that won’t ever be taken away from her. Do you hear what I’m saying? Even our very children may be taken away from us in this world but nothing and no one will ever take away Jesus Christ from you. And isn’t that what we would also want for our very sons and daughters? Even some day mothers and fathers are taken away from their children but no one will ever take away Jesus Christ from your children.
Let’s say it this way. What if our mother said, “I just want my kids to be healthy”? Well, that sounds nice but there’s no way you can promise that or keep that. Parents can promise that Jesus won’t ever leave us but they can’t promise that our health won’t leave us. In fact, the bottom line is that at some point health will absolutely be taken away from all of us. So health isn’t where it’s at.
Or what if our mother said, “I just don’t want my kids to ever have to suffer.” Again, that sounds nice but it’s an empty wish and promise. No one gets through this life without suffering. So it doesn’t bother for our moms or dads to tell us we won’t suffer. Rather, it does for them to tell us, “You will have to suffer in this world, but Jesus will never be taken away from you.”
Moms need to hear a lot of good things on Mother’s Day like how much we appreciate them, how thankful we are for them, how much we love them and admire them. This is all good. But let God be the one to tell all of you women here today that Jesus is your highest and greatest joy who will never be taken away from you. No matter what. Does your Mom want you to be happy? Then there’s no safer joy and greater joy than Jesus who will never be taken away from you.
Jesus’s mother, Mary, certainly learned this hard truth. She was told at the very beginning by Simeon that a sword would pierce through her soul. Yes, her Son would be taken away from her in this world. And He was. She watched Him die on the cross. And even after the joy of Easter she had to come to grips with the fact that her Son wouldn’t be with her in the same way anymore. He was ascending to the right hand of God. But now she had an even greater joy than being His mother. She was His own child and she was forgiven and redeemed by His blood. And that was now the joy that would never, ever be taken from Mary.
All the disciples learned the same thing. We can see it so clearly after Easter and then Pentecost. They showed that they had a joy that couldn’t possibly be taken away from them. So they were mocked, arrested, put in prison, beaten, hated—even murdered—but none of it could shake their joy. Their moms wanted them to be happy just like your mom has wanted you to be happy. And their mothers got exactly what they wanted—their sons had a happiness in Jesus Christ that no one could take away from them.
And I hope all of your moms get what they wanted—for you to be happy. That is, for you to have a joy that can never be taken away from you. We know the sorrows of this world. There’s no doubt about it. Many are the sorrows of this world. And our moms can’t promise to keep them away from us and none of you can promise anyone else in this world that you can keep sorrows away from them. But there is a joy, the ultimate joy, in Jesus Christ that no sorrow can ever take away.
Do you believe this promise of Jesus? Because if you believe Jesus Christ then you have the kingdom of heaven. You have Jesus Christ here with you in His holy Word, in the holy Supper of His body and blood, in this Christian Church where two or three are gathered in His name. You have this promise that will not ever fail, “No one will take your joy from you.”
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.