Sixth Sunday of Easter + Rogate
Text: John 16:23-33
Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…."
These aren't just the words of Jesus; these are the words of His Father in the Garden as He spoke to your first parents, Adam and Eve.
To the woman, he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain, you shall bring forth children.
And to Adam, God said,
Cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
These words confirm that while dwelling in this world, man will experience tribulation in the simple process of feeding and providing for his family. While the woman, your first mother, and all mothers would endure and experience the pains and sorrow of conceiving and bearing children.
What follows the Fall is that Adam named His wife Eve "because she was the mother of all living.” She was a life-giver. Yet, the anguish of this life is realized as her firstborn, Cain, rises to take the life of his very brother (and her son), Abel.
What distress and affliction Eve, "the life-giver," must have felt. One life she bore, taken by the hand of another. Her son Cain wandered off and failed to listen to the very voice of God she, too, had failed to heed, the voice of warning.
The voice of Jesus also provides us today with a warning and comfort; he says,
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
So often, we see the tribulations of this life as external things that we might conquer or people we may defeat.
However, while tribulation is often caused by an external matter, man's heart is most severely harmed and wounded by these moments and times Jesus warns of – the moments of distress, affliction, and oppression.
For this reason, the real genesis of our tribulations resides in our heart, those matters of life, often only known to us and God, the items and sins we silently carry with us, press in and weigh upon the mind and heart – those who join Hannah in the barrenness of the womb, finding themselves in the “bitterness of soul, and [praying] to the Lord and weeping in anguish.” (1 Sam. 1:10 NKJV). Or those who continue to mourn the child's death who never would inhale the air of this world or feel a mother’s embrace. Or those who weep with the mothers and fathers of Bethlehem’s holy innocents when the lives of schoolchildren are taken through senseless violence.
Still, there is the destruction of relationships that pit you against your brother or sister in Christ, as Cain rises against Abel. The jealousy of your heart, the different political views, the arguments over how to best care for your aging parents.
Unlike Abel, your adversaries still walk this earth, but in your heart, they have already been struck down and killed.
What do you do with this hurt and anger you harbor?
You know, a couple of weeks ago, we heard Jesus say,
A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish or joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. (John 16:21-22)
Here, the Greek word for “anguish” is the same as tribulation, θλιψις, so the idea here is that once the labor and pain of giving birth are passed, it is gone, and what remains is joy and peace.
This image of childbirth also relates to Israel’s suffering, captivity, and deliverance. But more, it foreshadows Christ Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection that first Easter morning. Into the womb of the grave, His body will go, but triumphantly, Jesus will rise – He will bring to you and deliver to you the joy of His victory - His peace.
So now, for those who continue to experience the sorrows and anguish of life, Jesus says to you, “whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”
And no, this does not imply the Father will grant you the children of the womb you may desperately want, nor does it mean your labors of providing for your family will ease in life.
But, it does declare to you that the joy of His peace is present for you today. This is what Jesus says your heavenly Father wishes to give each of you who are hurt and are oppressed, His eternal peace.
So, what does this mean for today? It means we must learn and remember again these words of David, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.” Psalm 50:15a
This verse leads us into the Divine Service where our humble voices and lives cry out with all the Church on earth to the One who can and does grant help in our great times of distress and need.
In fact, Luther calls the Church:
Our free mother… the bride of Christ who gives birth to all. She goes on giving birth to children without interruption until the end of the world, as long as she exercises the ministry of the Word, that is, as long as she preaches and propagates the Gospel; for this is what it means for her to give birth.[1]
This ministry of new birth is carried out as the children of Christ are taken into the womb of the font and delivered to new life by the baptismal waters of Christ that continue to flow over you this day.
As Jesus said to Nicodemus,
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5-6)
So, you are invited to live in the baptismal birth of water and spirit always, being led by the Holy Spirit that dwells within you to the altar where you will be fed not with the fading food of life that was produced with thorns and thistles but with the heavenly food of Christ Jesus Himself.
This is how the Church continues to give birth and care for her dear children on earth.
You know, it’s striking to reflect on Jesus’ last words from the cross. While our words often hurt and harm, His words confessed love and care, especially for His mother.
The Gospel of John says,
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
This is an image of the Church today. Jesus makes Mary a new Eve from the cross if you will. Mary is now the mother of the Seed born of woman, foreshadowed in the Garden - He who now gives true and eternal life.
While Mary now embraces John as her son, so John is entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother. So here you now have a new family formed in Jesus under the cross, quite frankly, formed under the anguish and tribulation of life.
But look at this family above our altar, see the statues of Mary and John; they aren’t looking at us, they aren’t looking at each other, they aren’t saying, “Pray to me!” either. No, they’re looking to Christ and pointing all of us, as their words and confessions always have, to the One who has conquered this world and the afflictions of your life.
His arms, now extended, embrace, and invite you into His Church.
So, come to where Christ is present for you – where He unites and commands you to embrace one another as brothers and sisters of His family.
My friends, bring the anguish and tribulations of your heart to the foot of the cross where Christ Jesus has taken them upon Himself, call out in His name to your Father in heaven, and then listen to the voice of Jesus and receive the life and peace of your risen and triumphant Savior this day. +INJ+
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA
[1] Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 26, p. 441). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
