John 16:5-15
Listen here.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (Ps. 98:1). The Church sings! Christians sing! Today, the 5th Sunday of Easter, is called “Sing! Sunday”—or Cantate in the Latin. “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!” (Ps. 95:1). But so often we really do not feel much like singing, especially these days. We find ourselves in the same spot as the disciples where “sorrow has filled [our] heart.”
In our Gospel reading, Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. He will go away to His cross. He will rise again the third day. And forty days after that He will go away again as He ascends to His Father. Before this text, our Lord told them, “Let not your hearts be troubled. … I go and prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:1, 3). He also said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. … Let not your hearts be troubled” (Jn. 14:27). Then He told them that the world would hate them because it hated Him first (Jn. 15:18-19). No wonder sorrow filled their heart!
Are we any different? We live in the time between Jesus’ ascension and His reappearing. We cannot see Him now. We must walk by faith, not by sight. We have many sorrows—the pending or actual loss of a loved one, the biopsy coming back positive for cancer, ending up in the unemployment line, devastation from natural disasters. Oh, and all of the uncertainty in our current pandemic—the flood of information, conflicting information, even misinformation. And, on top of that, we truly are suffering and sorrowful from another contagion. I’m calling it the “panic-demic”—the pandemic of constant fear—fear of leaving our homes, fear of breathing the air, fear of getting too close to other human beings, fear of touching surfaces and objects, fear of those wearing masks and fear of those not wearing them. It’s no wonder Luther called life in this fallen creation “this valley of sorrow.”
And now we come to “Sing! Sunday”? We are more like the Israelites in their Babylonian Captivity: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept…. On the willows there we hung up our lyres…. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Ps. 137). How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a land of disease, fear and sorrow?
So Jesus comforts His disciples with the Promised Holy Spirit: “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” This “Helper,” this “Comforter,” this “Paraklete” is the Holy Spirit Himself, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. He is Counsel for your defense. He is called alongside you, God’s children. And so Jesus says, “I will not leave you as orphans” (Jn. 14:18).
What does this promised Holy Spirit do? “He will convict/convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” The sin is not believing in Jesus. The righteousness is what Jesus accomplished by His cross, empty tomb and ascension to go to the Father. The judgment is the final verdict for the “ruler of this world,” Satan himself. And the Holy Spirit does His convicting and convincing through the tool and instrument of His Word. Every time you hear His Word read and proclaimed, every time you read it yourself, every time you sing it, the Spirit is showing you your sin, revealing Christ’s righteousness to you, and comforting you that the devil is a convicted, condemned enemy.
During these past months of this pandemic, have you noticed the one thing missing? I know, things have moved fast and furious; there have been so many decisions, so much information, and so many Zoom meetings. But have you discerned at all the one thing missing? The one thing missing is the one thing needful—the Holy Spirit working through His Word. These days we find ourselves walking in the shoes of Martha—busy doing many things in our distraction—rather than sitting with Mary at the feet of Jesus—attentively listening to His teaching. What do I mean?
What could the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus Himself, be working and achieving at this time of pandemic? I can think of three things. First, He is convicting the world of sin, of not believing in Jesus. You see, Jesus is the only Savior for both body and soul—not vaccines, not presidents or governors or mayors or health officials, not even our best efforts at social distancing or mask wearing. “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Ps. 146:3). When the dust settles, we may just realize how little of what we’ve done to stem the COVID tide has actually worked as advertised. But we can be confident that our Lord Jesus, the true Son of Man who made heaven and earth, He’s the one—the only one—who can overcome pandemics, as well as fears and sorrows.
The second thing the Holy Spirit is no doubt doing is driving us to righteousness. Through His Word He drives us to the One Man who endured the cross, who rose again, and who ascended to the Father’s right hand. On that cross, the Man of Sorrows took your sorrows on Himself, as well as your fears, your doubts and your misplaced trust. He buried all of your sins and sorrows in His tomb and left them there when He rose again. And now He reigns over all things for your good both now and into eternity. That’s cause for singing even in the midst of sorrow!
The third thing the Holy Spirit is doing is convincing us that the ruler of this world—the devil himself—is judged, convicted, and condemned. His dictatorial, oppressive ways are done. “This world’s prince may still / Scowl fierce as he will, / He can harm us none. / He’s judged; the deed is done; / One little word can fell him” (LSB 656:3). That’s something worth singing about!
Oh, there is a fourth thing the Holy Spirit is up to. Actually, it’s the over all thing, the one thing needful. First, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6). Then He said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” The Holy Spirit guides you into Jesus Himself. And joined to Jesus in your Baptism, you have no need to get lost in your sorrows or fears. After all, He’s with you in the midst of those sorrows and fears, carrying them with you and for you.
In 1533, Martin Luther preached on the comfort Jesus gave His disciples in this Gospel reading and now gives us. Here’s one thing Luther said: “All this is written for our sakes, that we may learn to be patient and courageous in trial, cross, and suffering, and bear in mind, if the disciples and apostles had to endure heartbreak with patience, relinquish the Lord Christ, and wait for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, then we must learn to do the same, take up our cross, be patient, trust and believe in Christ, who says that things will in time be much better for us than they are now” (HP 2:99).
So despite the sorrows, set backs and sadnesses, despite the changes and chances of life, we can still sing the Lord’s song. As James reminds us today: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” When car tires wear down from use and strain, they stay worn down. But when muscles wear down from use and strain, they grow stronger. God strengthens your faith by exercise and through affliction. “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:3-5).
When you have Jesus, you really do have all you need. And you can sing the Lord’s salvation song. Our risen Lord Jesus heals our sorrow-filled hearts in order that we may sing His song of salvation. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Amen.
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