MILY

JUBILATE DEO

Isaiah 40:25–31 / 1 Peter 2:11–20 / John 16:16–22

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

 When a baby is born, its head usually comes first. This is the hardest part. But once the head is born, the rest of the body follows naturally. This image is used by the Scriptures to talk about the relationship between Christ's resurrection and our own resurrection. He is the head of the Church, and we are His body; and where the Head is, the body will naturally be also. That is, if He who is the head is risen, we who are His body will also rise with Him. Just as Saint Paul says: “He is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18).

 However, although the body naturally follows the head in childbirth, the body inevitably needs to go through the same path that the head went through. How does this apply to us who have Christ as our Head? Well, before Resurrection Sunday came Golgotha. And if this was true of Him who is our Head, it is also true of us who are His body. If we truly take up our cross and follow the Lord, we need to go through Calvary before the resurrection, as that is where our Head also went. Because He is the head, He took on the rougher part. The head always gets the worst of the bruise, because it opens the way. But the body that follows also experiences part of the suffering when passing through the same path.

 Here is something we need to be very clear about if we want to truly follow the Lord. Currently, many think that the cross is only an option for Christians, that there is a way to follow Jesus, and at the same time emerge unscathed at the end of the path. That it is possible to go to Church on Sunday morning to feel good about yourself, but that it is not necessary to embrace the cross in every aspect of your personal life. That it is possible to follow Him without having to face any discomfort or personal sacrifice. This is a facade Christianity. This is shallow and false. The cross is not just an option for the Christian, it is the rule. There is no other path for the body than the one through which the Head has passed.

 Saint Peter invites us to unite ourselves with this cross of Christ in today's epistle when he says: “Be submissive… with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.” Just like the Lord, our Head, we are called to crucify our own ambitions, dreams, comfort and honour, and to submit to suffering for others. Not just when we deserve to suffer because we have done something wrong, but especially when we do good. For our Lord was also spat upon and patiently endured the contempt of a world that did not recognize His goodness. So we too submit to being the scum of an ungrateful world. For we are the body of a Head who does not think about His own honour, but in all things has the good of others first, whether it be the good of those who love Him, or the good of those who despise Him.

 Our Lord warns His disciples about the suffering they would face at the hands of the world in today's Gospel: “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father… Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” The time was coming when the Lord would no longer be among them as He used to be. And then they would face the wickedness of a world that rejoices in their suffering, just as it rejoiced in the suffering of their Lord and Head.

 This is true about those disciples, and it is also true about us. However, although we suffer, we do not suffer without purpose or without hope. Our Lord explains this to us by also using the image of a mother who is giving birth: “A woman, when she is in labour, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for 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.” From this image, we can draw three great points of comfort and encouragement in the face of our suffering.

I

 Firstly, a woman giving birth suffers terribly, but she suffers knowing that her suffering will not last forever. As the Lord himself says: they are just for “a little while”. When she needs to push again and again, she finds strength for each new push in the fact that at any moment, in a little while, it will be her last. This same hope is what gives us strength in our struggle. To know that at any moment it will be the last, and then the Lord will be with us again and he will make all things new for us, and no one will be able to take our joy from us.

II

 And now, because of this hope, we who follow the Lord can have a completely new perspective on our suffering. And this brings me to my second point. When someone suffers and has no hope of an end to their suffering, that person goes into despair. What distresses them most is not the suffering itself, but the fear that it will never end. The despair caused by uncertainty multiplies the pain. And then they become obsessed with their suffering. Their number one concern is to be free from suffering, whatever the cost. An irrational anguish takes over and they cannot think of anything else.

 But our sufferings are not shrouded in this uncertainty. As Saint Paul says elsewhere: “We do not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Now that uncertainty has been removed for us by Christ's resurrection, we can grieve in a different way. Just like a mother giving birth. Once she knows that her suffering will come to an end, her number one concern is no longer so much about getting rid of that suffering, whatever the cost, but rather the fruit that comes from her suffering. She continues to endure that suffering for as long as necessary for her child to be born safe and sound. The same applies to us. Although our suffering is painful, since we know it will eventually end in Christ, now we no longer need to despair. Our focus is no longer so much on getting rid of that suffering at any cost, but rather on the good fruit that comes from our suffering.

 Those who do not have the hope of restoration in Christ do not have the patience to suffer. If they find themselves in some difficulty, they will lie to get out of it. If they lack something, they become dishonest to get what they need. If they suffer any injustice, they immediately need to alleviate their pain by hurting back with hand and tongue. If someone takes something from them, they soon need to fight back. These are the irrational attitudes of someone who is in pain and has no hope of an end to it. They do not know that there will be a restoration and therefore they feel pressured to take matters into their own hands immediately, whatever the cost. But we, who know that everything will be made new to us in Christ, do not need to feel this pressure. In the coming restoration we find the strength to put our suffering on the back burner and, for now, suffer patiently, even if unjustly, the strength to put our hand over our mouth and endure without murmuring, with the fruit of our suffering coming first.

 I'm suffering, it's painful, and sometimes I wish I didn't have to sacrifice myself like this, but I'm not suffering without purpose. I am suffering for the sake of others. Everyone suffers in this life, but when I suffer with Christ, I add meaning to my suffering, I suffer for something worth it. Furthermore, I ask myself, what does God want to teach me through this suffering? What do I need to learn? How is this important to my salvation and the salvation of those around me? What spiritual fruit can I reap from this, for myself and for others? For these fruits, I can endure my sufferings for now, because in a little while they will no longer exist.

III

 Finally, although a woman suffers terribly while giving birth, she suffers knowing that those sufferings are not the sufferings of death but of life; a new life that is being born from her struggle. The same applies to our suffering in Christ. Through these sufferings, a new life is being formed in us, the life of Christ. A little more of what we are is being crucified and put to death, so that a little more of what Christ is may be raised up in us. Christ is being formed in us. And we suffer the birth pains of this new life that is being gestated in us, the life of Christ. As Christians, we are always in labour pains for this new life that was implanted in us on the day of our Baptism, until the day it reaches its full form at our own resurrection.

 As the Lord says, the world will laugh at our suffering. They think we are losing our lives. But we trust in that word of the Lord that says “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”. This certainty gives us the spiritual maturity to not only endure our sufferings, but even to welcome them into our lives and rejoice in them. For our sufferings in Christ are not loss, but gain. They are a blessing because they are forming Christ in us. They are no longer an unfortunate accident of this life. Now in Christ they belong to our salvation. Christ elevated them to instruments of my salvation. They are part of my dying and rising with Him. They are refining me like silver, which from the earth is tried, and purified seven times in the fire. These sufferings are giving birth to faith, perseverance, hope, love. They are nothing but the birth pangs of a new life. It is not the dumb pain of mourning. It is the pain of struggle and transformation. The breaking down of our old life, which involves our old attitudes and expectations, and the birth of that new life that finds it’s pleasure and purpose in Christ. For our greatest sufferings as Christians are not the pains of this world, but the fact that we are not yet fully as the Lord is; and therefore we bless the struggles of this life if they draw us closer to the Lord and make us more and more like Him. This is life and salvation, to be made into what the Lord is.

 This is the joy that, as the Lord says, no one can take away from us, the joy that lasts even in the midst of the worst circumstances, when everything else is lacking. For even in the midst of suffering, when the rest of the world despairs, we find reason for comfort and exultation, knowing that even what is most painful in life in Christ is now taken to another level and is used for our salvation, knowing that all things work together for good for those who love God. This is the true joy that comes from the shattering and sorrow over that which is not true joy but an illusion.

 And in the midst of our struggle, let us always remember this: it is just for a little while. A little while and everything will be over; a little while and this trouble, this passion, this pain, this sin, these tears will be gone. This little while appears to us long, because it is still passing; when it shall have come to an end, then we shall perceive how it has been just for a little while. A little while, and we shall see Him; a little while and we shall be like Him; a little while and we shall have no more to pray for, no more to inquire after; because nothing will remain to be desired, there will be nothing hidden to be learned, and then we will have that joy that no one can take from us in its fullest form. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Rev. Saulo A. Peiter Bledoff, p.

Preached on April 21st, AD 2024

St. John’s Lutheran Church – Snyder of Stevensville, ON