“I Have Overcome the World”
John 16:23-33
Easter 5
Pastor Aaron A. Koch
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church
Greenfield, Wisconsin

 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

 One of my favorite passages in Scripture is the closing words of today’s Gospel reading, where Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  I like that passage because it speaks the honest, unvarnished truth about the way things are, both the bad news and the good news.

 First the bad news, “In the world you will have tribulation.”  It seems we’re always searching for some utopia in this world, an oasis from all the troubles of life, some place safe and happy, our own little sanctuary.  But if we’ve found such a place, inevitably something breaks into our private refuge and messes it up.  There is a sudden illness or death.  You lose your job or there are some unexpected bills.  A relationship is strained and at the breaking point.  Some crisis arises.  No matter where we go or what we do, tribulation is there nipping at our heels.

 And perhaps that honest appraisal that our Lord gives is a helpful corrective to the Hallmark schmalz that can overshadow days like Mother’s day.  For  the image you get in the advertisements is one of the perfect mother and the loving children.  And the reality doesn’t usually measure up to that, does it?  The truth is that there is sometimes tribulation there, too, even in the oasis that we want our homes to be.  Jesus’ words here free us from having to fake that everything’s just wonderful and rosy, that the children are all angels and turned out perfect, or that Mom is always the wise, caring, self-sacrificing person she knows she should be.  No, “in the world you will have tribulation.”  The troubling effects of sin show themselves in children and Moms (and Dads).  When Jesus speaks about tribulation, He’s not only talking about dealing with the world that exists around you, but also the world that exists within you–that old Adam who doesn’t want to show honor to parents, or from the other direction, that fallen nature which resents children for the burden and the limitations they place on you.

 That’s the bad news, the news that calls you to repent.  But then comes the good news.  Jesus says, “Yes, in the world you will have tribulation.  But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  All those things that trouble you now–be it your health, your losses, your brokenness, your sinful flesh–those tribulations Jesus took into His own flesh and bones, and He crucified them at Golgotha.  Jesus knew tribulation of the worst sort, being under such duress in the Garden of Gethsemane that He sweat blood even before His blood was shed.  Jesus said in the days before His death, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father glorify Your name.”  And the Father’s name was glorified as Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross.  It is the glory of Christ to bear your troubles and sorrows to set you free.  Truly, Jesus did overcome the world by taking away the sin of the world.  He conquered death by swallowing it up in His own death and then rising again on the third day in glory.

 And all of this He did for you, so that your tribulations will only be temporary, so that they will not overwhelm you.  Jesus gives you who believe and are baptized into Him a share in His victory.  That is why is why it is written in Romans 8, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  And 1 John 4 says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith,” that is, our faith in Christ the Conqueror.  That is how we can be of good cheer, even in the midst of tribulation.  “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?”  In Christ we have the sure hope of the resurrection of the body and all the gifts of the world to come.  The tribulations of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.  And already now we have the comfort and the assurance that all things are in the hands of the God who is full of goodness and loving kindness.  Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace,” the peace that passes all understanding, peace and reconciliation with God.

 It is that peace with God which alone has the power to bring real peace to our relationships and in our families.  When parents and children and spouses show His mercy and forgiveness to each other, then there is true healing and unity and love.  By faith in Christ we are enabled to look past one another’s faults and failings and see them as God sees us in Christ.  Jesus has paid for every sin that has hurt us, and in Him things are made right again.

 By faith we can see that it is truly good and right that we honor our mothers.  For they have been given to us by God.  Despite whatever flaws they may have, they are God’s agents and instruments.  That’s why He gave the 4th Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.”  To dishonor your mother is to dishonor God.  In fact here’s a verse for you: it is written in Proverbs, “The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.”  And you thought you felt bad about not getting your Mom flowers!  She carried you for nine months in her body.  She put up with morning sickness and cravings and swollen feet and achey joints and the pain of delivery so that you could have life.  She changed your dirty diapers and nursed you and burped you.  She has most likely worried about every possible thing that could go wrong in your life and has tried to prevent it.  That alone is reason enough to honor her!  The special love that a mother gives, especially when she has to sacrifice her own desires, is certainly worthy of recognition and praise.

 And where we have failed in this, we are reminded that our Lord Jesus honored His mother perfectly for us and in our place.  As a child, He was subject to His mother and Joseph and honored them.  And as an adult, even from the cross, Jesus saw to it that Mary would be cared for by the Apostle John, saying to them, “Woman, behold your son; behold your mother.”  His righteous obedience is yours.

 Mary, of course, is an icon and a picture of our spiritual mother the Church.  The Large Catechism calls the Church  the holy mother that gives birth to believers through the Word.  St. Paul calls the church “Jerusalem from above,” the free mother who bears free children.

 Lutherans aren’t very accustomed to speaking that way any more.  We tend to think of the Church as a business or a club instead of a mother.  That’s because we don’t always take our teaching on Baptism seriously enough.  If Baptism works a new and heavenly birth, then by water and the Word we have God as our Father and the Church as our mother.

 In the womb of the Church, we are conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Father and born of the water of Holy Baptism.  The Church nurses infant faith with the pure spiritual milk of the Word.  She cares for Christ’s little ones.  She teaches and disciplines.  She bandages wounds and consoles those who are hurting.  She prays for her children.  She provides the comforting food of our Lord’s body and His blood.

 Flawed as the Church on earth may be, she is still our mother through whom we have received the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ.  For this reason alone we ought to love her and honor her and give her the attention she deserves.  Once, when Jesus’ mother and brothers were looking for Him, He asked, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  “Here,” He said, stretching out his hand toward His followers.  “These are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

 And the will of the Father is simply this: That you believe in Jesus, the One who came forth from the Father into the world, the one Mediator between God and men who desires all to be saved, the One who was born of a virgin mother, who gave His life as a ransom for all, the One who invites you to pray in His own name as beloved children of the heavenly Father, that your joy may be full in Him.  Call upon the name of the Lord in your troubles; trust in Him and cling to Him in times of trial.  For the words of Jesus are still powerful and true, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit