John 15:26 – 16:4
Easter 7 (Exaudi)
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit
According to Scripture, there are three spiritual enemies that we are engaged in battle with as Christians: the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. Most often here we talk about the battle against sin, for we carry the fallen nature with us wherever we go. The battle against the devil is a key focus especially during the 40 days of Lent–he who is the tempter and the accuser. Today’s readings, though, focus our attention particularly on our conflict with the world.
By that term we’re not talking about the world that God created and declared to be good, the physical world. What the Bible is talking about, rather, is the unbelieving world, the powers of society and culture and religion that are arrayed against the truth of God’s Word. Jesus warns in the verses just before today’s Gospel, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world–but I chose you out of the world–therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
So we should expect trouble from the world if we are seeking to live faithfully as Christians. The call of Christianity is not to a life of ease but to be an outsider, to live as a foreigner in this world. That’s why Peter says in the Epistle, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” This is normal; this is something you should plan on. This shouldn’t shock you when it happens.
Specifically Jesus prepares us for what’s coming by telling us: “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” Now why would someone think that killing Christians is a good and godly thing? Well, put simply, it’s because such a person is full of his own righteousness, and he (or she) rejects the saving righteousness of Christ.
Just consider the Apostle Paul before his conversion. He was passionate about religion; he was zealous for God–or so he thought. In truth, he loved himself and his own merits; he loved using God’s Law as a way of proving what a good person he was, that he deserved a place in God’s kingdom. To use contemporary terms, his religious lifestyle was a way of virtue signaling. And what better way to virtue signal than to make life difficult for these heretics who were worshiping Jesus, who were saying that there is salvation in no one else, that there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved? That was a threat to Paul’s self-focused religion, where God’s commands were primarily a way for him to climb the ladder of the established religious order. These followers of Jesus messed with all that and needed to be stamped out.
This same sort of thing is happening right now, especially where Islam has a large presence. It was just reported again this week that in Sudan in North Africa, Christians are being kidnaped and killed and their churches and villages burned by Muslims, all in the name of their god. It doesn’t make our news too often, but thousands of Christians have died in this way in recent years. Whether it’s Africa or the Middle East, Muslims think they are doing good by stamping out or subjugating the “infidel.” The city of Bethlehem, which was 80% Christian in the early 1990’s, is now only 10% Christian under the rule of the Palestinian Authority. You may indeed have kind Muslim neighbors and co-workers, but they are lost without the truth of Christ. And wherever Islam becomes large enough to gain political power, the persecution of non-Muslims inevitably follows. Just go to large sections of London or Paris or Dearborn, Michigan and say openly that Jesus is Lord and Mohammed is a false prophet and see what happens.
Of course, mistreatment of Christians is not always in the name of religion but sometimes in the name of political ideology, which people pursue with religious passion. “They will put you out of the synagogues” is another way of saying that you will be ostracized, cast out of the life of the community, shunned socially and even financially. Today we’d call it being cancelled and de-platformed and blacklisted. The HR department is often the instrument of maintaining societal orthodoxy. If you call a transgender “female” a man (because that’s what he is) and use masculine pronouns for him in the workplace because you’re not going to participate in a lie, or if you express a belief that homosexual behavior is sinful and that gay partners shouldn’t be able to adopt children, or especially if you say that the grace of Jesus is the only way to heaven and that other religions don’t save–even stating those things calmly and respectfully can cost you your job or a promotion or your social standing. You’re effectively “put out of the synagogue” of the cultural belief system, because you’re a threat to their worldview and their sense of being good people.
Those who are of the world worship a god of their own imagining, justifying their behavior by saying that they’re living according to their truth. When Christians declare that the truth of Scripture applies to all of us, and that the God of the Bible is the only true God, well, then you’re just being judgmental and hateful and not supporting my authentic self-expression. You need to be silenced one way or another, preferably with the force of law and government power.
Jesus boiled it all down this way: “They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.” They may pay lip service to Jesus–just about everyone does–but they don’t actually know Him. Muslims have a Jesus who isn’t God and who didn’t die on the cross. Hindus have a Jesus who is just a wise guru. Modern progressives have a Jesus who never says anything but “Be nice” and “Don’t judge.” Some conservatives have a Jesus whose agenda is more about patriotism and prosperity than salvation and sanctification. All of these things are a mockery and a mischaracterization of the Lord. They don’t know the real Jesus, and therefore neither do they know the Father who sent Him. They have a different god.
Christians have a God of mercy. And in His mercy, this true God calls us all to repentance. He doesn’t just affirm you as you are. He loves you enough to call you to turn away from sin, which is the way of death, and to turn back to Him and receive the life that He freely gives by His undeserved love in Christ Jesus. He seeks to make something new of you, eternally new. And that involves the cross, which is foolishness and a stumbling block to the world. But to us who are being saved, it is the very power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18ff).
That’s why Peter says in the Epistle, “Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” It is an honor to share in the cross of Jesus. Not that we go looking for trouble; it is written in Romans 12 that we should seek to live peaceably with all people. But when tribulation does come because of our faith in Christ, we receive it as a blessing. For as we share in His sufferings, we will also share in His resurrection glory.
Jesus promises here to send us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to strengthen us and comfort us so that we may endure in the faith until the end. And how does the Holy Spirit do that? Jesus says, “He will bear witness about Me.” As always, the heart of the matter is who Jesus is and what He has done for us. The Holy Spirit always leads us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus endured the cross for you. He engaged in the battle on your behalf. He conquered the tempter in the wilderness and weathered every onslaught that the devil threw at him. He bore your sin and buried it and took it away forever by His cross. And He took the mockery and mistreatment of the world; He was on the brutal end of governmental and religious power that arrested Him and gave Him the death penalty, all without returning evil for evil. And in the end He was victorious, rising bodily in glory on the third day. The Holy Spirit bears witness to this now in your ears to strengthen you, so that may run the race with perseverance, casting aside all the entanglements of this world that would bog you down. You can bear up under suffering with confidence, in the sure knowledge that your suffering has its end sharing in the resurrection of Jesus. We heard Jesus say it last week, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
And so we are of good cheer. It is as we said in the Introit Psalm, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” The world can be puffed up in pride for a time and seem to win the day. But we have the final and eternal victory in Christ. And so we are free to love one another earnestly, as Peter says, since love covers a multitude of sins, and to show hospitality without grumbling. Our future is secure in the ascended Lord Jesus. Hebrews 13 puts it this way, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
That’s not to diminish the suffering you may have yet to endure. But there is great comfort in knowing that Jesus has told you ahead of time and prepared you for it. It’s not out of His control. You are safe in His hands. He chose you out of the world to be His own. Therefore, “Fear not,” the Lord says “for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1-3).
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit