Sermon - Jubilate 2022 - John 16:16-23

Ascension, Sebastiano Ricci, 1701

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The very best leaders lead by example. For instance, as a boy growing up I learned how to work hard in the garden by watching my father, or I learned how to cook in the kitchen by watching my mother. It used to be that kings went into battle with their soldiers, fighting alongside their men. When you start a new job, it’s easiest to learn how to do the work by watching the example of someone with experience. So it is with Jesus: Christ leads us to the grave, to the resurrection, and to heaven.

Jesus prepared His apostles and us for His ascension to heaven when He said: “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 40 days after Jesus rose from the dead He ascended to heaven, and His disciples saw Him no longer. But again, in a little while, when Jesus returns on the last day, we will see Him again. On that day our hearts will rejoice and no one will take our joy from us, because Jesus shall lead us to ascend to paradise with Him.

In the meantime, Jesus says “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” Or in other words Jesus is saying to us: Before I return, you will live in this sinful, broken, world, where things will not be as they should, and there will be great difficulties and disappointments awaiting you. The wicked and ungodly will prosper and rejoice in their evil, while you will suffer. “But your sorrow will turn into joy.” 

The profound reason we will suffer in this life is because like our king Jesus, our kingdom is not of this world. Our life here is merely temporary, we are like sojourners and exiles in this world. God created this world perfectly, but even before the stain of sin was laid upon our universe, God’s plan was always that we would eventually be taken from this world to the next. This world was always meant to be a temporary home for us.“For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”

Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension all make this fact clear to us. Jesus, who is perfect and the image of the almighty God, did not remain here after He conquered death, but ascended to the Father’s side where we shall one day join Him. This world is not our paradise nor can it ever be our paradise. Not just because of sin, but because it wasn’t God’s plan to keep us here indefinitely. What sin does is make this world a place of sorrows and death. What’s more, sin tricks us into thinking that this world should be our permanent home. The devil was cast out of paradise and God prepared for him a place of everlasting suffering, so in his spite and malice the devil wants many to join him in his eternal anguish.

For this reason, Chist came to be the firstfruits of the dead. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Jesus didn’t make this world His home and His kingdom, even though He had the power to do so. Instead His kingdom is from above. The devil tempted Jesus to make His comfortable kingdom here on earth, but Jesus refused. Jesus, knowing that this world wasn’t His kingdom, went willingly to the cross and the grave, conquering the devil’s might. Jesus rose from the grave, foreshadowing our resurrection from our graves, proving that the grave cannot hold us. Jesus ascended into heaven, to which He shall one day lead us out of this world.

But before we get to leave this world, before Jesus returns on the last day, we first have to live here on earth. And if we wish to reach paradise one day, how we live here matters significantly. St. Peter admonishes us: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” We Christians, risen with Christ and following His example, must learn how to live in the world but not of the world.

St. Peter makes clear why we should abstain from the passions of the flesh: those passions wage war against our souls! The devil uses our fleshly passions and desires in order to instill a love for this world and an ignorance of the world to come. If we love this world more than we love the coming kingdom, we won’t be welcomed into God’s kingdom. It’s like what Jesus says: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Or it’s like Lot’s wife who turned around with longing eyes for Sodom, that den of iniquity, and turned into a pillar of salt.

This doesn’t mean that we must live ascetic lives, afterall, we’re commanded: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” We can’t escape from this world prematurely. We have to live under the human institutions around us. We have to pay taxes and drive on the correct side of the road, we have to show up for work on time, we have to honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the emperor. In so far as our worldly institutions are acting in accordance with God’s will, we must respect them, for that is good.

In general this is something most Christians do a good job of today. Christians tend to be well-mannered and law-abiding citizens, polite and respectful. This is something you do a good job of, so I commend you for it. You’re good examples of Christianity, and your good works give glory to God.

What we modern Americans struggle with isn’t so much the part about being good citizens and employees, rather it’s with separating ourselves from this world. We like to be respected by the world and receive praise from others, we don’t like to be seen as outsiders and weirdos. It makes us feel good when the newspapers have nice stories about our churches and our people. We like to be accepted by the world.

But as Easter Christians, God has called us towards a life of unworldliness. Instead of being enamored with the pleasures and pursuits of this life, we are to live as sojourners and exiles here, with our hearts set on the things of God. In our collect of the day we prayed that this may be true among us: “Grant faithfulness to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Church that they may avoid whatever is contrary to their confession and follow all such things as are pleasing to You.”

Since we are sojourners here, we shouldn’t be surprised when the world doesn’t like us and show us respect; we don’t belong here and we’re not one of them. When the world kicks us out of their groups and intentionally misunderstands us Christians, we should expect it. When we’re called homophobes and haters and backwards and strict, so what! We are different and that’s a good thing! Our being different is a feature not an error!

In the early church Christians were called cannibals and atheists because the world didn’t understand the Lord’s Supper and why we don’t worship other gods. Christianity was illegal and considered immoral, bad for society. But those Christians remained faithful to the Word and so received the crown of life. They lived like sojourners, because they were. If we remain faithful to God so too shall we be crowned.

We too are sojourners here on earth! We are to be different from the world around us because we have different priorities and we’re awaiting our ascension into heaven. We’re good workers, but we’re not worried about amassing worldly wealth, because our treasure is in heaven. We’re good students, but the knowledge we seek the most is God’s wisdom. We’re patriotic, but the only citizenship which really matters is in God’s kingdom. We like to have a good time, but if our time isn’t spent wisely then it’s not a good use of time. 

Being seen as different might get us some flack from people around us. It’s true. But remember that being different from the world is good! Since we’re not of this world it means that we’re people of heaven! We’re people belonging to God’s kingdom! We may not fit in here, but we will fit in in paradise! We follow Jesus our Lord who is our example through suffering in this life, through death, all the way to the resurrection and the ascension. It’s good to be a sojourner.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!