Sermon - Jubilate 2023 - John 16:16-22

Adoration of the Child, Gerard van Honthorst, circa 1620

A little while of sorrow, but an eternity of Joy.

1. Sorrow is only for a little while.

2. Joy is for eternity.

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

Jubilate Sunday is interesting. The name of the day is joy, and yet the readings are fairly sobering; not particularly jubilant. But these readings are exactly what we Christians need to hear right now. This life is not always the most pleasant and easy, we all know this, I think. Being a Christian doesn’t make life easier either. Being a Christian makes life better, I believe that with my whole heart, but it doesn’t make life easier. This is what Jesus teaches us today, that life with Him is better even if it is not easier. We do have a little while of sorrow, but an eternity of joy!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” We don’t often need to be told that we will have sorrows in life, because sadness comes regularly enough all on its own. Whether you’re young or old, weeping and lamenting is common throughout life. Babies and small children often cry, and to adults their drama seems quite trivial; for example their parents will give them some candy, and then they cry because their parents won’t give them all of the candy. That kind of reaction is ridiculous, but it comes from a lack of perspective. Once they grow up a bit they’ll learn that they can have some more candy later, and that what appears immediately devastating isn’t quite so disastrous. They learn that just because they can’t constantly have candy, that doesn’t mean they won’t have some at a later time.

Similarly, we adults have the same sort of problem with our perspective. So Jesus reminds us that even though we have sorrow now, this sorrow won’t last forever, it’s only for a little while, and then later we will only have joy. Sorrow is for just a little while. In the moment it seems like a long time, of course, but this is why it’s important to remember that the sorrow is for only a little bit. Even if sorrow were to last for your entire earthly life, it would still only be a little bit, because this life is so short. “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years.” If we live a hundred years, that’s just a fraction of a day. Eternity is forever, and we who live in Christ are immortal. So in view of eternity whatever sufferings we must endure here is guaranteed to be only a little while. The psalmist says:“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Again, St. Paul writes: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” We must remember that we are not working for merely carnal temporary pleasures, but eternal joys.

This is one of the great advantages that we Christians have over unbelievers: we have a good and proper perspective on time. Unbelievers can only see what’s right in front of them, like a little child, and they can’t see beyond this life. For them this life is the only thing that matters. So they invest everything they have into this little while here on earth. Thus, Jesus says “the world will rejoice.” This is why it appears as if worldly and ungodly people have it so much better than Christians, because they put all of their energy into having a good time now.

This is often a temptation for Christians as well, since we see the world’s present happiness and think we want that too right now. But in order to get that, what is it going to cost? Are you willing to sacrifice your eternal joy for some joy for a little while? Are you going to be like Esau and sell your birthright for a bowl of soup? You often think you wouldn’t, but that’s the price that Satan demands. So to help you resist temptation, remember to put it into perspective. Just as our earthly sorrows are for only a little while, likewise, so are our earthly pleasures only for a little while. It is better to be the poor man, Lazarus, lying sick along the roadside, who is taken to paradise for eternity, than to be the rich man who feasts sumptuously every day of this life only to spend eternity in hell.

Earthly pleasures and earthly sorrows are fleeting. This life is incredibly short, but eternity is incredibly long. In fact, the joy that we have as Christians is eternal, and we have it already right now. Jesus uses the perfect example: a woman in labor. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

A woman in labor is a beautiful image of the Christian in this life. For one thing, it helps us to understand that the sorrow we experience is very brief, albeit very difficult. Historically labor is very painful and very dangerous for a woman. Up until very recently it was common that women would die in childbirth, it still happens today, but rarely. Additionally, there’s a lot more pain medicine available today than there was historically, although women can still choose to deliver their baby naturally. But the point is that when Jesus says the Christian’s suffering is like a woman in labor, he means to say that it is dangerous and painful.

Nevertheless, even though it doesn’t feel like it, labor is really quite brief. Once the baby has been born, she’s not crying in anguish but in joy! Does she remember the pain? You bet. But now that she has her baby in her arms her joy eclipses her sorrow. In a way, her sorrow and pain found its fulfillment and purpose in the birth of her baby. In her moment of pain she can’t figure out why she’s doing this and her pain seems senseless. But when she can hold her baby she realizes why she had to endure the pain.

This teaches us about our suffering and sorrows as Christians. In the moment it can be hard to see beyond the suffering. But once this life is over we see that our suffering was but a slight momentary affliction which gave way to eternity. Now I can’t say this dogmatically, but it seems to me, based upon what Jesus says here, that we will actually be able to remember our suffering in paradise. But instead of them troubling us, we will be able to see how our suffering prepared us for eternal joys.

What’s more, in what Jesus teaches us here we learn that we have eternal joys already! A pregnant woman already has her baby inside of her. The Christian already has eternal joy now. Sure, we can’t see it perfectly yet, and it’s not yet full grown, but we have joy already through Christ even now. We are already alive and shall live eternally; God’s will is good and we seek to order our lives according to His good will; His Spirit lives within us and fills us with joy. So let’s learn something from pregnant women: when the baby kicks them, and it hurts, it gives them comfort because it’s a good sign that the baby is healthy. Likewise, when we experience sorrows in this life, let them be reminders to us of the eternal joys that we have in Christ.

In a way, Jesus is the fulfillment of every woman in labor. Just as a mother approaches death in order to bring life into the world, Jesus did in fact die in order to bring eternal life into the world. By the sorrows and anguish of the cross, Jesus has brought joy to the hearts of all. So indeed, we will have sorrows now, but we will see Jesus, and our hearts will rejoice, and no one will take our joy from us. “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

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