TITLE: “Grief into Joy”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is from the Gospel lesson as well as from the Epistle as follows: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (I Jn. 3:1-3) We will be talking about how the Christian is misunderstood in the world, and how God turns our grief and confusion into joy.

Why is it that the world just does not understand what makes Christians tick? I’m not just talking about the moral question. The world can understand why we oppose abortion, homosexuality, fornication and the like. Every culture and time will have opponents of grossly immoral behavior. But what is it about the Christian that is just inexplicable to the world?

The answer, of course, lies in the resurrection of the dead. Saint John in our Epistle says that we can see God’s love because He calls us His children. Now if you think of that, it is a truly astonishing statement. If you are one of God’s children, that means that you are one with God Himself. You have a spark of the divine in you, by virtue of your Baptism. And because of that divine gift of God’s grace, you will rise from the dead and live with Him for all eternity.

Now the trouble for the world is that you can’t see the resurrection from the dead. At least not now. What the world sees now is that you suffer trials. You hurt. You are even persecuted for the faith. Your life is no easier than anyone else’s life. In fact, your sins may even appear worse, because you are a Christian! They’re easier to see. So when the world looks at you, it thinks, yeah, right, so that is what it is like to be a child of God? No thank you! I will keep my own way of life, thank you very much.

Now you must admit that there is one part of you which has to agree with the world. Why do you have to go through all of the junk and heartache in your life, if God really loves you? Admit it. You ask yourself that question. And if you haven’t asked yourself that question, you will. Trust me. There will come a time when you will be in the midst of personal, emotional, or professional crises, and you are going to wonder if it wouldn’t actually be a lot easier if you weren’t a Christian.

This should not surprise you. Jesus said to this to the disciples when before His death and resurrection:

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. A woman, when she is in labor, 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.

Why does Jesus promise that you will be sorrowful and lament? Jesus compares the life of the Christian here on earth to giving birth. When a woman is in labor, she is, shall we say, focused on the task at hand. Nothing else matters. There may be sorrow, anger, and a depth of emotion and feeling that is hard to fathom. There is an intensity that I don’t think you will find anywhere else. That is what Jesus says that life in the world is finally like. There is an intensity about it that is hard to overcome. And it is very easy, when you are in the midst of it, to believe that this will go on forever, and that this is all there ever is. Have you been there? Have you felt that way in the midst of trouble and heartache? I expect you have.

Jesus in our text offers comfort and hope to the suffering Christian. Where does your comfort lie? It lies first of all, in the sure and certain hope that this life is not the end. It is the beginning. This is your birth canal to eternity. It may not always be what you want. You may not even understand everything that is happening all the time. But it will get better. If it isn’t tomorrow, it will be next week or next month or next year. And if not then, it will all be worked out in eternity in the arms of Jesus. That is your first comfort.

Your second comfort is that whether you are suffering or not, you are in Christ. He died and rose again from the dead, and your baptism ties you to Jesus, so that no matter what happens, no matter how great or horrible the circumstance may be, you are in Christ and He is in you. He continues to draw you back to that baptismal water every day of your life. This is why Luther exhorts us all in the Small Catechism to rise up in the morning, and begin by making the sign of the cross: In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. For that is how the life of the Christian begins and ends. In God. Jesus truly sympathizes with your weakness. The very word sympathy means to suffer with someone. If that isn’t a comfort, I don’t know what is.

Finally, your comfort and hope is in the promise of what is to come. This time will end, you are in Jesus now, and you cannot imagine the joy that awaits you in the resurrection of the dead. That is what Easter is all about, after all. The resurrection which Christ won for you means that your life is never the same. You look at the world from God’s perspective. You look at the world from the view of eternity.

Saint Peter calls us sojourners and pilgrims along the way in his Epistle. This is true. You are a pilgrim. Your life is a journey from birth to death to eternity with Jesus. This journey may have pitfalls and trials along the way, but you have a guide that has gone the way before, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is your guide along the way, so that no matter what bumps and detours the road may take, know and be certain that Jesus has gone the way before. You don’t have to be afraid. As Isaiah said in our Old Testament reading:

The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

This is you, my friends in Christ. He is talking about you. Believe it, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.