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Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
As Jesus looks ahead He wants to offer His disciples hope and guidance. What shall they do? What comfort can they take? This is what Jesus offers to them and to us, in the words He speaks to us in our text.
It is important to see this in light of proper understanding of how we are saved. We are saved, made right with God, or justified, through grace. Therefore, the keeping of Jesus' commands is not what saves us. It is not our act of demonstrating our love for Jesus that leads Him to save us. Our love does not come first, but rather it comes in response to what God has already done for us. We respond to the gift of salvation and justification by loving Jesus and we demonstrate that by following what He commands.
This counselor fills in for Jesus' physical, bodily presence. The Holy Spirit comes to breath a holy breath or spirit into our life, creating faith and a response of loving Jesus and following His commands. This helper is a comfort to all believers. Jesus promises this counselor will be with us into the eternity, that is until Christ returns again.
This Spirit is a spirit of truth. Luther said the possession of truth is one of the greatest privilege in this life, "for there is nothing that can comfort man in tribulation as much as to be sure of one's position." You can bear adversities with calmness knowing the truth. You can even face death, as did many martyrs with confidence because you have the truth, given to you from the Spirit of Truth.
In two weeks we will celebrate the rite of confirmation for our youth. In this rite we ask, "Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?" How can one make such a confession? It is not our own convictions, our own willpower that would allow us to face even death for our faith. Rather, we must reply, as the confirmands will, "I do so intend with the help of God." It is this Spirit of Truth at work in us that allows us to confess our faith even to death.
We must ask what is meant by the world? In fact it is a general label which applies to all people. All people are blind. Isaiah 59:10-12 says,
Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away. For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:
It is impossible for the world to see the Holy Spirit or know Him. Thank goodness that what is impossible for man is possible for God. We who believe, along with the disciples were under the same condemnation as the rest of the world for our sins. It wasn't through the disciples' cooperation that they now knew, rather it was the Spirit now in them. It is not our cooperation which opens our eyes to see the Spirit. Rather it is the very work of the Spirit to open our eyes.
This is fulfilled at this time through the Holy Spirit. We see Jesus in a spiritual way, through our faith. Though unbelievers do not now see Jesus, we see Him in our eyes of faith, in His Word, and in His Supper.
We must be sure to focus on those most comforting words Jesus spoke, "Because I live, you also will live." Here Jesus holds before His disciples and before us both His own resurrection and our coming resurrection.
In the face of His death, Jesus gives the comfort that He will live again. This future is so certain, He can now speak of it as accomplished, though the time frame of our text is prior to His crucifixion. Jesus says "Because I live," seeing the future with 20/20 vision.
In these words, "Because I live, you also will live," is a wealth of comfort for every individual, sinful soul. This is pure Gospel, spoken to we who deserve nothing. Instead our Lord provides us the promise of life beyond death. This does also give us great comfort at the death of loved ones who trusted in the promises of the Lord. Because Jesus lives beyond death through His resurrection, they too will live beyond death in their resurrection. All who are believers are given this comfort, as the Holy Spirit confirms the belief in the personal resurrection of all believers into eternal life.
This union leads us to live our life in Christ. He says to us in the text, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." The personal union with our Lord, even in His absence is made complete.
How can a holy, righteous Jesus come to be in us? See, we who are stained with sin have nothing in common with Him. True believers in Christ will recognize the sin in their lives. They will see their failure to obey Christ's commands as an expression of love towards Christ. Christ's commands can be summarized with this list: repent, believe the Gospel, love our brothers, and take up cross and follow Him. Luther added: preaching the Gospel, administering the sacraments, and avoidance of separation and heresy. A simple examination of our own lives reveals where we fall short. Therefore, how can God come and be united to us?
Man as a sinner is separated from God and before a union could be established, sin had to be removed. This was done through Christ. Jesus, being true God, that is the one in the Father, was able to die on the cross for all sins. This is our glorious Gospel, a truth which the Spirit of Truth shows to us. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit."
It is the Helper Jesus sends to us which reveals His love for us. Then "We love because He first loved us." Romans, chapter 5 provides a powerful summary:
(Romans 5:5-7,8-10) "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly...But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
Now, may you be blessed with the knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
As Jesus looks ahead to the time when He will leave, He wants to offer His disciples hope and guidance. What shall they do? What comfort can they take? This is what Jesus offers to them and to us, in the words He speaks to us in our text.
It is important to see this in light of proper understanding of how we are saved. We are saved, made right with God, or justified, through grace. Therefore, the keeping of Jesus' commands is not what saves us. It is not our act of demonstrating our love for Jesus that leads Him to save us. Our love does not come first, but rather it comes in response to what God has already done for us. We respond to the gift of salvation and justification by loving Jesus and we demonstrate that by following what He commands.
This counselor or helper comes to fill in for Jesus' physical, bodily presence. The Holy Spirit comes to breath a holy breath or spirit into our life, creating faith and a response of loving Jesus and following His commands.
This helper is a comfort to all believers. We as believers can be assured of the Spirit's presence, even at times when we notice nothing of His presence, such as times of affliction. If we think we have lost the Spirit at those times, that proves the Spirit is with us. This is true because an unbeliever would never be troubled over the loss of the Spirit. As we remain believers, we continue to have the Holy Spirit with us. This was Jesus' comfort to the disciples and to us. He promises this counselor will be with us into the eternity, that is until Christ returns again.
The text said that this Spirit is a spirit of truth. Luther said the possession of truth is one of the greatest privilege in this life, "for there is nothing that can comfort man in tribulation as much as to be sure of one's position." You can bear adversities with calmness knowing the truth. You can even face death, as did many martyrs with confidence because you have the truth, given to you from the Spirit of Truth.
In two weeks we will celebrate the rite of confirmation for our youth. In this rite we ask, "Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?" How can one make such a confession? It is not our own convictions, our own willpower that would allow us to face even death for our faith. Rather, we must reply, as the confirmands will, "I do so intend with the help of God." It is this Spirit of Truth at work in us that allows us to confess our faith even to death.
We must ask what is meant by the world? In fact it is a general label which applies to all people. All people are blind. Isaiah 59:10-12 says,
Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away. For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:
It is impossible for the world to see the Holy Spirit or know Him. Thank goodness that what is impossible for man is possible for God. We who believe, along with the disciples were under the same condemnation as the rest of the world for our sins. It wasn't through the disciples' cooperation that they now knew, rather it was the Spirit now in them. It is not our cooperation which opens our eyes to see the Spirit. Rather it is the very work of the Spirit to open our eyes.
The Holy Spirit living in us leads us to want to be nourished by our Lord and to be near Him. We are ever directed to Jesus Christ by the Spirit. In our Lord's physical absence we want to be in His presence. So the Spirit leads us to come to the Lord's house, joyfully, not out of compulsion. We do it because we want to be near our Lord. We can then be in the presence of the Lord as He speaks to us through His Word. So, the Holy Spirit is our helper who leads us to be nourished by God's Word and supported by fellow believers in the Lord's House. The Spirit also leads us to long to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's body and blood. In this mysterious way, we have the Lord present in His very body and blood, under the bread and wine. Jesus is most certainly with us in a very personal way in the Lord's Supper and the Holy Spirit leads us to seek for this nourishment.
Jesus promises in our text, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." He promises us the Holy Spirit, living in us, and helping us in our faith and life. In this way, Jesus comes to us. The sense of the word orphans in the original language is someone who is lacking something; a deprived person. Jesus promises that we will not be lacking or deprived, even though He was to leave. The Spirit leads us to all truth and nourishment. We have shelter in God's House covered with His Word.
This is fulfilled at this time through the Holy Spirit. The Helper comes to us and shows us Jesus. We see Him in a spiritual way, through our faith. Though unbelievers do not now see Jesus, we see Him in our eyes of faith, in His Word, and in His Supper.
We must be sure to focus on those most comforting words Jesus spoke, "Because I live, you also will live." Here Jesus holds before His disciples and before us both His own resurrection and our coming resurrection. Jesus' object is to fill the hearts of disciples with joy and comfort at His departure, instead of sorrow. This is not the normal course which the world follows. Departure from loved ones is not a cause for rejoicing. In Jesus' case it was different because it meant the eternal salvation of the disciples. Had Jesus remained, they would indeed have been sorry for there would be no atonement for their sins. They would have been lost forever, as the dark night of despair remained. As Jesus leaves, however, it brings them comfort of hope in the darkness of sin, knowledge of their redemption.
In the face of His death, Jesus gives the comfort that He will live again. This future is so certain, He can now speak of it as accomplished, though the time frame of our text is prior to His crucifixion. Jesus says "Because I live," though He will be dead three days. The future He can see with 20/20 vision and speaks of it in the present tense.
In these words, "Because I live, you also will live," is a wealth of comfort for every individual, sinful soul. This is pure Gospel, spoken to we who deserve nothing. Instead our Lord provides us the promise of life beyond death. This does also give us great comfort at the death of loved ones who trusted in the promises of the Lord. Because Jesus lives beyond death through His resurrection, they too will live beyond death in their resurrection. All who are believers are given this comfort, as the Holy Spirit confirms the belief in the personal resurrection of all believers into eternal life.
This spiritual union between believer and Jesus cannot be broken. It must be "in Christ." If Christ is taken out, the spiritual life is lost. So, in this union, Jesus takes possession of the heart, mind, and soul. Natural man cannot understand this and so it is only after the Spirit has opened our heart to Jesus by means of the Word do we realize what Jesus means to us.
This union leads us to live our life in Christ. He says to us in the text, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." The personal union with our Lord, even in His absence is made complete.
How can a holy, righteous Jesus come to be in us? See, we who are stained with sin have nothing in common with Him. True believers in Christ will recognize the sin in their lives. They will see their failure to obey Christ's commands as an expression of love towards Christ. Christ's commands can be summarized with this list: repent, believe the Gospel, love our brothers, and take up cross and follow Him. Luther added: preaching the Gospel, administering the sacraments, and avoidance of separation and heresy. A simple examination of our own lives reveals where we fall short. Therefore, how can God come and be united to us?
Man as a sinner is separated from God and before a union could be established, sin had to be removed. This was done through Christ. He removed the partition between God and man. Jesus, being true God, that is the one in the Father, was able to die on the cross for all sins. This is our glorious Gospel, a truth which the Spirit of Truth shows to us. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit."
It is the Helper Jesus sends to us which reveals His love for us. Then "We love because He first loved us." Romans, chapter 5 provides a powerful summary:
(Romans 5:5-7,8-10) "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly...But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
Now, may you be blessed with the knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.