Ever Since Genesis 3

​5th Sunday of Easter – C                                                                                LSB #’s 685, 708, 818
Text – John 16:22
 
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.
 
EVER SINCE GENESIS 3
 
 
Before the days of modern car suspensions, traveling from city to city was a rather jarring experience.   Two centuries ago, a famous American essayist wrote: “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, it is often a comfort to shift one’s position & be bruised in a new place.”[1] 
No doubt, each of you has had similar experiences living in the brokenness of this world.  Maybe you also find relief in being bruised at least in a different way or place.  Due to the wealth of our nation, today’s bruises are as much emotional as physical, but the pain & sorrows of life are still all too real.   It has been that way ever since Genesis 3:
And to Adam [the Lord God] said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife & have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns & thistles it shall bring forth for you…  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, & to dust you shall return.”  (Genesis 3:17-19 ESV) 
 
As the season of Lent begins, many churches impose ashes with the words, “you are dust & to dust you shall return.”   It’s one way we remind ourselves that the wages of sin is death.  (Romans 6:23)   Adam & Eve brought the effects of sin into our very DNA, & unless we are rescued death would be the end of us all.   Ever since Genesis 3, we have needed a Savior. 
In the sermon text from John, Jesus points out to His disciples that He is that Savior: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.”   Once they come to truly understanding Jesus’ words, then His followers will rejoice, & no one will be able to take their joy from them.  The problem is, Jesus says these things on Maundy Thursday & there’s no way His disciples can understand.  These words are being spoken so that months later those words would have their proper effect:
“A little while, & you will see me no longer; & again a little while, & you will see me.”  (John 16:16 ESV)   His followers will not see Jesus while He’s resting in the grave.  Then He’ll be resurrected in a little while & they will see Him again.   And, once the day of Pentecost arrives, the Holy Spirit will fill them with understanding of all that happened to Jesus.
Then their hearts will rejoice, & even as the apostles are martyred for proclaiming the name of Jesus, their joy will not be taken from them.   Have you noticed that you are not always filled with joy?  Sometimes, even many times, we are filled with frustration, discouragement & even anger.   That’s because these specific words of John apply only to the 12 Apostles. 
  It’s part of their role, as described in Ephesians 2, “…you are fellow citizens with the saints & members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.”   You & I are not the foundation of the Christian Church, so we don’t need to feel guilty if we are not constantly filled with joy. 
That was a special blessing given to the men who would found the Christian Church to the point of their own deaths.  “So also you have sorrow now, [that is while Jesus is being crucified] but I will see you again, [that’s after the resurrection] & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.”  (John 16:22 ESV) 
In this life, your heart & mine will not constantly be filled with joy, yet the reason for the joy of the Apostles does apply to each of us.  Jesus is no longer dead, & that He lives is constantly a cause for joy even in our lives.  That cause is often drowned out by the pain & suffering of this sinful world, but the cause still exists.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!   As you let go of your fears & your worries, as you focus on your Lord & Savior, joy will once again begin to seep into your heart & your mind.  It is in the risen Christ Jesus that the peace of God will guard your hearts & your minds.  (Philippians 4:7 ESV)    As Hebrews 12:1-2 says:
“…since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, & sin which clings so closely, & let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder & perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, & is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” 
Jesus also had a joy that could not be taken from Him even through crucifixion.  Letting go of our fears & our worries is to lay aside every weight, & sin which clings so closely.  Then, leaning on the Holy Spirit, you & I are enabled to run with endurance the specific race that God sets before each one of us.  Our races may be different, but the Holy Spirit is the same. 
Ever since Genesis 3, the endurance that the Holy Spirit gives has been a necessary ingredient for living a faithful life amidst the wreckage of this broken world.  The sorrow & grief of the cross cannot be avoided ever since Genesis 3.   Jesus must drink His Father’s cup.  He must leave His disciples.  He must go into death ever since the sin of mankind.    
Yet, Jesus goes willingly, for you & for me, because of the joy of that was set before Him.   What is that joy?   It is your presence in heaven, with your Lord & Savior, for all of eternity.   Jesus was crucified because He loves you.   In the sermon hymn, specifically verse 3, you invited the angels of God to take you home, to heaven! 
Ever since Genesis 3 death has reigned over the world in which you & I still live.   We know that our days are numbered.  Our clock is ticking!  The train whistle is blowing.   We know & have felt  the sorrow of death,  but we also know the message of Easter – that God’s enemies did not win,  & the world will not win,  & that after the final resurrection, we shall live in paradise forever.  The 26th chapter of Isaiah paints a very telling picture:
Like a pregnant woman who writhes & cries out in her pangs  when she is near to giving birth, so were we  because of you, O Lord;  we were pregnant,  we writhed,  but we have given birth to wind…   Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.  You who dwell in the dust, awake & sing for joy!   For your dew is a dew of light, & the earth will give birth to the dead.  (26:17-18a, 19 ESV) 
 
Our efforts, without Christ, lead to nothing but wind.   With Christ, the dead shall live again in eternal splendor.  By the hand of God, though we came from dust, we shall not remain as dust forever.  Though we endure pain & suffering, it will be forgotten once we appear in heaven.  In John, it may be that Jesus is alluding to the words of Isaiah as He says:
“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, & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.”  (John 16:21-22 ESV) 
The point of the text is not that “good” Christians on earth will always be joyful & never be sad.  The point is that we do have sorrow now & it will come to an end one day because we will see Jesus with our own eyes at the final resurrection.  Then, our joy truly will never end. 
We’ll never again need to be satisfied with the comfort that comes from shifting our position to be bruised in a new place.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Lord, let at last Thine angels come, to Abraham’s bosom bear me home, that I may die unfearing; & in its narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep until Thy reappearing.   And then from death awaken me, that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, Thy glorious face, my Savior & my font of grace.   Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend, & I will praise Thee without end.  Amen.  LSB 708:3. 


[1] Washington Irving