Fifth Sunday After Easter – May 15, 2022
Fifth Sunday After Easter – May 15, 2022
John 16:12-22 “What does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about” (Jn. 16:18).
Confusion dominates among Jesus’ disciples. His words confuse them. We are likewise confused, even though we have the luxury of hindsight. Jesus knows the disciples in front of him had confusion; he also knows that his disciples of the future would likewise be confused. His solution? He makes a promise. He makes it in the form of an oath, “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” (Jn. 16:20). Jesus gives those disciples then, and consequently us now, his word. It doesn’t necessarily clear up our confusion… It doesn’t necessarily relieve us of our sorrow… but it does necessarily provide reassurance because Jesus does not lie. The confusion… the sorrow… will not last forever. We may well go to our graves not seeing the end of it. But it will end. We will have joy. We will have joy without sorrow… joy without confusion. You have Jesus’ word on it.
Prayers from a confused and sorrowful sinner for all my eyes behold contradicts Jesus’ promise…
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, please grant to me such assurance that I hold to the truth of Jesus’ Word and not believe my lying eyes. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, grant that I am not discouraged as the world rejoices around me as it continues to celebrate the silencing of Jesus Christ. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, I plead with you to forgive my failings… failings of despair… failings of faithlessness… failings of looking to my hands and their works… forgive them Father and hold me fast in your unfailing steadfastness. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, your Son has come to be my life… the life of my mortal flesh… grant that he so use my mortality that it would be of some use to my neighbors in providing them with their daily bread for their life in this world. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, as your Son is my life and using my mortality to provide those neighbors with daily bread for this life, grant as well that my lips would proclaim the sweetness of your Son so that my neighbors would receive the daily bread of Christ’s provision for the life to come. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, you have established the Institute of Lutheran Theology and brought it through various trials and temptations. Grant that it, too, may know the joy your Son has promised. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, during these days, the days of my baptism, see to it that I am returned daily to the promises of my baptism through dying to sin, repentance, and being raised up to walk in newness life, Christ as my life. For the sake of the truth itself, hear me.
Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, I commend all these things to you for you have promised to hear us when we pray to you, and you do not lie. Amen