The Strange Song of Scripture
John 16:5-15
April 28, 2024 anno Domini
In Psalm 137 the exiles in Babylon lament, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” It’s a great question to ask on Cantate Sunday – Sing Sunday, since you are living in a foreign land, a land that speaks a different language than God’s Word, that worships a god of death instead of the living God, a land whose every song is about me when the Church’s song is about He, Jesus of Nazareth. By the way, can you think of anything better to do on Cantate Sunday than sing a 10 stanza hymn by Martin Luther?
The Church’s song is not only foreign to the world it is also foreign to our ears. Our ears are plugged with the lies of the Devil. We would write our own song about the way life should go, but God’s Word alone composes the song that ends on the high note of life and the resurrection. It’s an odd song, but you would do well to hear it and sing it.
Consider the strange refrain of today’s Gospel. Jesus says, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” How could it be good for Jesus to leave His disciples? Ask a widow if she gained anything but sorrow and loneliness when her loving husband died. Ask a child whose mother died of cancer at a young age. Was there any advantage? How could the disciples believe it was good for Jesus to go away?
These words from John 16 are part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to the disciples. He is in the upper room on the night He is betrayed. With these Words He is loving His disciples perfectly, to the end. He knows them (and you) better than you know yourself. He loves them (and you) more than you love yourself.
It is to your advantage that I go away. Jesus must go away in death. He must go to the cross. If He doesn’t go away, then there’s nothing to sing about. If He doesn’t go to the cross then you are still in your sins and you cannot please God. Then life is getting whatever pleasure you can until you also lose all those pleasures. Then comes death and after death eternal suffering. Or if you don’t believe in God or His judgment, your end is nothingness. Even the best Country singer would have a hard time making a ballad out of that.
If Jesus doesn’t go away nothing on earth ever changes. Today is as good as it gets because tomorrow will be worse. If Jesus doesn’t die for your sins, there is no reason to forgive your husband or wife. If Jesus doesn’t love you to death there’s no reason to sacrifice for your children or your parents or your needy neighbor. If Jesus does not go away and return in the resurrection, then He isn’t the truth and God is a liar. There are no commandments. There is no defined morality. You can define marriage however you want. You were not created male or female. There’s no reason to have children. If you think the world is bad now after 2000 years of Christ’s Church, you cannot imagine what it would be like without Christ going away in death. All the good in the world is because of Christ. That there is love, sacrifice, mercy, families, food, government, order, freedom, is because the Father sent His Son and the Son returned to the Father.
Jesus went away in death, and it is to your advantage. Jesus also went away in the Ascension, returning to His Father, and again it is to your advantage. This is the strange song that Scripture teaches — when Jesus goes away you get more of Him than you had before. How is that possible? Because when He goes to the Father the Holy Spirit comes.
Remember how the disciples didn’t want to let Jesus go. They didn’t want Him to go away in death because that seemed foolish. After He rose again Mary Magdalene hugged Him and Jesus had to tell her to let go. The Disciples on the Road to Emmaus begged Jesus to stay with them. Thomas was not content with the Word he wanted to lay hold of Jesus physically.
Oddly you might believe the same. Wouldn’t it be great to have Jesus walking around us in the flesh? He could reverse my macular degeneration and cure my Parkinson’s. He could undo my husband’s dementia and make my granddaughter hear. If my only son died Jesus could raise him to life again like He did the widow’s son. If Jesus was here and did these things maybe my children would believe and go to church.
But we forget what Abraham said to the Rich Man, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:31)
This too is where Christianity sings a different tune. The world says, “If I could see Jesus I would believe in God.” Throughout Scripture God says, “Believe my Word. I will do what I promise.” God did and does much that you can see, but faith comes by hearing the Word alone. That’s why it is better that Jesus who physically died and bodily rose again goes away, because then the Helper, the Holy Spirit can come through the preaching of God’s Word to bring you even more of Jesus.
Martin Luther wrote 10 stanzas in our hymn of the day. The Holy Spirit only needs 3 stanzas. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Stanza 1 sings of sin, because the world does not believe. Christianity is not a religion of works. You don’t to hell because you are bad and heaven because you are good. Christianity is a religion of faith in Someone else’s work. Every other religion is about what you do or don’t do. Christianity is about what Christ does for you. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, you are forgiven. It might matter on earth if you murdered someone or just coveted your neighbor’s car. In heaven both are damnable sins, and both are fully forgiven by Christ’s death.
Stanza 2 sings of righteousness because Jesus has gone to the Father. Christianity is not about what you have. It is about what Christ has and what He by His Holy Spirit delivers to you. Jesus Christ is righteous. He lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and rose again. By doing that He made right what was wrong with you and the world. His death took care of sin. When you hear and believe that sweet song of the Holy Spirit you are declared righteous before God. In the world the greatest are those who own the most. In the Kingdom of heaven, the greatest are those who bring nothing of their own, and borrow the entirety of Christ’s righteousness.
Stanza 3 sings of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. There is a limit to God’s forgiveness – it’s called the judgment. The world isn’t going to last forever, and neither are you. A day is coming. You don’t know when, but God’s mercy and patience will come to an end. You will appear before the judgment seat of God. God has already judged evil. It happened at the cross. The forgiveness won there took care of sin and knocked out every tooth of the Devil. He might be able to gum you to death, but he cannot hold those who are forgiven. You will rise and live with God forever. If you don’t believe in Jesus, then the Devil’s fangs grow back, and he has you for all eternity. Tormenting you with your sins and unbelief.
This is the strange song we sing as exiles in this broken world. To the world our song sounds like a fifth grader playing the clarinet for the first time. The Spirit’s song is a horrible noise because it isn’t about them. The world sings of Biden or Trump, of saving the planet or curing cancer, of equity for all and success for everyone. We are not silent about those things, but we sing a different tune. Our hope is not in something yet to come. Our hope is in the One who came and went away first in death and then to His Father in heaven. He did that for our advantage that we might know our sins, receive His righteousness, and be on the right side of His judgment. In the name of Jesus. Amen.