This is Better
John 16:5-15
May 3, 2026 anno Domini
Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus had stayed?
John 16 takes place in the upper room. Jesus had washed His disciples feet, predicted that Peter would deny Him and Judas would betray Him. He had announced “I am the way, the truth, and the life” and “I am the true vine.” If you want to know the Father you need to know Jesus. If you want to live you need to be connected to Him. Jesus warned the disciples that as the world hated Him so it would hate them. They would be excommunicated from the Synagogue and killed in the name of God. And all of that was true because Jesus was going away.
After all of that, is it not surprising the 12 are silent. They don’t want Him to go away. You weren’t in that upper room, but do you ever think the same thing? Wouldn’t it be better if Jesus hadn’t gone away? Wouldn’t it be easier if He was right here, in the flesh, cheering His Church on, dwelling in the midst of our families, interrupting our funerals like He did Lazarus and the young man at Nain. Healing our diseases and infirmities. It might be easier for us, as it might have been easier for the 12, but it would not have been better than His going away.
Remember, all this takes place the night Jesus is betrayed. This is Thursday before Good Friday. Jesus is going away. First, He will go away in death. Less than 24 hours after Jesus spoke these words, He would be dead and buried. From their perspective would it be better if Judas had not betrayed Him, if the Jews had not arrested Him, if Pilate had not convicted Him, and the Romans had not whipped, mocked, and crucified Him?
Absolutely. But let me ask you this – would it have been better if He had not died on the cross? Not for Him. Not for the twelve. Not for you. The Son of God was sent for this reason – to give His life as a ransom for many. The Son of God came into the world at the command of His Father to love the world in this way – to offer His life as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, to suffer your hell and die your death. Because He was an obedient Son, because He offered Himself for sinners, the Father has exalted Him, raised Him from death, seated Jesus at His right hand, put all things under His feet. On the last day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. And only by going away to the cross does that happen.
If Jesus had not gone away to hell and death on the cross would that have been better for you? Absolutely not. You would still be in your sins. Death would not be a rest for your body on the way to the resurrection, but an open door to the terrors of hell. If Christ had not died for your sins and been raised to life then the best you could ever hope for is what you have right now. And tomorrow you will have less than you do today.
Jesus is also preparing His men for when He goes away in the Ascension – that takes place 40 days after He rose again. We’ll celebrate that at our Circuit Convocation on May 16. Read your bulletin insert (not during the sermon), register at lcmscloud.org, and get to meet the pastors and members of the Saint Cloud Circuit. (That’s today’s Public Service Announcement, now back to our regularly scheduled sermon).
It is to His going away in the ascension, that Jesus specifically speaks when He says, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send Him to you.”
The Helper is the Holy Spirit – the Third Person of the Holy Trinity – who proceeds from the Father and the Son. By going away in death and returning in the resurrection Jesus has changed the course of human history. He has established a new reality, a new Kingdom where even though you die yet you will live forever. Having established that Kingdom, He sends the Helper, the Holy Spirit who makes that Kingdom known, He proclaims this Kingdom to the world. In the words of Jesus, “He will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
Where would you be without the Helper, without the Holy Spirit declaring to you what Jesus has done?
Where would you be if the Spirit did not convict you of your sins?
You would still be in your sins and you wouldn’t even know it. And you might think- well, not knowing about sin might be better. The world certainly seems to be having a good time. No guilt. No shame. No regrets. Sunday mornings free. More money for yourself. Do what you want. You don’t answer to anyone but yourself.
That doesn’t sound so bad, but it’s like walking around with a fatal disease when a certain cure is available. If you don’t know the disease, you’ll never seek the cure. And that’s where the second task of the Holy Spirit comes in.
Where would you be if the Spirit did not convict you of righteousness?
You would have to guess at what God thinks of you. Since you don’t know about sin you would imagine you’re a good person, not perfect but good. Then you would imagine that God is like your average teacher and grades on a curve and in the end you’ll pass to the next grade of life – whatever that is. But since you really don’t know, the best you can do is hope God likes you.
How much better to know that in Christ your sins are not counted against you. The Spirit convicts you of sin that He might convict you of righteousness. Christ’s death on the cross has cancelled the debt you owe to God. Christ Jesus suffered your hell and died your death. Your sins were credited to His account and His life, death, and resurrection are credited to you. You are righteous. You are forgiven. You are alive forever. God looks on you with favor, in love, not based on your wishful thinking, but on the certainty of Christ’s work.
Where would you be if the Spirit did not convict you of judgment?
You would not know the future. Now once again, that sounds better. Even Jesus argued that we shouldn’t be anxious about tomorrow, that today has sufficient trouble. But the very reason Jesus exhorts us not to be anxious is because we know the future. We know how everything will end.
The ruler of this world is judged. That’s Satan, the Devil, that fallen angel who has worked his mischief and evil in your heart and in the world. He’s condemned. This is the judgment. Your sins do not win. Jesus does. Evil does not win the day. Jesus does. Everything is not wrong in the world. You are righteous in God’s eyes and on the last day Jesus will make that known.
Would it be better if Jesus had not gone away? No. Oddly, mysteriously, we have more of Jesus than those 12 in the upper room that Thursday evening recorded in John 16. The Holy Spirit has delivered to us more than what those 12 had then. Jesus has died for our sins and been raised for our justification. Your sins were punished at the cross. Christ rose from the dead and you are declared righteous. The Devil stands condemned. You have what the Holy Spirit delivers – the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. It doesn’t get better than that, until Jesus returns on the last day. Then it will be even better for us – in the name of Jesus. Amen.