In a Little While
John 16:16-24
April 25, 2021 anno Domini
A little while. There’s no such thing as a little while when you are in the while. Tell a 5 year old that she can open her presents in a little while. Tell your wife in the 7th hour of labor – it’s just a little while, honey. Tell the disciples as they await Jesus’ return from the grave – it will be a little while.
Why doesn’t a little while ever feel like a little while? Anxiety. Pain. Fear. Suffering. The text is from John 16. In John 19 Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, convicted, and crucified. The disciples became increasingly anxious at each step. How could Judas betray him? How could the courts convict when He was declared innocent? How could the sentence be death by crucifixion? All of them ran. Some of them hid. Some of them watched Jesus die. Then came the fear – the fear of getting what Jesus got. If they crucify your God isn’t it likely they will crucify you?
(Read 16a) That is the worst part of the little while for the disciples. Jesus’ body was lying in Joseph’s tomb, sealed behind a stone, guarded by Roman soldiers. He was gone. They didn’t have Jesus anymore. They only had His Word. (Read 16b) His Word was more than your word or my word. His Word changed water into wine, healed the sick, cast out demons, and just recently raised Lazarus from the dead, but when you’re in the little while of anxiety, fear, and despair it’s hard to remember all that. It’s hard to believe all that.
This is where you are right now – you are in the little while before Jesus’ return. There’s anxiety because you haven’t seen Him for a little while. He’s been gone for a couple thousand years. You have His Word. He told you He is coming back, but it doesn’t look like He’s anywhere nearby. It looks and feels like Jesus is further away from us every day.
Jesus made it clear to His men what the little while would be like – the world will rejoice. And isn’t the world rejoicing? They are rejoicing in calling good evil and evil good. They are rejoicing in the destruction of the family, the division of our country, pitting you against your neighbor. You weep and lament, but you should not be surprised. The world rejoiced when Jesus of Nazareth was dead. The Jewish leaders were back in control. The Devil was victorious. Death had beaten another supposed hero. Pilate was relieved that the whole Jesus affair was over.
You can relate to the disciple’s little while because of your little while. You’re tempted with the same doubts – God is dead or maybe there is no god. Where does that leave you? If God is dead evil wins. If there is no God then you weren’t created male or female – you can identify yourself as any gender or species you desire. If God is dead then don’t get married, don’t have children, don’t love your neighbor. Love yourself and live for yourself because tomorrow you die. If God is dead rejoice when you can gossip about someone’s misfortune or stupidity. Embrace division and hatred because that is the world’s religion. If there is no God lust after and pursue any woman you want. Demand that the government make all people equal in wealth and status – because if there is no God your only hope is the government and those in power. What could the disciples hope for from the Jews? The same thing you can hope for from the government as Christians – persecution.
Read 20b-21. If all a woman knew was the pain of childbirth she would never give birth, but she knows pain is not the end. The end is life, new life, a child, the ultimate good that God gives to a woman for this little while – to be a mother. It is only a little while after the birth of that first child that a woman will begin to desire a second child. Why? Because the pain was only for a little while and she “no longer remembers the anguish.”
You have sorrow now for the same reason the disciples had sorrow on Easter weekend. It looks like evil is winning the day. It looks like the world is coming apart at the seams. It looks like your God has failed. But evil did not win. The world did not fly apart at the seams. God has not failed. After a little while the disciples saw Jesus again. Their hearts rejoiced and nothing could take their joy away – not even death.
After His little while in the tomb Jesus returned. What the world could not see the disciples saw. In Christ Jesus, God worked His salvation. Jesus died for their sins – their anxiety, fear, denial, and doubt. God worked not in glory and power, but in suffering and death. It looked like He surrendered, but His love was stronger than His enemies hate. It looked like He lost, but He won. It looked like death was forever, but it isn’t. It looked like He was another false human hero, but to this day everyone knows the name of Jesus and on the last day every knee will bow and tongue confess Jesus is Lord. It felt like the disciples were finished, but the Church is still standing today, it will remain for all eternity.
If Christ rose from the dead (and He did) then He will return again. If the disciples could forget the little while of His death, then you will forget this little while of weeping and lament. If His resurrection awakened faith and courage and joy in the hearts of the disciples (and it did – to the point where they gladly died for their faith), then you cannot fathom the joy ahead of you when Christ returns. You won’t remember your sins or the sins against you. You won’t remember your suffering. Your anger over evil’s victories will be vindicated when the good of God wins the day forever.
A little while – that is all that God is asking you to endure, because you know how it ends, just as the pregnant woman knows the end – a new life and the enduring joy that overcomes the pain. In a little while Christ will return. Do not be afraid. Do not despair. Your sins are forgiven. The evil in you did not win. Christ won forgiveness. Death is not your end. The life and the resurrection are. Don’t go along with the world. They’re following their father below – the father of lies and death. Stand up. Confess the truth. Live by faith that this is just a little while. Don’t go more than a little while – six days to be precise without hearing Jesus, receiving Jesus in His body and blood, and being in the presence of the Risen Lord. I wouldn’t recommend telling a woman in labor “it’s just a little while” but as your shepherd under Christ I am commanded to tell you, “It’s just a little while until Jesus returns.” And then your sorrow will turn to joy and your joy will not be taken away. In the name of Jesus. Amen.