A sermon I delivered some years ago at Emmaus Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN. The date was May 16, but of which year I do not remember. Thoughts I shared then ... thoughts I share with you now ...
How are
you? It is question that
we often ask … but just as often do not really want an answer. It is simply a greeting … another way of
saying “Hi!” But seriously … how are you? You need not
answer aloud … but in your heart … in your mind …”How are you?”
In the
familiar hymn, What a Friend We have in Jesus,” the second verse asks: Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?” Very likely we might all nod our heads as a
myriad of present day trials and troubles fill our minds. For many … perhaps for you … there is a deep
longing for peace … an earnest praying for peace.
It may be
that the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan weighs heavily upon your life. It certainly does on the hearts and lives of
many … those in the field of conflict … those waiting at home … those mourning
loved ones who have met death in those distant lands. Yesterday was Armed Forces Day … and we
remember all those serving in the Armed Forces … and the risks they face and
the risks their loved ones face with them.
Day and night, wondering how they are doing … if they are safe … hoping
and praying for the best … but fearing the worst … heart sick to see them
again. Lord, may there be peace in those
lands and ours … may our service men and women be safe … and may there be peace
in our hearts.
Or the trouble may be much closer to home … conflict
within the family. For some it may be
outright physical violence … for others an emotional battlefield …
psychological warfare. A spouse living
in fear … unable to stay, but unable to leave … caught … trapped … and
children … children whose lives and
futures are being threatened at the very core of their being … crippling them
emotionally … disturbing them mentally … scarring them physically. Lord, may there be peace in our home … in our
family … may our parents and children be safe … and may there be peace in our
hearts.
Or the
trials may be within … hidden from all eyes … unknown by most people … even
friends and family. Deep within our
hearts and minds … the struggle might be with fears that grab us and choke us …
but fears that we cannot explain … fears that seem foolish when said out loud …
fears that others might think are silly.
Or the
temptations may be our pet sins … secret sins … sins we hate … but sins we love
… sins we can’t seem to stop … sins like … the judging of other people … the
hating of another person … even wishing that they might suffer harm … the
spreading of rumors and lies … the lustful desires of pornography … stealing …
swiping … taking things … from a mother’s purse … a workplace desk or warehouse
… or a local store shelf.
Or the
trials might be with the one’s past … shame over things done … guilt over
people hurt … anguish over the failures and mistakes and sins one has
committed. The desire to be forgiven …
but the feeling that one is unworthy … that it is too much to expect God to
forgive such things. Lord, may there be
peace in our minds … peace in our emotions … peace in our hearts.
Or the
trouble … the lack of peace may be
anxiety … worry … fear … about how one is going to make it … make it
financially with the loss of a job … make it alone with the loss of a spouse …
make it alone in a new city and new setting and a new job, out of college, away
from family and friends … make it now that one’s parents have divorced and you
feel torn between the two, make it with the diagnosis of terminal illness of
one’s spouse … or oneself.
Perhaps
the temptation in the face of such things is to run away … to escape … to hide
… to pretend it isn’t happening … that’s its not true. The temptation to despair … to stay in bed
and pull the covers over one’s head. The
temptation to become numb with alcohol or
some other drugs.
For the
disciples of Jesus in our text these were troubled times … filled with trials
and temptations. These were confusing
times … scary times … uncertain times.
Several times, Jesus had talked about things they did not like to
hear … he had said … “We are going up to
Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him,
flog him and kill him. On the third day
he will rise again.” Luke then writes …
“The disciples did not understand any of this.”
And now …
here they are in Jerusalem … and Jesus was saying that one of them would betray
him. He also was telling them that he
was going away … that he would be with them only a little while longer … and
that where he was going, they could not come.
For the
disciples of Jesus these are troubled times … Peter was told that before the
rooster crows, he would disown Jesus three times. In fact, Jesus has said that all the
disciples would run away from him.
To his
troubled disciples, Jesus said … and Jesus says … “Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Trust in God, trust also in
me. In my Fathers’ house there are many
rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You
know the place where I am going.”
Jesus knew
well what it was like to experience trouble … to be troubled in heart and mind
and soul … Just a short time ago Jesus had said … The hour has come for the Son
of Man to be glorified. … Now my heart is troubled … and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason that I come
to this hour.
And in the Upper Room,
after washing the disciples' feet … John tells us that Jesus was troubled in
spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray
me.”
Matthew tells us that in
Gethsemane, Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled … and he said … “My soul
is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
And Luke writes: “And being in anguish, he prayed more
earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of
blood falling to the ground.”
Jesus can
relate to our brokeness … our trouble filled lives and our trouble filled world
… He can relate to our anguish and sorrow … to our temptations and struggles …
for he truly was tempted in every point as we are ... yet without sin.
He truly stepped into our shoes and walked
much more than a mile in our shoes.
Carrying all of the destruction and death that sin brings upon mankind
and upon the world … even the eternal destruction of hell … Jesus walks to the
cross … there to be lifted up as Savior of the world … there to stretch out His
arms to show the extent of His love … there Jesus defeats sin and death, Satan
and hell … there he rescues all mankind … and having won the victory by His
suffering and death, He rises victorious on the third day.
In our
text … when all this is on the brink of happening … Jesus says … “All this I
have spoken while still with you. But
the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will
teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid.”
Moments
earlier Jesus had told them … “I will ask my Father, and he will give you
another Counselor to be with you forever … the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it
neither see him nor know him. But you
know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come
to you.”
And in response to the question, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show
yourself to us and not to the world,” Jesus replies … If anyone loves me, he
will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and
make our home with him.”
And a
little later Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may
have peace. In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Whatever
the trials and temptations … even if there is nothing but trouble everywhere …
a nightmare of troubles …Jesus has been through the same thing .. faced the
same troubles … and much, much more … and defeated them in His death and
resurrection.
He didn’t run from the
cross, He didn’t come down from the cross … He went through them … and in them
gained for us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. He may not remove the crosses that loom
before us, He may not take from us the thorns in our flesh … but He is with us
… as is the Father and the Holy Spirit … and He says to you and me in this day
and hour of our troubles … I have told you these things so that you may have
peace. In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
What a
friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God
in prayer.
Oh, what
peace we often forfeit; Oh what needless pain we bear … All because we do not
carry Everything to God in prayer.
