After three years of living with Jesus, hearing His teaching and seeing His miracles, they still didn’t quite get it. They thought Jesus would set up a worldly kingdom where they would reign with Him and return the glory of Israel. They didn’t imagine Jesus’ plan was to die a sacrificial death on a cross for the sin of the world. Their thinking did not allow them to see the truth even if Jesus had told them everything. Jesus gave His disciples the model of the cross, and a lesson in patience, so they would learn the best was yet to come.
Jesus could see the coming fulfillment, but the disciples could not, and that is why they asked, “What is this He says to us?” They were frustrated because they did not see what He saw the way He saw it. Jesus knew He could not give them all of the graphic details of what was going to happen shortly, so He presents them with something they were familiar with, an image they could understand, a woman giving birth.
Unlike our system today, women gave birth in the home, coached and encouraged by other women who had been through the process. It was a family event which resulted in sorrow through the delivery, and joy in new birth. So with this image, the disciples understood sorrow and joy. It is difficult and frustrating for us men to watch you women go through labor and delivery, we are unable to make any real difference.
Our daughter had her first baby a little over a year ago. She was one of those who did not deal well with pain or discomfort. In fact, she had said that she was not ever going to have children for fear of the pain of delivery. About her seventh month, the reality of what was happening hit her. Being pregnant was no longer the cool thing it had been. The clock was ticking and there was a day or two filled with unavoidable pain in her immediate future.
We were able to get up there about a week after her son was born. Needing to know how well she did, I asked her how it was and how she felt. She said, “Yeah, it hurt a lot, but it doesn’t any more.” About six months ago she even said she can’t wait for the next one. For Nancy and our daughter, it didn’t take very long for them to forget about the anguish of labor and delivery. The joy of seeing a newborn child was such a blessing, it overshadowed everything else. Oh, they remember they had pain, but the sharpness of it faded quickly away.
Jesus was teaching His disciples the pattern of life in Him, the pattern of the cross. There would be pain and sorrow, but it would not last, and afterwards they would have joy without end because the best was yet to come. He told them this so they would not fall away from their faith. Jesus knew it would be hard for them so He gave them assurance of relief and the capacity for patience to suffer through the pain. Soon it would all become very clear for them.
God’s Holy Word is a blessing which gives us hope for the good things to come. The Church has handed down Holy Scripture to strengthen and encourage believing Christians throughout the ages. Look at the words of Isaiah for today, verse 26, “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name,…not one is missing.” This is none other than the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep, and they know Him. He is the One who seeks the lost and will bring them all into one flock.
Jesus says the world rejoices in our suffering, but it will not last. This is an important point for us to remember as we struggle with bearing our crosses of living through pain and anguish. The world would have every single baptized believer in Christ hanging on a cross. But instead of killing you quickly, it does it a little bit at a time. A child may be crushed when told, “In a little while.” We, too, are sometimes crushed when we cannot see the end, or are feeling the hatred of the world on our backs.
In those dark times look to Jesus’ words, “but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice,” for strength to keep going. Again Isaiah says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.” Also he says, “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength.” In all of our weakness and failures, He renews your strength each week in His Word, and through the bread and wine which are His true body and blood, He is truly present to sustain you
in your time of sorrow and lament.
But in sorrow it is difficult to see anything or feel anything other than myself and my agony. I naturally turn inward, to focus on my pain, my suffering, and my loss. When I change the focus to me, myself, and I, I cannot see anything else. The world wants me to believe it is all about me because as St. John says, the world does not know me because it does not know Christ. The fallen world does not know the Christ, because it could not. Hatred cannot abide love, nor can it understand it. Focusing on ourselves, we are unable to see that the best is yet to come.
Baptized Children of God, the Father loves you because of what Christ has done for you. You are a child of God because He has adopted you as His own. Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross so that you might “rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”(Rom. 5:2-5) Jesus is the Glory of God and proven character who does not disappoint. He pours His love out on you in your baptism. He has purified you and you will be as He is, because He promises that you will see Him as He is.
When Christ rose from the dead, the disciples had great joy. That joy sustained them through the rest of their earthly lives because they were finally able to see the end. Seeing Jesus die on a cross, and three days later speak with the living, resurrected Christ, gave them strength to keep going, and it gives us strength to keep going also. Because our time here on earth is but a little while, the glorious resurrection of our Lord is the sign and guarantee that the best is yet to come.
Amen.
