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This Week's Sermon THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 27 April 2008 "Greater and More Comfort" John 14:15-21 LSB Series A Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

The time is Holy Thursday, the night on which our Lord was betrayed. The Evangelist John gives us an extended record of the things Jesus said to his disciples that night in the upper room. He spoke of his death, resurrection, and ultimate glorification. He also spoke in great detail about what life would be like for the disciples after he was glorified, that is, ascended to the right hand of the Father. This Thursday evening, 01 May, at 7:00 PM, we will celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord with the Divine Service. Of course, you are not only invited, you are expected to mark this important occasion with your presence.

The Ascension of Jesus would change things for the disciples. Jesus spoke plainly that he would withdraw his physical presence from them. This caused them great sadness because they did not see that Jesus was opening up new vistas for them and for the world. And so, Jesus comforts them with his words and with his promise to send the Holy Spirit to them, this Holy Spirit also known as the Helper or the Comforter. He is also known by the Greek title, the Paraclete.

The disciples thought that Jesus' going away would be a bad thing for to them, but Jesus assures them that just the opposite is true. He promises that he will be with them forever, but in a different, better way. In fact, this different and better way benefits Christians wherever they are in the world. Jesus promised that he will compensate his disciples richly for the loss of his physical presence. He will send the Comforter who will continue to bring the presence of Christ to them no matter where they are. This Holy Spirit, true God with the Father and the Son, is a Person. The Father and the Son together send him to be with and in Christians. He is wiser and more learned than anyone in the world. He will bring abundant comfort, strength, courage, and wisdom to Christians.

Loneliness is one of the worst feelings that any human being can have. Friends come and friends go. Those who pledged their undying love as spouses also come and go. Children are sometimes forsaken by their parents and vice-versa. Those who have lost loved ones know the feeling of loneliness. There remains a hole that just cannot be filled. We adjust as best we can, but the loneliness of losing a husband or wife is one of the most difficult situations of life. And we worry that, should we live long enough, we will die alone.

But our Lord Jesus promises here, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Of all the lonely situations of life, none compares with being an orphan, a child bereft of his parents and family. To be a child in such a situation means that one must depend upon others to supply every need of life, and while others may do a good job, it simply isn't the same as having your own parents. In his book American Caesar, the biography of General Douglas MacArthur, William Manchester describes the life and feeling of thousands of American troops who got trapped on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines during World War II. Cut off from all supply routes and from reinforcements, these troops felt utterly abandoned. From their perspective they were abandoned, forgotten. They described themselves as "The Battling Bastards of Bataan." They even composed a ditty that became very famous. It expressed their feelings of abandonment. Listen to their mournful, lonely cry:

We're the battling bastards of Bataan:
No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam,
No aunts, no uncles, no nephews, no nieces,
No rifles, no planes, or artillery pieces,
And nobody gives a damn.

Following their eventual rescue, many of these soldiers continued to battle feelings of abandonment by their government, suffering emotional illnesses for the rest of their lives.

Our Lord Jesus has promised that he will not leave you as orphans, but that he would come to you. How does this happen? Through God the Holy Spirit! Jesus knows how hard the Christian life is. For these disciples life was going to get much more difficult, just as Jesus would tell them. The world would hate them, persecute them, and inflict all kinds of harm on them. Not only that, but they would be constantly attacked by the devil and his legions of demons who would try to pry them away from Christ. Even more, their own hearts and consciences would remind them of their weaknesses and sins. In short, these unholy three-the devil, the world, and the flesh-would try to separate them forever from Christ.

So Jesus says that since he is about to depart from them and no longer be with them visibly, he would not leave them as orphans. He would not abandon them as other human beings do. So that we get to be with him forever in eternal life, he has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us forever. And God the Holy Spirit brings "Greater and More Comfort" than one would get by Christ's physical presence.

What is the comfort of which Jesus speaks? It is, first of all, the comfort of knowing that God is not angry with you. God is not angry with you! Unbelievers have every right to think that, but not Christians! And yet, we do, don't we? When things seem to go wrong in our lives we are quick to think that God has abandoned us. Where is God when I get a serious illness or face the loss of a job or things go badly for me? We tend to question whether or not God has become angry with us. God is not angry with you! How can you be sure? Christ has taken your place under God's righteous anger and absorbed it all in his own body-once-for all-for you. The Apostle Paul reminds you:

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

So it is that our Lord Jesus Christ prays to the Father to send you the Holy Spirit to comfort your heart in this matter. And you can be sure that his prayer has been heard! God's purpose is not to scare you half to death or cause you to worry about your salvation. He sends his Holy Spirit, his Paraclete, his Comforter, to reassure you that Christ has opened heaven for you by means of his suffering and death. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of comfort, not of anger. Look at God's friendly smile in Christ. Luther writes:

Why is this? "You already have hangmen and jailers enough who terrify and harass you," Christ wants to say, "simply because you believe in Me, proclaim and profess Me. The devil will not desist from frightening and plaguing you. The world will also take a hand in this, seize you by the throat, and assassinate the one and exile another. You will have devils enough even without all the devils and the torments of hell! In addition, you will have your own heart and your conscience, which will lie prostrate and groan: 'Alas, I am a poor sinner, and I did not live and act as becomes a Christian!' These I will not give you, nor will I pray for them. On the contrary, I will pray that an eternal Comforter, who is to be the Holy Spirit Himself, may be granted to you against all this, to strengthen and aid you in all your sadness, fear, and need, so that you may overcome this and be delivered from it.¹

So, our Lord Jesus Christ sends an eternal Comforter, his Holy Spirit, who is God himself, to be with you and to help you in all your sadness, fear, and need, so that you may overcome all this and be delivered from it. You don't have to be afraid of the devil and all his angels, by your own thoughts or by your anxiety about your relationship to God. You are to know and believe that all God's anger and all hell are extinguished in Christ. Luther further advises:

Therefore let your heart be of good cheer. Despise boldly everything that assails you, and say: "I will remain undaunted even if the devil and all the world were far worse than they are."²

You will find the Holy Spirit's comfort distributed to you right here in the Divine Service. Here he brings Christ himself to you, especially in the Blessed Sacrament of his body and blood. Here the Holy Spirit distributes Christ's body and blood-his Real Presence!-as the pledges or guarantee of your forgiveness, and if you have forgiveness of sins, Luther teaches in the Small Catechism, you also have life and salvation [SC, Lord's Supper, part 2].

What the Holy Spirit does for you he does for the whole Christian Church on earth, keeping it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith [SC, Third Article]. Through the Word and Sacraments the Church was brought into existence; through Word and Sacraments the Church is preserved.

Where do you find Christ and his comfort? You find him where his Word and Sacraments are, and where his Word and Sacraments are there is also the Holy Spirit, this Comforter who brings you comfort now and forever. Dear friends, you are not alone. Our God, the Holy Trinity, is ever Immanuel, God with us, especially in the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. That is our Lord's prayer for you, and it has been fulfilled and is even now being fulfilled in your hearing and receiving.

¹Martin Luther, vol. 24, Luther's Works, Vol. 24 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 14-16, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works, 24:111 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1961).
²Martin Luther, vol. 24, Luther's Works, Vol. 24 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 14-16, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works, 24:112 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1961).