MAY 31, 2009  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father Almighty, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, AMEN. The text for our meditation today is a portion the Gospel Lesson for this Pentecost Sunday, John 16:6-7. There we read these words:

(John 16:6-7) Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

In the name of Jesus AMEN.

Many times in the last few years, we have witnessed terrible, shocking events in our nation in which schools and students attending those schools were subjected to horrible, unspeakable tragedy. In the days following such incidents, the news reports always told us that "grief counselors" had been brought in to help the affected students learn to cope with the tragedies.

In today's Gospel Reading, Jesus and his disciples were facing a terrible, shocking, unspeakable tragedy. The disciples desperately needed a grief counselor, and Jesus promised to send them one.

They were gathered for the Passover meal in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. But a dark cloud hung over what should have been a festive occasion. For this would be the LAST Supper of Jesus and his disciples. Within the next 24 hours, Jesus' disciples would witness and experience so many horrible things:

His BETRAYAL by one of their own;
His ARREST at the hands of their own people;
His DENIAL by the leader of the disciples;
His DESERTION by all the other disciples;
His CONDEMNATION by the chief priests and ruling council;
His TORTURE, and brutal EXECUTION by crucifixion;
His DEATH upon the cross, and His BURIAL.

Months before, Jesus had told the disciples plainly, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

The previous week he had warned them again: "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."

And now, this very night, he finally told them ominously: "Everything that is written about me is coming to fulfillment."

"Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief." As they gathered for the Last Supper, Jesus' disciples were filled not with joy but with grief, sorrow, sadness.

I wonder, dear friends. As you gather here this morning, are there times, perhaps today, when YOU, for one reason or another, are also filled not with joy but with grief, sorrow, sadness.

The disciples were grieving that night for many reasons. First of all, the man who was not only their Lord and Master but also their dearest friend had just told them he was going to suffer and die. Perhaps, like the disciples that night, you too are grieving today because of the loss of a loved one.

"Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief."

Jesus' disciples were also grieving that night because all their hopes and dreams and plans were coming crashing down around them. It wasn't supposed to happen this way! Jesus was supposed to be welcomed into the city as the great Messiah. By now, he was supposed to be seated on the throne in Pontius Pilate's palace.

Instead, he would soon be standing before Pilate's throne, on trial for his life. Even though Jesus explained to his disciples that all this was really according to God's plan, as foretold in the Scriptures, they were grieving that night because things weren't turning out the way they thought they should.

Have there been, are there times in your lives when you think you have it all figured out, when things are going the way you think things should go, but then suddenly things change and all comes crashing down around you? Like the disciples, are you grieving today because things aren't working out the way you expected, because your hopes and dreams and plans seem to be falling a part round you?

"Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."

Are you, like Jesus' disciples that night, are you filled with grief, with fear, with a sense of trembling, in your lives. Is there something in your life right now that has you tied up in knots, afraid of what even tomorrow can bring?

Dear friends, just as Jesus promised to the disciples, he also sends to you "God's Grief Counselor," the Holy Spirit, to comfort you, and give you joy and peace, even in the midst of your grief. "I will send him to you," Jesus promised.

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Word of God, as Jesus promised that night: "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."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Word of God, assuring you that God completely forgives you all your sins on account of Jesus's life, death and resurrection: "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not counting men's sins against them"; "We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all"; "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins"; "And the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Word of God, assuring you that God is on your side: "If God is for us, who can be against us? . . . And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Word of God, assuring you of God's never-failing love for you: "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid"; "I have loved you," says the Lord, "with an everlasting love"; "Surely I am with you always."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Word of God as you mourn the death of loved ones, assuring you of the hope of eternal life and reunion in heaven: "We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. . . And so we shall be forever with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

"God's Grief Counselor" also comes to you in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Paul says: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Peter says in today's reading from Acts, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, assuring you that you are "born again" as a child of God: "When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, assuring your that all your sins are washed away: "Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins."

"God's Grief Counselor" also comes to you in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, which Jesus instituted for the comfort and strengthening of the disciples on that night when they were "filled with grief": "Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you . . . Drink of it, all of you; this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

"God's Grief Counselor" comes to you in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, assuring you that your Savior gave his body and shed his blood for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? . . . For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

"God's Grief Counselor" also comes to you in Absolution, forgiveness of sins declared in Jesus' name by your Pastor, as Jesus promised: "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven them."

Finally, "God's Grief Counselor" also comes to you through your brothers and sisters in Christ, through their kindness and compassion, help and comfort. As Paul says: "Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

And God actually wants to work through YOU to be his grief counselor in the flesh for others who are hurting. As Paul says: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God"; "Therefore comfort each other and build one another up, as in fact you are already doing"; "Be kind and compassionate to one another."

"Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief."

As they gathered for the Last Supper, Jesus' disciples were grieving for many reasons.

They were grieving because their dearest friend had just told them he is going to suffer and die.

They were grieving because all their hopes and dreams and plans were coming crashing down around them.

In the same way as you gather here for the Lord's Supper, there are many of you today who, for one reason or another, are grieving.

"But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."

Just as Jesus promised the disciples, he also sends to you "God's Grief Counselor," the Holy Spirit, so that He might comfort you, and give you joy and peace, even in the midst of your grief.

Dear friends in Christ, because God has sent His "Grief Counselor" into your life, in spite of all that you face in your day to day living, you can say with joy and confidence,

Christ Is Risen!

Amen.