Deo Gloria
May 25, 2025
Sermon
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 16:16-24
Theme: The Joy of Easter Never Ends!
- Because we will see our Savior again
- Because we can ask the Father for anything
It was 9 years ago already, back in 2016. The Chicago Cubs finally did it. After a 108 year drought, the Cubs finally won the world series. And the people of Chicago went bananas. They were shooting off fireworks like it was the 4th of July; only it was 1:00 in the morning. They had fan parties and block parties. They had a ticker tap parade in downtown Chicago. But nobody is celebrating that victory anymore, are they? The joy and the celebration have all but faded away.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of our high school graduation. We’re planning a class reunion in July that will be held in New Ulm. I can remember being pretty excited when we graduated from high school. I remember there were lots of parties and family get-togethers. And yes, it will be good to get together with former classmates this summer, some of whom I haven’t seen since graduation. But I don’t think we’ll be celebrating quite like we did 45 years ago. The joy and celebration of that special event have pretty much faded away too.
The same is true of last year’s summer Olympics. The same is true of your 16th birthday. The same is true of this year’s Super Bowl. As time goes along, the joy and celebration of those special events quickly fades away; but not the joy of Easter. Yes, I realize the season of Easter is almost over. We only have one more Sunday left in this seven week celebration. So yes, the season of Easter is coming to an end. But the joy of Easter really never comes to an end. And in these verses from John ch. 16 Jesus helps us understand why: first, because we will see our Savior again; and second, because we can ask the Father for anything.
It was Maundy Thursday. Jesus was in the Upper Room with his disciples. He had some difficult things to tell them that night. Among those difficult things was that he would soon be leaving them and they would not be able to see him. He was referring, of course, to his suffering, death and burial, which would begin in just a few short hours with his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. As Jesus mentioned, this would be a difficult time for his disciples, a time of grief and mourning and pain. You see, the disciples didn’t understand. They should have because Jesus had told them, but they didn’t understand that Jesus would have to suffer and die to carry out his work as their Savior. So when they saw those awful things happen to Jesus, when they saw that he was beaten and mocked and ridiculed, when they saw that he was condemned by the Sanhedrin and by Pilate, when they saw that he was nailed to a cross and put to death on skull hill, when they took his lifeless body down from the cross and laid it in a tomb, they were absolutely devastated. They were heart-broken. How could this happen to Jesus? How could this happen to the Messiah, the promised Savior? They did grieve and mourn and weep.
But their grief would be short-lived because in a little while they would see him again. In this case Jesus was referring to his resurrection. After three days he would rise from the dead and they would see him again. He would appear to them and he would talk to them and help them understand that this was all part of the plan. And their grief would be turned to joy. The fact that Jesus, their Lord and Savior, was alive again; the fact that he took on sin and Satan and death and won; the fact that their sins had all been paid for, that death had lost its sting, and the gates of heaven were now open for them and for all would fill them with a joy like none other, a deep joy, a lasting joy, a joy that no one and nothing could ever take away. The joy of Easter would never end for the disciples.
It won’t for us either. You see how Jesus’ words apply to us, right? Now is our time of sorrow. Now is our time of grief and mourning and pain, the time when we do not see Jesus. Of course, we know where he is and we know what he is doing. He’s in the Father’s house and he’s preparing a place for us, a place where we can live with him forever. But we’re not there yet. We’re still here. And we often experience pain and trouble and heartache and sorrow here. In the epistle lesson a couple of Sundays ago from Revelation ch. 7, we heard this life referred to as “the great tribulation.”(v. 14) I wish those words weren’t so accurate, but they are. This life often is a great tribulation, filled with trial and trouble and sadness as we struggle with sickness and pain and problems and frustration and heartache and loss and sin and death. But one day we will see Jesus again—on the Last Day when he returns in all his glory. And when he does, all the sin and sickness and sorrow and pain will all be taken away forever. Even death will be taken away—never to darken our lives again. And our hearts will be filled joy, overwhelming joy. And no one and nothing will ever be able to take our joy away. Are you looking forward to that day like I am?
But it isn’t just a future joy. It’s a joy we have already now because Jesus, our Lord and Savior, lives. O yes, Satan would like to dampen our joy and sap our joy and squash our joy with things like sin and sickness and sadness and death; but he can’t. He can’t take away our joy. Because Jesus our Savior lives, we know our sin and guilt have been taken away and we stand forgiven in the eyes of God. Praise the Lord! Because Jesus our Savior lives, we know he is with us even when we struggle with sickness or suffering or pain. He is always with us. We have his promise on that. And we know that even in those things he is working for our good. Praise the Lord! And because Jesus our Savior lives, we have comfort and peace and joy even when death darkens our lives. Oh sure, we still grieve and mourn, but not like the rest of people who have no hope. We do have hope, real and living hope. We know we will see our Christian family members and friends again one day in heaven. And when death comes knocking on our door, we have the peace and comfort of knowing that when we close our eyes for the very last time, the next time we open them we’ll see Jesus’ face in all his glory. The joy of Easter never ends for us either. Sin cannot take it away. Sickness cannot take it away. Trials and troubles cannot take it away. Even death cannot take it away. And one day—when we see our Savior Jesus again, all those things will be a thing of the past. And all that will be left is Jesus and joy for the rest of forever. The joy of Easter never ends!
A second reason that the joy of Easter never ends Jesus mentions in the last two verses:
In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.(vv. 23+24)
Those words are too familiar to us. They don’t hit us the way they should. They certainly don’t hit us the way they hit those first disciples. Up until now if the disciples needed anything, they would just ask Jesus and he would take care of it. No problem. I mean, was there anything he could not do? But Jesus wasn’t going to be with them very much longer, so he encourages them to ask the Father. From now on they didn’t need to ask him anymore. Just ask the Father. He’ll give you whatever you ask in my name.
And Jesus says the same to you and me. Certainly we can bring our requests to Jesus. And he is more the happy to listen to us, more than happy to answer; but we don’t need to. We too can go directly to God the Father himself with the confidence and assurance that he will hear and answer us.
Is that not amazing? I mean has your boss ever made an offer like that to you? Has he told you that you can give him a call, anytime night or day, with anything that’s on your heart and mind, and he will be more than happy to listen to you and do whatever he can to help? Or let’s take a world leader like Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping or even President Trump. Could you give one of them a call, anytime night or day, with anything that’s on your heart and mind, and he would be more than happy to listen and help you in any way he can? The thing is we’re not talking here about your boss or even some worldly leader. We’re talking about the leader of the universe, the king of heaven and earth. You can go to him in prayer anytime, day or night, about anything, and he promises he will hear you and answer you and help you.
And what’s even more amazing is that it’s a privilege you and I do not deserve. We don’t deserve to have this kind of connection, this kind of close and personal relationship with the God of heaven and earth. If anything, we deserve a cold shoulder from God. If anything, we deserve to be excluded, shut out, ignored, banished from him and his love and his presence for the rest of forever because of our sins. But because Jesus went to the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins, because he rose again from the dead proving that our sins have all been paid for—every single one—and because through the waters of Holy Baptism, God has washed our sins away and adopted us into his family as his dearly loved children, this is the kind of close, personal relationship you and I do enjoy with the God of heaven. He is our dear Father and we are his dear children. And this is the awesome privilege we enjoy: We can bring our requests to him. We can bring our sorrows to him. We can bring our heartaches and our troubles and our struggles—anytime, night or day. And he promises to listen. And he promises to answer. And he promises to help. What an awesome privilege! And what an awesome joy, especially when we see him answer our requests—be they big or be they small!
This past week I had my two year checkup with my cancer doctor. He said everything still looks good. I’m cancer free and good to go. Praise God! As I sat in the doctor’s office, I couldn’t help but think back a couple of years when I had my surgery. I remember how I prayed about that surgery and how many of you prayed about that surgery. And it was so cool to see how God blessed my surgery and how he blessed my recovery and how he continues to bless my recovery—all in answer to our prayers. What a joy! What a blessing!
Another thing I prayed about in the past year was our parking lot project last summer. I thought that was big deal for our congregation, especially trying to raise $130,000 in such a short amount of time. I wasn’t so sure we could do it. But I took it to our heavenly Father in prayer and I know many of you did too. And people here at church responded with generous gifts and we raised the money. And now we have this beautiful, new driveway at the front of our church. What a joy! What a blessing!
Now I have to admit that I wish God answered all my prayers in such amazing ways. I mean, I know he does answer all of my prayers. It’s just not always the way I hoped he would. And to be perfectly honest that’s probably my fault because sometimes I pray kind of selfishly and not always that his will be done. But every time he does answer my prayers, it spurs me on and makes me want to bring even more requests to him. And it fills me with joy as well, knowing that I have such a loving and gracious heavenly Father. It’s another reason that for you and for me, the joy of Easter never ends.
Athletic championships come and go. High school graduations come and go—as do the parties and the celebrations and the festive, family gatherings. But that’s one thing that’s different about the joy we have in Jesus our risen Savior. The joy of Easter never ends! Amen.