Parting is such sweet sorrow. Those words come from Shakespeare s play, Romeo and

Transcription

1 1 Parting is such sweet sorrow. Those words come from Shakespeare s play, Romeo and Juliet. Even a fictional love story knows that good byes are painful. But only in Christ is a goodbye sweet sorrow. Sweet because of the hope we ve been given. The Counselor has Come. Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, Where are you going? Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, in love. For if he hadn t said this, they wouldn t have understood why he was leaving. They would have thought, Jesus doesn t care about us. Was he just pretending to be our Friend, our Lord for these three years? Why is he leaving us? Our human relationships sometimes end in disappointment and feelings of betrayal. If you ve experienced that with a person, I m sorry you must endure that pain but please know that Jesus our Lord is not like that. He explains to the disciples, he explains to us why he left the world. Christ s leaving was not a matter of rejection or abandonment. It was a matter of preparation. He has left in order to prepare everything so that we will be with him forever. But the disciples didn t want to hear about Jesus leaving. We do this kind of thing too. When there s a painful subject, you try to avoid it and not talk about it. But Jesus departure is too important a truth to ignore. Jesus said: Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. The disciples sadness was that they had spent so much time with Jesus, but then he was leaving them. The saddest thing for us is that we have never seen Jesus face to face. But through his departure, we have gained a helper. As Jesus said. 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. What we have gained is a

2 2 Counselor, the Holy Spirit. The is the vital work that the Holy Spirit does. He counsels. Our every encounter with the Bible is a counselling session. A tough guy or a tough girl might think, I ve got it together, I don t need counselling. Yes, you do. If nowhere else, you need counselling from the Holy Spirit by hearing the Word of God. We all do. For as Jesus said. It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. We are all sick in that we have suffered food poisoning from Adam and Eve s bite. The food poisoning of sin has poisoned our entire being. But even so, we are blessed, through Christ s return to heaven. For the Counsellor has come. He came at Pentecost. He comes to us today by Word and Sacrament. Jesus explains what the Holy Spirit will continue to do. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: This is a difficult statement from Jesus. First of all, why would a Counselor convict? We think of human counsellors as being gentle supporters. You have problems, anxieties that you pour out to your counselor, who then reassures you and coaches you toward healthier thinking. But the divine Counselor seems to have more of a harsh approach. He convicts. Not only that, how will the Holy Spirit convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment? Those three truths seem difficult to put together but thankfully Jesus has explained each truth to us. So let s consider what our Counselor is doing. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; We take for granted just how wicked this world is because we re in it, we re immersed in it, but what a dangerous, what a dark world we live in, where the truths of the Bible are almost never mentioned. Watch TV, turn on the radio, go to a picnic, go anywhere,

3 3 and the truth you almost never hear, is the truth about sin. This is also the case in many churches. I m sure many of you have been to funerals in other denominations where in the funeral sermon, the minister talks about the loving deeds of the person in their life. It s mentioned how you ll get to see them again in heaven, and Jesus is mentioned but sin is not mentioned. But have we escaped the corrupting influence of the world? We see how worldly other churches are. We see how wicked the world is. Instead of being brought low in repentance, at times we re raised up in pride to think. Hey, we are WELS Lutherans. We re true Christians; we talk about sin. We talk about sin, but do we take to heart the reality of our sinfulness? Should we not be humbled, instead of raised up in wicked pride? We are sinners as much as anyone in the world. And all praise to the Counselor for convicting us. For remember who is nailing us to the wall. It is God the Holy Spirit. He is our Counselor, and he doesn t just nail us to the wall. He points us to Jesus, who was nailed to the cross for us, for our forgiveness and our release. Yes, many people in the world do not believe that they are sinners or that Jesus is Lord, and for their unbelief these people will be eternally damned. But our blessed Counselor gets all the credit and all the praise. For he has taught us the two vital truths of life. We are sinners who deserve death. But Jesus is the Savior, who has given us life, as a free gift, life forever. Jesus gave himself for us, his body and blood in death. And in his return to life and his return to heaven, he has given us a Counselor. The Holy Spirit calls us by faith to turn from our sins and turn to Jesus. In the words of Jesus, the Counselor will convict the world, in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer. How does the Holy Spirit convict the world in regard to righteousness? To be righteous is to be right, perfect, holy. God is righteous and only the righteous may dwell with him. We

4 4 mentioned how goodbyes are painful. Well, two thousand years ago, on the mountain in Galilee, the world had to say good bye to the only righteous human who ever lived. Jesus rose up into the sky, and disappeared behind a cloud. Good bye, O righteous one. The unbelieving world has rejected this righteousness. Their wretched problem is that they must now find another righteousness. Good luck on that. There is no other righteousness. There is only Christ. He has declared us righteous, through our baptism, by faith. Yes, the Counselor has come and has told us the good news in Galatians 3. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Our dear Jesus is righteous and he has gone back to heaven. Goodbyes are painful. We know Jesus is with us but we long to see him. Look into the sky with the rippling white clouds, and it gives you a small taste of Jesus glory. Psalm 19 says, The heavens declare the glory of God. We long to see Christ s majesty like the disciples got to see at his transfiguration. We cry with the Psalmist in Psalm 42. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night while men say to me all day long, Where is your God? Good byes are sad but the Counselor has come. And the Holy Spirit reminds us that Jesus has gone to the Father. In that way, our relationship with Jesus is kind of like seeing a loved one go off to war. But our situation is so much sweeter. For when a loved one goes off to war, you re afraid that they will die, which would separate you. But for us Christians, death is no worry. In fact, death is the only thing that separates us from our Lord. When death comes,

5 5 we will be with him. Either our own death or the death of this world will bring us to Jesus feet, his glorious presence forever. This Lord, our Lord, tells us one more way that the Holy Spirit keeps us safe. Also, in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. We are so outnumbered by unbelievers in this world, with their unbelieving social views and their attitudes that are not guided by the Bible. But it strengthens us to know what the Counselor tells us here. The prince of this world now stands condemned. In the end, people will follow their leader. The world will follow the devil to hell, but we along with all of Jesus people from every nation will follow Jesus to heaven. For we have already been judged. We ve been declared not guilty, through Jesus who bore our guilt on the tree. It saddens us that we cannot see Jesus right now. But the Counselor has come. He will continue to guide us into all truth. And we will be with Jesus in the end. Amen. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.