You can handle not seeing Jesus, for a little while

Sermon for Easter 3

1 Peter 2:11-20  +  John 16:16-23

“A little while, and you will not see me. And again, a little while, and you will see me, because I am going to the Father.” That saying of Jesus confused His disciples greatly at the time, but it would all begin to make sense within just a few days. He spoke those words on Maundy Thursday evening, before they arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane, and sure enough, in a little while, in just a couple of hours, He would be arrested and they would flee from Him. Within less than 24 hours, they would see Him crucified, dead, and buried, and then they wouldn’t see Him at all until the evening of Easter Sunday. They were sorrowful and sad for that little while, and the world rejoiced that they didn’t have to see Jesus anymore. But then all the disciples’ sorrow was washed away in a moment when they saw Jesus again, alive.

But is that what He was talking about? It was surely part of it. But His saying, because I am going to the Father, indicates a different little while of not seeing Him. Jesus told Mary Magdalene after His resurrection that He had not yet ascended to the Father. When He did, His disciples wouldn’t see Him “for a little while”—until their earthly lives ended, just a little while from God’s perspective, when it’s eternity on the other side. But because Jesus would die and rise again and go to the Father to reign over all things for the good of His Church, they would see Him again, in glory, “soon.”

That’s fine for the disciples. But what about us? Do these words have any meaning for us who have never seen Jesus, even for a little while, and who won’t see Him until our earthly life comes to an end? Of course they do! Because the promise is for all who believe in Him. As He prayed in the next chapter of John’s Gospel, Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am. And because that’s true, you can handle not seeing Jesus, for a little while.

That first little while of not seeing Jesus was literally a little while for the disciples, then literally a little while before they saw Him again. It would be nice if it were literally just a little while before we could see Jesus. But then, think about the reason why the disciples didn’t see Jesus. They didn’t see Him, because He was literally dead. Crucified, dead, and buried. Be thankful you’ve never known a time, not even a little while, when Jesus was literally dead. Since the moment you were born, the One who gave His life for you on the cross has been alive, the whole time. Alive and ruling over all things. There has never been even a little while in your life when the Lord of life was lying dead in a tomb.

You never had to experience that little while of not seeing Jesus, the little while when He was literally dead. But you may have experienced a little while in your life when you thought He was dead, when you didn’t believe in the living Lord Jesus. Even on that first Easter, between the morning when Jesus rose from the dead and the evening when He appeared to His disciples, He wasn’t dead any longer, but they were still sorrowful, because they still thought He was dead.

If you had to deal with your own sins and bad behavior and self-absorption, you would be sorrowful, too. You’ve messed up, in God’s sight. You’ve been messing up on the inside since the moment you were born, and it quickly moved to the outside. You know that your flesh, your old man, still doubts God, still doesn’t want to be under His rule, still focuses on serving himself. To live with the holy God, you have to be holy like God, not just a “good person” or a “decent person,” but a holy person. And you aren’t that. Without an advocate, with a mediator to make your case before God, you have no hope, only sorrow.

There was a time in your life, even if you were too little to remember it, when you were in that position, without an advocate before God, without a mediator. But then you learned that God has, in fact, provided a mediator for every sinner. You learned that the Mediator was crucified for your sins, and you learned that He was raised from the dead, that you can rely on Him to make your case before God, based on His own record of goodness and holiness. And so you began to use the living Christ as your Mediator before God. You began to trust in Him as your Redeemer from sin. And the sorrow that came with guilt, the sorrow that came with despair was replaced with joy. You didn’t see Jesus for a little while, before you heard and believed the Gospel. But when you heard it and believed it, every time you hear it and believe it, sorrow gives way to joy in the living Christ.

Still, we don’t see Jesus now, and we won’t see Him until the day of our death, or until the day He comes again. And that’s hard. It gets harder by the day, because we have entered an age in which so-called science rules all, and the vast majority of people around us don’t even bother with religion anymore. It’s easier than you might think for Christians to be affected by that mindset of “seeing is believing,” especially when what we see is a world that hates Jesus (even without seeing Him) and that hates Christians, and that hatred is becoming more and more open as people move closer and closer to their G/god.

For unbelievers, that means moving closer to the devil, the father of lies, the first hater to ever exist. He rules by deception, fear, chaos, mockery, timidity, anger, selfishness, and lawlessness. He wants people to lie, to deceive, and to hate other people, and he rewards people with a twisted kind of joy in showing hatred. You can see that if you watch the behavior of unbelievers. As Jesus told His disciples, Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. The world rejoices that Jesus is gone, that the Christian religion seems to be dying out, that they don’t have to talk about God anymore, that they can do whatever delights them, whatever pleases them, without cost and without consequence.

But Christians during this time also draw closer and closer to our God. We take refuge more and more in the risen Lord Jesus and find joy and peace in knowing that, even though we can’t see Him now, we will see Him soon, in a little while, when He comes to rescue us from this evil world. And even the reason we don’t see Him now gives us comfort: we don’t see Him now because he’s ruling as King at the right hand of God. He rules by truth, boldness, peace, kindness, courage, wisdom, justice, and love. And even though we don’t see those things flourishing in the world, we pray that they may flourish in us and among us, even as we believe in the One who rules by those things. And when we trust in Him and when we strive to live like Him, we win. We overcome the world and its master, the devil, through faith in the Lord whom we don’t see now, but will see in a little while.

Peter has some advice for Christians while we wait to see Jesus. As the world pursues fleshly lusts more and more, Peter says, abstain from fleshly lusts. As the world behaves badly, Peter says, behave well among the Gentiles, so that, when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation. Notice, Peter doesn’t expect unbelievers to praise God for the good works of Christians during this life. Now they will speak against you as evildoers. But on the day of visitation, when Jesus returns, they will have to begrudgingly acknowledge before God that His people did good, not evil.

Of course, that means, as Peter also points out, that we need to be especially careful not to do evil, but to do good. Don’t give people another reason to hate God, because the people of God behave so badly, behave just like the children of the devil. Even if unbelievers stoke the fires of hatred and violence, don’t behave as the devil’s children do, with rage and anger and gnashing of teeth, but as God’s children who know that, as Peter said, it is commendable if a person, for the sake of conscience toward God, endures grief when suffering wrongfully.

You can handle all this, because none of this will last more than a little while (relatively speaking). Then we will see Jesus again, and the world’s dreams of becoming their own god will vanish in an instant, and we will have all eternity to live in total peace and safety, and in the presence of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, seeing Him with our own eyes. You have sorrow now, Jesus says. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. Remember that Jesus rose from the dead. Remember that He reigns on His throne. Remember that He’s coming again, that you may be with Him where He is. And when you remember, rejoice! Amen.