HOME Mission History Worship Sermons Photos Contacts Directions Links

You Face Persecution.  But Take Courage.

John 16:16-33

 April 27, 2003

¹⁶“A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. ²¹When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. ²²So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³On that day you will ask nothing of me.^£ Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.^{£ 24}Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Peace for the Disciples

²⁵“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. ²⁶On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.^{£ 28}I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! ³⁰Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³²The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. ³³I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

This interaction between Jesus and his disciples occurs before the events of Holy Week.  Before Jesus' triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, before his clashes with the ruling powers there, before his arrest and public trials and before his crucifixion, death and resurrection.  It all occurs before Easter. 

Yet Jesus' words in these conversations with his disciples describe the current period in their lives, the period after Easter.  If we turned to the sixth and seventh chapters of the book of Acts, we would find there a description of the demise of the first Christian martyr, Stephen.  Jesus knew that he would suffer and die and be resurrected.  He also knew that his followers, his disciples, his friends would also suffer. 

"In the world you face persecution," he said to them.

On April 24, 1915, the leaders, the politicians, the teachers, the poets, the pastors, the prominent businessmen of the Armenian community in Constantinople, Turkey were arrested by Turkish Authorities, never to be heard from again.  Simultaneously and immediately following, similar actions were being taken in villages all over Western Anatolia.  By August of 1915, hundreds of Thousands of ordinary Armenians were taken from their homes, herded from their villages, cities and towns, to be killed in the barren wastelands and deserts.  Meanwhile, their orchards, homes, businesses were left untouched so they might be occupied and owned by the very Turks and sometimes Kurds that had been their neighbors.

"In the world you face persecution."  says Jesus.  "But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

Yet martyrs are a phenomenon of the past aren’t they?  Nobody is killed for what they believe now are they?

Here's an excerpt from an article that ran on the front page of the Boston Globe exactly four years ago, almost to the day.

She walked into Columbine High School on Tuesday morning, a promising student. She was carried out more than 24 hours later a Christian martyr.

"Do you believe in God," one of the heavily armed gunmen asked the shy blond girl reading her Bible in the library while her school was under siege.

"Yes, I believe in God," she replied in a voice strong enough to be heard by classmates cowering under nearby tables and desks.

The gunman in the long black trench coat laughed.  "Why?" he asked mockingly.  Then he raised his gun and shot and killed the 17-year-old Cassie Bernall.[1]

Persecution, martyrdom, destruction, hatred, violence.  These are not new to our world.  Unfortunately, neither are they ancient and archaic concepts and ideas which are no longer seen in our times.

In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” said Jesus, who certainly was no stranger to such suffering and persecution.

How could Jesus say he had defeated such a world?  The world is the same since it began, "There is nothing new under the sun," we read, in Ecclesiastes of the Old Testament.[2]  Yes, Jesus himself was resurrected from death, but that hasn't destroyed death altogether.  What about all those who suffer?

"In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” Yes, Jesus was resurrected from death, and he has given us the Way through death to life.  This is what we celebrate at Easter.  This is the message of the empty cross and the empty tomb.  We are given a new way, a new power and a new opportunity for life eternal through Christ.  When the faithful die, whether martyred or not, we have a promised and an assurance to a new life eternal.

"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," we are taught by the Apostle Paul.[3]  But there is more.  Jesus also gives us a roadmap for how to face the hatred and violence that brings on the martyrdom, the persecution and suffering in the first place.  A way to defeat violence here in this world.

As a way to defeat evil and to "conquer the world" as he himself has, Jesus teaches, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"[4] and also "bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."[5]

The Apostle Paul interprets such teachings like this, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." [6]

Jesus' disciples, the martyrs of 1915 and even Cassie Bernall, didn't have an opportunity to do anything about the violence that destroyed them.  It was too late for them.  They were unable to overcome the evil in the moment that it overcame them.  Yet perhaps they had opportunities along the course of their lives which led up to that point to contribute to creating a world devoid of violence, hatred, vengeance and evil. 

The week before Cassie Bernall was killed, she wrote:[7]

In this poem that her younger brother found among her things, she clearly confesses that she had devoted her life to Christ.  She had opportunities to teach and be a proponent of this Way that Jesus showed, that the Apostle Paul also taught.

I wonder what it would have been like, if she had thought to do that for one of those two boys who ultimately were her executioners, in the weeks before their hateful acts.  Loners, outcasts, ostracized and marginalized by their culture and their classmates, they found plenty of room and ample energy to allow their self-hatred and world-hatred to fester and grow.  What could the tenderness and hopefulness of loving relationships have done for either of these two young lost boys?

In the very same article in the Globe that described Cassie Bernall's death, we are told that she and friends from her church were involved in multiple inner-city ministries of peacemaking and caring.  "At Cassie's funeral..several pews [were] filled with members of Victory Outreach, an inner city storefront church in one of Denver's roughest neighborhoods."  It continues, "Cassie and her friends shared dinner every few weeks with the prostitutes and drug addicts who make up that congregation." 

Clearly, from this example we see that such peacemaking, caring ministry is not only needed in places like the Middle East and Africa, in Armenia or other war torn countries abroad, or only in the inner cities of this country, but in the suburbs, in the homes of the middle-class, the wealthy, with those who have opportunity as well as the poor, the underprivileged and the obviously abused.

Hatred, suffering, evil and violence can take root and grow like cancer in any place where people live.

To this truth Jesus answers, ^"I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” and the Apostle Paul says " Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

We have opportunities for choosing how we will live.  We will face all manner of difficulties in our lives.  Most likely, we will not face the ultimatums that the disciples, the Martyrs of 1915 and Cassie Bernall have faced.  But we are faced with the ultimatum of how to act, in the face of such hatred in the world.

Can we help build peace?  Can we help overcome evil with good?  What is our contribution to the struggling world around us?

On this Sunday when we remember the Armenian Martyrs of 1915, when we remember Jesus' warnings and words to his disciples who suffered, let us remember also and celebrate that the season of Easter is not just a momentary event.  Easter is a season that extends all the way to Pentecost and extends even further and is celebrated each and every Sunday of the year marking Jesus' victories over the sin and evil of this world.  Let us always celebrate Easter and work toward our own triumphs, victories and salvation from the evil of this world.

Amen