John 16:16-28. Sorrow Turns to Joy

Can you imagine how the disciples felt as they saw Jesus hanging on that cross? Devastation, nausea, and depression would have all been mixed together. They were tired. They had heard Jesus talk with them through the night. They had then left the upper room to walk to the Garden of Gethsemane on Mount Olivet. It is understandable that they fell asleep whilst Jesus prayed. Peter had then denied his association with Jesus before witnessing the crucifixion. Guilt and failure would have been part of that awful experience. Where could they go now? Would they, Jesus’ followers, be next to face the authorities’ wrath. No wonder they hid together in the locked upper room.

But then imagine the excitement and hope when Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome found the empty tomb and were told by an angel that Jesus had risen from the dead. Matthew records,

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell the disciples.” Matthew 28:8

The Greek original has the word ‘mega’ associated with the word ‘joy’. They then met the risen Jesus who reassured them but gave them a task,

“Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers . . .” Matthew 28:10

Imagine the mixture of puzzlement, joy and hope that the disciples experienced as they heard this news. Peter and John ran immediately to the sepulchre and saw the burial wraps lying on the stone as if Jesus had just passed up through them. After this Jesus met two followers as they walked the seven miles to the village of Emmaus. They didn’t recognise him as, during the journey, they were reminded by Jesus of the Old Testament Scriptures that gave great detail about the coming of the Messiah. Only when they ate together did they recognise who he was. They rushed back to tell the disciples the news. What would the disciples feel now? Finally Jesus appeared to most of the disciples in the locked upper room and said to them all,

“Peace be with you!” John 20:19

Can you not feel the ecstatic joy they now experienced? Could this be true? The Lord had transformed their misery to joy. This is precisely what the Lord has prophesied would happen when they were in the upper room.

“I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” John 16:20

The Old Testament prophets also foresaw the day when the Messiah would suffer horribly and be killed,

“He was despised and also rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” Isaiah 53:3

Yet his misery would be transformed to mega-joy both for himself and his followers.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

This is surely a parable of what God wants all of us to experience. Sorrow and emptiness is transformed into hope and joy because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

R.A. Torrey

R.A.Torrey was a great Bible teacher in the USA, becoming the pastor at Moody Church in Chicago and then founder of the Moody Bible Institute in Los Angeles. His daughter, Elizabeth, developed diphtheria when she was twelve years old, and when they thought she was recovering she suddenly died. This was heart-breaking for the Torrey family. As she had diphtheria, she had to be buried the following day. The night she died there was a horrendous thunderstorm with howling winds and torrential rain which continued throughout the following day. Gloom was both physical and emotional. His wife turned to her husband to encourage him and said,

“Archie, I’m so glad Elizabeth is with the Lord and not in that box!”

In spite of their faith, their hearts were broken.

However the following day R.A.Torrey was walking down a Chicago street and, as he turned a corner, he thought about the emptiness that lay ahead for the family. He cried out audibly,

“Oh Elizabeth, Elizabeth!”

He recounted what happened next,

“Just then, this fountain, the Holy Spirit that I had in my heart, broke forth with such power as I think I have never experienced before and it was the most joyful moment I have ever known in my life. Oh how wonderful is the joy of the Holy Ghost. It is an unspeakable joyous thing to have your joy not in things about you, not even in your most dearly beloved friends, but to have within a fountain even springing up, springing up, always springing up. Springing up under all circumstances unto everlasting life.”

That was a notable moment when the Holy Spirit visited him in a very special way – giving mega-comfort in the midst of sorrow. He still had pain whenever he thought of his daughter but the Holy Spirit comforted him. Now R.A.Torrey has died and gone to be with his Lord and we know that there ‘every tear will be wiped away’ (Revelation 7:17).

Jesus

Jesus, in the upper room explains how his disciples sadness will be turned to joy . Jesus goes on to illustrate what he means. It is not through the abolition of sorrowful experiences, it is by capping these with a greater joyful experience.

“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” John 16:21

This analogy is striking as Jesus is preparing his disciples to go out into the world to bear fruit. Having a physical child is thrilling but so also is having spiritual children. This does indeed fill God’s people with great joy that overcomes the other difficulties we will face. Being fruitful for Christ is surely a reference to the first command God gave to man,

“Be fruitful and increase in number.” Genesis 1:28

The joy of giving birth and having a child overcomes the pain of the delivery. Leading others to come to know Christ is thrilling. Sorrow is transformed to joy.

This happened to the disciples on resurrection day. This can be our experience today. The sorrows of life can be pregnant with great joy for those who are living closely with the Lord Jesus. Leave him out of the picture and our peace and joy will quickly vanish.

The Bible gives many examples of people who found this joy when they walked with God. Moses had to flee from Egypt in fear for his life because he had murdered someone and spent the next 40 years as an exile in the land of Midian. Then he met and obeyed God, he returned to Egypt and led the Children of Israel out of captivity and through the desert for another 40 years. Although he experienced many difficulties, God was with him as a real friend.

“The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” Exodus 33:11

Abraham obeyed God although he experienced real sorrow because he had no child. But this turned to great Joy when Sarah gave birth to Isaac in her old age. Isaac means ‘laughter’.

All our present difficulties have the potential for joy. Our joy will only be complete when we join our Lord in heaven but before then we can and should have this experience of deep joy. Think of the difficulties all people face today. Illness, death, redundancy, financial problems, marriage and relationship problems. These can remove our joy and fill us with despair. The disciples shared these experiences throughout their lives but they also had a deeper joy that trumped their sorrows. Jesus said to them,

“Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no-one will take away your joy.” John 16:22

Paul, who suffered much, was able to write,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transforms all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Joy is mentioned nine times in the book of Philippians. Remember how Paul was flogged and imprisoned unjustly in Philippi, yet out of that experience came the new life and the church in that city.

Prayer

How could Jesus talk like this when he knew he was about to be flogged, crucified and killed within a few hours? It was surely because he knew he was where his heavenly Father wanted him to be. He was obedient and living closely with his Father. He now talks about prayer in relation to experiencing this joy. When our close walk with God is broken by sin, we inevitably stop praying for his will to be fulfilled and we will lose this basis for our joy.

“In that day you will no longer ask me for 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.” John 16:23-24

It will no longer be possible for the disciples to ask Jesus for anything once he has returned to his Father, but they and we still have an open channel with God. We can pray directly with the Father so long as we ask ‘in his name’.

This has been badly misunderstood by many. Some think that so long as you tag Jesus’ name at the end of a prayer you will receive whatever you want. This has been used to pursue material gains on the basis that having a Lamborghini, a luxury yacht or holiday home brings ‘joy that is complete’. But material possessions do not give a long lasting joy. This way of thinking is the basis for the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ which is both fraudulent, unscriptural and no gospel at all! Such a ‘carte blanche’ Jesus does not exist.

To ‘ask in Jesus’ name’ has specific implications.

1. ‘In his name’ means we don’t come in our own name.

To ask ‘in the name of Jesus’ implies that we have recognised how unworthy we are to approach God. We can never come directly to the most holy, almighty God because we are, in some way, worthy of his listening to us. We can only approach God because we are ‘in Jesus’. We can come to God because he and he alone is worthy. The opening of the Sermon on the Mount is the only way we can approach God.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

It is because we are in Jesus that we have access to the Father, and for no other reason.

2. ‘In his name’ means corresponding with His character and objectives

Oswald Saunders, the General director of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in the 1950s and 1960s, said,

“‘In His name’ means in His nature, that is according to the nature of Jesus”

Prayer is never getting God to do what we want, but it is our submission to God to do what he wants. The idea of prayer is not to get answers from God but an expression of a perfect and complete oneness with God. When we are full of the Holy Spirit our prayers become God’s prayers. Paul wrote,

“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:26-27

3. ‘In his name’ means ‘in submission to Jesus’

To pray in Jesus’ name mpliess recognising that Jesus is the creator God who has entered this world to save us. We are saying that we are dependent of Jesus’ death on that cross for our salvation. We are saying that we are aligned with him in his thinking. He was willing to die, doing what God wanted, because he recognised the glory that was his in the next real life. We are saying that we recognise that real joy is a gift of God, given to those who are living for him. Without submission to the will of Christ there can be no real peace and no real joy.

Jesus said that when we ask in his name,

“Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:24

Who is Jesus?

As usual, Jesus keeps returning to this subject, which is the central theme of the gospels. This week, I was talking with a fellow passenger on a train and he questioned why churches don’t join with other religious groups and emphasise what they have in common - which is good moral behaviour. I tried to explain that the Christian message is all about Jesus, who he is and what he has done for us. The power to live as God wants comes to those who have been put right with God through faith in Jesus. To be committed to Jesus is to be associated with God the Father himself.

“ . . . the Father loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” John 16:27-28

This is the basis for our confidence and deep-seated joy.

At last the disciples grasp who Jesus is and that, what he is saying, has God’s full authority behind it. They reply to Jesus,

“Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” John 16:29-30

What could make Jesus happier than to know that his disciples, who have been with him through thick and thin for three years, have at last grasped who he is and what he has come to do. He responds triumphantly,

“You believe at last!” John 16:31

This was always the purpose of Jesus. It became the purpose of the apostles and it remains the purpose of Christ’s church today– that people should learn about Jesus and come to believe in him. John summarised the purpose of this book by saying,

“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31

The apostles realised that a commitment to Jesus is vital if we are to be given eternal life. The decision about Jesus has eternal consequences for us all. John wrote earlier,

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36

This raises the question, ‘Do we really believe what we say we believe?’ ‘Do we really believe Jesus transforms sorrow into joy?’ ‘Do we really believe that as we pray about our service to him that he will fill us with his joy?’ ‘Do we really believe God loves us?’ If we really do believe the words of Jesus, then nothing, no illness, employment, financial or family issues can take away our deep joy.

Jesus himself was shortly to be deserted by his disciples. This is a reminder that being Godly can result in problems for us. Jesus warned his disciples that belief in him would not result in any easy life. This is taught again and again throughout the Bible. Paul wrote,

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Timothy 3:12

If we are finding that being a Christian is easy then something is amiss. Living for Christ and speaking up for him will inevitably result in opposition. Jesus continued,

“But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. In this world you will have trouble.” John 16:32

Encouragement

Jesus finishes this section with some very encouraging words,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

In spite of all the opposition and at times, loneliness, we can experience a real peace and joy, whatever life throws at us. We now belong to God and are members of his close family.

BVP