Hello,
During these summer months I have been concluding our worship service
with a simple song that I learned as a kid, a song that put the words of John
16:33 to music:
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world.”
I
don’t know that it is any more dangerous a world to live in today than it ever
has been, but I do believe that the modern communications with which we live
make us aware of just how dangerous the world is. We see the violence that takes place around the world and in
our own back yards. We hear the
hatred spewing from places we don’t even know where they are on the globe, and
we hear it spewing from places we know all too well. We are told of cataclysmic changes going on in our
environment that may change our world forever. Economies and trusted institutions, seem to be falling
apart.
We
might remember that when Jesus said these words to his disciples they were living
in a country where the road into the city might be lined, not with palm trees,
but with crucifixions. Roman
soldiers could beat your door down and imprison you for no cause. Famines and droughts were yearly events
causing hoards of children and old folks to die. A scratch could easily be fatal, and the masses found
delight in watching gladiators fight to the death. Positions of power, governmental and religious, were regularly
bought and sold.
If
Jesus could tell the people who first heard these words that they could “be of
good cheer” as they faced their world, surely he would say to us as we face our
world that we can “be of good cheer” as well. And what is the catalyst for the good cheer that can take
hold of our hearts?.....not that the world is a better place….not that we are
more powerful than they….not that we are wiser….but that what Jesus did in that
world still applies to this world.
“I have overcome the world.”
When
Jesus screamed from the cross, “It is finished!”, what was the “it”? Well, the “it” was hatred’s hold on
people’s hearts, sin’s claim on people’s lives, fear’s crushing weight of
suffocation, and the deadly pull of arrogance and pride. All those things drove Jesus to the
cross, they all died on the cross when Jesus died, and when Jesus stepped out
of the Easter tomb they all could be heard crumbling under his feet.
Sure,
they still spit and sputter, sometimes like a powerful flatulent, but their
impact is fleeting. Jesus has
overcome them. The gust of God’s
grace from the cross and the tomb has blown them all away. Over and over again we see how
forgiveness, love and mercy are at work transforming the world in a victory
march that cannot be stopped.
Sometimes you and I might be knocked down by the bullying forces of
evil, but know this, there is a thundering noise of feet trampling towards
us. Not the feet of elephants to
trample us, but the feet of an army of the beloved of God to lift you back up
on your feet, surround you with his love and mercy, and walk side by side with
you into this dangerous world in which we live.
And
when that happens there will be an explosion of God’s grace that will erupt in
your life, transforming you into one who can “be of good cheer.”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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