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Sermon

Sermon on John 16, 33b, CEP-Congress, Michelsberg, 18.06.2025

Beloved sisters and brothers in Christ!

Christ says: "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

In the world, you have tribulation, or, as the German translation has it, anxiety. I certainly do. I open the newspaper. What I see there, what I read -- much of it fills me with sorrow. Other things with worry. Still, other shocks me. Or it fills me with anxiety. It paralyzes me. It leaves me perplexed.

I discuss it with my friends. But the perplexity increases. Or with people who hear, see, and feel things differently from me. And the perplexity only grows larger.

Do any of you have answers? Liberating answers? A key, for instance, to solve the war in the Ukraine and in Russia? A key to overcoming the hatred in Israel and Palestine? A key to just relations between people, religions, and economic systems? To more justice for the climate? For universally recognized procedures on Europe's borders in accord with the rule of law? And do any of you have a key to understanding between the Christian confessions -- in the spirit of Jesus Christ?

In the world, you have tribulation. I do, at least, for I don't have any such key. Not at the end of this conference, nor will I at the end of my life of service as a pastor and preacher of the Gospel.

So I close the newspaper. Or rather not. For it also contains things that don't cause me anxiety. On the contrary, they give me joy.

I read about a reforestation program in the Brazilian rainforest led by international volunteers. And of a women's peace initiative in the Sudan. I read of an orchestra in which Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Moslems, and Christians harmoniously make music together. And of a government that collapses because of its merciless migration policy. And I read of the honest discussion about whether a visit by school children to a memorial at a former concentration camp could be a pedagogical measure against forgetting.

Yes, there is good news. Perhaps not on the front page of my newspaper, but it is there.

And such news items make me happy. They give me hope and sometimes even a bit of courage, for I do not want to give up. I absolutely don't want my sorrow, worry, outrage, and anxiety to cause me to freeze up like the proverbial rabbit in front of the snake.

But, beloved sisters and brothers in Christ, that is not all that needs to be said. For as long as we occupy ourselves with the events of this world, whether the fearful or those that give us joy, we remain tied to this world. We act and react within the framework of what surrounds us. We are children of our time. In the luggage of our lives, we carry all that has formed us from childhood. Some of it we're able to shake off. But other things add to it.

It is only in retrospect that we recognize what makes us who we are. The future is hidden from us. Like rowers, we only see what is behind us, never what is in front. People who claim to know the future and to possess the recipe for a desirable future should always be met with the greatest caution. They think and act according to the rules of this world. And they usually act to their own advantage. That is yet another reason to lose courage and have anxiety.

We're no better off than the disciples from whom Jesus takes his leave. They live in unsettled times of deprivation and brutality. In long discourses, Jesus seeks to strengthen them:

"I am going away, but you will not remain alone. You will not see me any more, but I will always comfort you. You can rejoice, because I am going to God -- to my and your heavently father. You have sorrow; but I will see you again. If you remain in me, I will remain in you. If you love one another, I am with you. And when it is time, I will gather you to myself. But first I have to go away to prepare your future dwelling" (after John, Chaps. 13-16).

It is as if Jesus can not part from them. His love for the companions of the years he lived most intensely is too great.

Even Peter, who in Gethsemane draws a sword with the courage of despair and, later that same night, denies Jesus out of fear.

And Jesus loves even Judas. Yes, even Judas, who is so filled with fear that he would rather betray Jesus than allow him to run into his self-chosen destruction.

Yes, it is as if Jesus can not separate himself from them. As if he somehow had to hold together this fearful crew so tied to this world.
"In the world you have tribulation." Jesus knows this. He knows his companions. He knows people. He knows us. In the world, we have sorrow and anxiety. "But be of good cheer," Christ says, be brave. "I have overcome the world."

"I am no longer tied to this world. I am free; I am free to follow the path my heavenly father has laid out for me. For in this, and only in this, I have peace."

This "peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (John 14, 27).

None of that is in my newspaper. As is said, only bad news is good news. But it's in my Bible, the really good news. And I celebrate it in the congregation. And it fills my heart with great comfort and confidence. And it fills me, even yet, with unshakeable hope -- despite the sorrow and anxiety that are also still there, as long as I am tied to the world we see around us.

For in Christ, I have long been -- we have long been -- connected with the new world, where death shall be no more, nor mourning nor crying nor pain any more, but peace. (after Rev 21, 4)

For the moment, we are still underway in a stormy sea, and at times, panic grips us. But in faith, we inch forward with the horizon of hope in view. And in the end, there will be peace, finally peace.

"In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer," says Christ, "I have overcome the world." And we with him.

AMEN

(Colours Of Grace 27- In dir ist Freude)