Asking for Joy
Text: John 16:23-33
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As Jesus was preparing His disciples for His ascension to the right hand of the Father, He wanted them to be certain that they would not be left alone or abandoned. They would have a hard road ahead, and as the God who knows everything, Jesus was very aware of it. His disciples would face persecutions, imprisonments, and beatings. They would be dragged into court and kicked out of cities. Almost all of them would be martyred. They would, in short, have tribulations in the world. He wanted to prepare them. He wanted them to know that in spite of the hardships, their heavenly Father still loved them and would provide for them.
It’s easy to think of hardships, trials, and tribulations as signs of God’s disfavor, disapproval, or even punishment. Our fallen, self-focused, Law-addicted natures think that if we do good things that we’ll receive nothing but good times. If we look shiny enough before God, He’ll reward us with pleasure and riches and fun. And conversely, if we do something bad enough (because we never really think of our sins as being that bad), then we’ll receive bad things, unpleasant times and experiences. And if it feels like more than a slap on the wrist from the heavens, then we imagine that we’ve been abandoned, that we’ve fallen out of favor with God, or that we need to do something to earn a good place before Him again. Ultimately, we think of our relationship with God as transactional. We do this; we receive that. Too often our minds regard Him as little more than a cosmic vending machine. We put in the right coin, the right works, the right behaviors, and we get a treat. If we don’t put in enough, then we don’t get that nice thing we wanted. So when we have tribulation in the world, we fall into the idea that we must have done the wrong thing, put the wrong coin into the vending machine slot. God must have turned away from us and is keeping us at arm’s length.
But Jesus has been through all that ahead of us. He was left alone in His trials in the court of the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod. He was left alone in His tribulation, His suffering and crucifixion. His disciples scattered and abandoned Him. “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come,” He told them beforehand, “when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.” And yet, even then, in that profound mystery that is the Holy Trinity, even when He was more alone than anyone else has ever been, Jesus, the Son of God, was not left alone. “Yet I am not alone,” He reassured them before His tribulations began in earnest, “for the Father is with me.” Even in the greatest tribulation ever suffered, He still had the Father with Him.
And this is what He shares with those who follow Him into tribulation. He gives this unfaltering presence of God in the gift of prayer. “Truly, truly,” He promises, “I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” And then, to make it even clearer that we are in the Father’s good graces, He says, “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
God loves you. This is what makes your joy full. You will at times be tempted to think your tribulations and hardships are a sign of God’s disfavor. Your corrupted fallen nature will want to become joyless and bitter when faced with challenges and trials, lashing out against God and everyone else. The tempter will try to pollute your conscience and tell you that God has forsaken you. But it’s just the fact of the matter that in the world you will have tribulation, as Jesus said this morning. It’s part of living in a fallen world. It’s part of being on Jesus’ side, being found in Him, belonging to Him—you’ll be a target for the world and the evil one to attack. And yes, while it is true that some of the hardships we face come from our own poor judgment, choices, behaviors, and mistakes, that’s just temporal. Those troubles belong to this old fallen order of the world. It does not mean that your heavenly Father has turned away from you. Your God still loves you, forgives you, and makes you whole again. The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Jesus, your Savior, and have believed that He came from God to redeem and rescue you.
Jesus tells you these things so that in Him you may have peace and your joy may be full. Did you catch that in the reading? That’s why God grants your prayer: peace and joy. He gives you what you ask of Him in Jesus’ name, that is, trusting that He’ll give it to you because in Jesus you are perfect in His sight, washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, in the waters of Baptism, in the promise of the Absolution. He grants your prayer so that you will have peace, so that no matter what happens in the world, no matter what comes from the world, your good standing with God is secure in Jesus. He’s holding you in His hand and nothing can snatch you out of it. And that peace gives you joy, knowing that all you need will be given to you by God in Jesus’ name. All you ask will be granted, according to His wisdom.
So go ahead and pray. Ask for it, even if it seems too immense and impossible; even if it seems too small and unimportant. As St. Paul says, “All the promises of God find their ‘Yes’ in [Jesus]. That is why it is through Him we utter our Amen to God for His glory.” Ask it of your heavenly Father. Your God will grant your prayer; maybe now, maybe later, or maybe He has something even greater than what you were asking for, something surprising that will be an even better benefit than you thought to ask. But no matter the timing on His gifts, let it fill you with peace and joy. Your Lord hears you and wants your joy to be full. In the name of Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.
