07 Apr Recap | Easter 2015 | Take Heart

This past weekend we as a church celebrated Easter, a holiday that celebrates Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. Resurrection Sunday is the most significant day in our Christian faith. It’s a day that marks the destruction of both death and the curse of sin. But this hope and promise doesn’t mean that our lives will be perfect and easy. As Christians we will encounter hardships and trials, but we can have peace if we choose to believe in Him and what He has done for us.

In John 16:29-33 this is what Jesus tells His disciples as He gives His farewell sermon before His crucifixion that was to take place the following day. The disciples have no idea what is about to happen, yet they make an arrogant statement {v. 29} implying they have everything figured out. They allude to the idea that they no longer need Jesus to help them understand.

While this may seem like a crazy statement for His disciples to make, how often are we guilty of doing the same thing? At one time or another, we’ve all thought we had everything figured out. We no longer needed or wanted God’s help but instead relied solely on ourselves and our own abilities.

But just like His disciples, when we think and feel this way our confidence is poorly placed in ourselves. In reality, we desperately need God and His guidance and direction on a daily basis. Apart from Him, we cannot do anything. Our trust and confidence should rest in Jesus alone and not in ourselves.

Jesus responds to His disciples by giving them a glimpse into their future. A future they thought they had figured out, but one they indeed know nothing about. He also provides them with a possibility, a certainty, and a command.

Jesus starts by saying it’s possible, that through Him, we may have peace {v. 33}. The disciples were trying to find peace and stability through what they thought they had figured out. Just like them, we don’t like the idea that we are insufficient or incomplete in and of ourselves. But true peace, peace that overcomes all the brokenness of the world, that is unshakeable and brings about a sense of wholeness and soundness, can only be found when we enter into relationship with Him. The possibility of peace in this world can only take place when we receive Jesus as He offers Himself.

Jesus then goes on to declare the certainty that in this world we will have trouble {v. 33}. Accepting Christ as our Savior doesn’t automatically mean we are exempt from heartache and trouble. We live in a world that is spoiled and broken, that no longer recognizes Him. This world rejects Him. Living as Christians in this broken world means we will in fact experience suffering and trials, just as the disciples would experience soon after Jesus’ death and what Jesus was forewarning. The disciples would soon encounter profound suffering primarily because they were followers of Jesus. But we can take comfort that when we encounter trouble, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us or that God’s plan isn’t good for us. When we encounter difficulty, God is with us.

Finally, at the end of verse 33, Jesus gives His disciples a command. He tells them, “take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Jesus offers this comfort and encouragement because of the difficult future ahead of them. It is a comfort for us today because life is difficult, and following Him can be hard. Even before His death that would occur the following day, Jesus had confidence in where He was going and what would be done. The curse of sin and death would soon be destroyed. That’s the same confidence we should have. Though we will experience hardships, we have a firm hope and promise of eternal life with the Father and a lasting peace because of our relationship with Him.

This world and everything that is precious to us in this world is passing away. We can never find peace in this world and the things of this world apart from Jesus. For the disciples and us, the question we have to ask ourselves is not whether we will have trouble in this world, but whether we will have peace in this world because we believe that Jesus has overcome it.

-Megan Burleson