John 16:16-23.
Over a little one ye shall not see me; but over a little one ye shall see me: for I go unto the Father. Then said some of his disciples one to another, What is this that he saith unto us, Over a little thing ye shall not see me; and over a little thing ye shall see me, and that I go unto the Father? Then they said: What is this that he says,
*) Called Jubilate. This sermon is only in a b c. D. Red.
about a little one? we do not know what he is talking about. Then Jesus, noticing that they were about to ask him, said to them: Of this ye question one another, that I said of a little one ye shall not see me; and of a little one ye shall see me. Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall weep and wail; but the world shall repent. You will be sad, but your sadness will be turned into joy. A woman, when she bears, has sorrow; for her hour is come. But when she has given birth to the child, she no longer thinks of sorrow for the joy that the man is born into the world. And ye also now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.
Here in this gospel we have how the Lord comforts his children, whom he would send after him, and makes them bold, when they would come in fear and distress because of his dying, even their falling away. Likewise, you see what caused John the Evangelist to use so many words, and that he almost repeats a word four times, which he could have accomplished in fewer words, as we would like to think. But here we are shown, first, the nature of a Christian man in the example of the dear apostles; and secondly, how the suffering of Christ and the resurrection can be strengthened in us.
(2) You see here that Christ proclaims to the disciples how they should grieve because he would depart from them; but they are still so simple and unlearned, even so grieved from his former discourse in the Lord's Supper, that they do not understand at all what he says; indeed, it is too great and incomprehensible to nature such a thing as the Lord says here. It was also necessary for them to grieve before they rejoiced, as Christ himself was an example to us that we cannot come to glory without the cross. Therefore he says Luc. 24, 26. to the two with whom he went to Emmaus: "Did not Christ have to suffer these things and enter into his glory?" If the dear disciples were to have joy, they must have been in great sorrow before. This joy, however, came to them from the Lord Christ; for this is decided in the Gospel, that outside of Christ there is no joy; and again, where Christ is, there is no sorrow, as is clearly stated here in the text. Therefore, when Christ was taken away from them, they were in great sorrow.
3. and these words here in the Gospel
The Lord Christ said to his disciples after the Lord's Supper, before he was taken captive; let us look at them:
Over a little one you will not see me, but over a little one you will see me, for I go to the Father.
4 "For a little while," he says, "you will not see me," for I will be caught, and they will deliver me up to death. But it will not last long, and for this little time you will be sad; but only cling to me and follow me, it will soon come to an end. Three days I will lie in the grave, and the world will rejoice as if it had won; but you will mourn, weep and weep. "But over a little shall ye see me, for I go unto the Father," that is, on the third day I shall rise again, then shall ye rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you. And it will not be a joy of three days, as the joy of the world is, but an everlasting joy. So John the evangelist has put the death and resurrection of Christ very well into these words, when Christ says: "Over a little one you will not see me, but over a little one you will see me, for I go to the Father."
(6) Now here is an example which we should diligently grasp and take to heart: if we were thus, as at the time of the apostles, in suffering, in anguish, in distress, we should also remember that we were strong and rejoiced, because Christ would rise again. Which we now know has happened, but the disciples did not know how he was to rise again, or what he meant by the resurrection, so they were sad and grieved. They
They heard that they should see him, but they did not understand what it was or how it would happen. Therefore they said one to another, "What is this that he says to us about a little one? We know not what he saith." So they were so overcome with grief and sorrow that they were in despair, not knowing what he meant by this speech or how they would see him again.
(6) Therefore we also must feel the little things in ourselves, as the beloved disciples felt them; for these things are written for an example and for a lesson to us, that we may be comforted thereby, and be made better. And we should use it for a saying, yes, we should feel it and experience it, that we may always say: God is near to us at times, at times he disappears. Sometimes I think about how the word does not want to move me or affect me at all, it passes by, I do not pay attention to it at all; but we must look at this little thing and notice that we are strong and constant there. It will happen to us as it did to the disciples here; we cannot do otherwise to him than as it is written here; just as they could not have done otherwise.
007 The first little thing, that he saith, Over a little thing ye shall not see me; they understood it soon after, when they saw that he was taken and slain. But the other little thing, when he says, "But over a little thing, ye shall see me," they could not understand; neither can we; yea, when he says, "For I go unto the Father," they can understand it still less. It is the same with us: although we know and hear that the temptation, misfortune and sorrow will last a little while, we see that it always seems otherwise than we believe. Then we doubt and waver, and can nowhere send ourselves. We hear well, we know well that it will not last long; but how it will happen, we can never know, like the disciples here.
008 Forasmuch then as they hear not, why saith Christ unto them? or why is it written? Therefore, that we may not despair, but hold fast to the word, as he saith, that it is therefore certain, and that
not otherwise, let it appear otherwise, as it will. And even though we may fall away from the word at times, we should not remain away from it at all, but return; for he will bring his word to pass again. And even if man cannot believe it, God helps him. And he does this without reason, without free will, and without the help of man. Yes, the evangelist says that the disciples did not hear the words that the Lord spoke to them; much less did they hear the works that followed. Free will and human reason know nothing about the things that pertain to the soul's salvation. Free will can hear and know what is downward; reason hears and understands the crowing of a rooster, but what is the work and word of God, it must be captivated, and knows neither how to send nor how to shoe itself into it, even though it makes itself believe that it understands much about it; but this brilliance is too bright for it, it makes it blind the longer it goes on.
(9) This is finely illustrated here in the disciples, who had been with the Lord for a long time, yet they did not understand what he was saying to them. Well, this we will not learn nor understand, we will experience; when we will speak, this happened to me, this I felt, this is how it happened to me, then I was in fear, but it did not last long; then I was in this temptation, in this adversity, but God soon helped me out etc.
010 Let us take this to heart, and let us take this word well, remembering that if we were in anguish and distress, that it would not last long, we would have more lasting joy. For as Christ and his elect have had their little things, so shalt thou and I, and every man his own little thing. Pilate and Herod will not crucify you, but the same devil who drove them will also drive your persecutors. Therefore, when your affliction comes, you must not soon think of how to extricate yourself; God will help you in his time, just wait, it is for a little one, he will not stay outside.
(11) But you must not put a cross and suffering on your own neck, as some have done who have chosen death and prison for themselves, saying, "Christ willingly went to his death, willingly allowed himself to be caught and handed over; I will do the same to him. No, you must not, your cross and suffering will not remain outside, the good people did not understand. The dear disciples also said Matth. 26, 35, that they wanted to stand with Christ and die with him; Peter said Joh. 13, 37, that he did not want to deny him or leave his life over it: but how was he at the end? Christ went into the garden, trembling and shaking, he was caught, they killed him; but Peter ran away. Where was the great confidence, defiance and courage of Peter? He thought Christ would die with more cheerful courage, he also wanted to follow; yes, it was far lacking.
(12) You see that it was self-chosen sufferings and crosses, in which we think we will remain; but when the hour comes, which you have never thought of, then you will, truly, hardly exist, unless you have become a new man. The old Adam, who despairs, does not remain, nor can he remain; for it goes against his mind, against his purpose, and against his purpose. Therefore you must have your own hour, in it you must suffer a little. For Christ withdraws from thee, and leaves thee in the power of sin, death, and hell; for the heart cannot accomplish so much as to satisfy thy conscience, do whatsoever it may; for Christ passeth away and dieth. Then this little song is sung to thee, "Over a little one, ye shall not see me." Where will you go, there is no comfort, there is no help, and you are in the midst of sin, in the midst of death, in the midst of hell. If Christ did not come without all your merit, you would have to remain in such fear and terror forever; just as it would have happened to the disciples if Christ had not risen again and come to life; therefore it was necessary for him to rise again from the dead.
13 Each one must now experience and suffer this, either here or at the deathbed, when
he is to die. But it is much better that we learn about it here. For if one day we are thrown into the fire for the sake of the gospel and considered heretics, we will see what good it will do. For if our hearts are not strengthened, we are finished; we see before our eyes the torment and terror of death; where will we go? Therefore, if Christ is not here and removes his hand, we are already lost; but if he is there and helps us, the flesh may die, but there is no need for the soul, for Christ has it with him, where it is well kept, and no one will snatch it out of his hand. Joh. 10, 28.
(14) But we cannot attain this with words; experience is necessary. Blessed is he who learns it here, and death will truly not be sour for him afterwards. It is very dangerous to learn this only in death, namely, to struggle with death and to overcome death. Therefore, it was a great grace and mercy of God that he showed to the holy martyrs and apostles, in whom he first overcame death, and then they were unafraid to suffer everything that was put upon them.
(15) All these things are held forth unto us in this gospel. But because the disciples did not understand what he meant when he said, "about a little thing," and now realized that they were about to ask him, he goes and lays it out for them in plain words, saying:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall weep and wail, but the world shall rejoice; but ye shall be sorrowful: but your sorrow shall become joy.
(16) This is said to all Christians, for a Christian must have temptation, fear, distress, adversity, affliction, come what may. That is why he does not mention suffering or the cross here, but says badly: "They will weep, cry and be sad, because Christians have many persecutions. Some suffer damage to their goods, some suffer shame and scorn from rumors, some are drowned, some are burned, some are beheaded, one perishes in this way, the other in another way; so that it is only a matter of suffering for a Christian.
than that he may always have misfortune and persecution, hardship and adversity on his neck. This is the fox's tail, so that they are beheaded; they must not be provided with anything better, because they are here: this is the color of the court, by which Christians are known. Whoever wants to be a Christian must not be ashamed of this court color.
(17) Why then does God do this, and allow His own to be so persecuted and driven? So that he may curb and suppress free will, that he may not seek counsel in these things, but may even become a fool in God's works, and so learn to trust and rely on God alone.
(18) Therefore, when these things come, we shall not be able to judge ourselves therein, neither shall we understand them, except Christ himself raise us up and revive us, and his resurrection be strengthened in us, and all our works come to nothing, and be nothing at all. For this reason this text concludes that man with all his strength is nothing, so that everything that has been preached about good works and everything that can be preached about them is condemned and destroyed. For this is decided: Where Christ is not, there is nothing. Ask St. Peter how he felt when Christ was not with him, what good works did he do? He denied Christ and swore by him. These are the good works we do when we do not have Christ with us.
(19) All this is to make us accustomed to build on Christ alone, relying on no other works, on no other creature either in heaven or on earth; in this name alone shall we be preserved and saved, and in no other. Apost. 4, 12. 10, 43. But we must suffer much for this. And the most grievous is that we must not only suffer harm, persecution and death, but the world must also rejoice over our great harm and misfortune, which is too bitter. Well, it must be so, the world will certainly rejoice when things go badly; but we have the consolation here: their joy will not last long, and our sadness, which shall be turned into eternal joy.
be turned. The Lord gives us a beautiful likeness of a woman in childbearing, saying:
A woman, when she gives birth, has sadness, because her hour has come; but when she has born the child, she no longer thinks of fear, for the joy that the man is born into the world.
(20) With this similitude he also shows that our doing is nothing at all. For here we see that even though all women help this woman who is to give birth, they do nothing: free will is completely gone, and neither can nor can anything here either do or advise. It is not in the woman's power to get rid of the child, but she feels that it is in God's hand and power: if he helps and works, then it is helped and worked; but if he does not help, then it is lost, even if all the world were there. Then God lets the woman see her powers, abilities and strength: before she danced and jumped, was in good spirits and merry; but now she sees how God does and works everything. We now recognize that God is our Father, who also helps us and brings us out of our mother's womb.
21. So Christ says to his disciples: "This is how it will be: The woman's mind is such that she is afraid of great danger, and yet she knows that everything is in God's hands; she trusts in him, relies on him, he also helps her, and does the work that would be impossible for all the world, and thinks of nothing but the hour that will follow, in which she will again rejoice; and her heart is like this: It is for an evil hour, and after that it will be better. The courage and the heart penetrate through. So it shall be with you also: when you come into fear and adversity, and when you become new men, be still now, and let God deal with you; he will do it well without any doing on your part.
(22) This parable of the woman is a hard and strong argument against free will, that it is utterly powerless and weak in the matters that pertain to the blessedness of our souls. The Gospel shows it clearly
We believe that divine power and grace must be there; free will is much too weak and small for that. But instead of the gospel we have established our conditions and rules, and thereby want to be rid of sin, death, hell and all misfortune, and finally become blessed. This is far from the truth.
(23) Here you see in this example: if a man is to be born, the mother must be dead beforehand, that is, she must be as skilled as if she had already died, and think that it is now over for her. It should be the same with us: if we want to become pious, we must be dead beforehand and despair of all our works; indeed, we must not think that we want to do anything about it. No monasticism, no priesthood, no works at all will help; but only keep still, and let God do with you as he wills, he will do it well, only let him work. We do nothing to it, except that we feel death and hell at times; which the wicked also feel, but they do not believe that God is present and wants to help them; just as here the woman also does nothing to it, except that she feels pain, fear and distress, but she cannot help herself.
But when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish and pain, just as she would have come to life again. She could not have thought that before, that the sadness and pain should end so soon. It is the same with us: when we are in the temptation of sin, of death, of hell, we are as if we were dead; yes, we are in the midst of death, and Christ has left us, has passed away a little one. Then we are in great pain and cannot help ourselves. But when Christ comes again and is recognized by us, then our heart is filled with joy, even if the whole world is opposed to it.
(25) No one sees this except the one who is once in death. The same, who is once saved from death, must then rejoice; not that the same man might not fall again and become sad at times, but because this joy is there, he asks for nothing, nor does he fear it.
more, even if it were still so dangerous for him. This joy can well be undertaken, as if I fall again into sin; because there I am also afraid of a rustling leaf, 3 Mos. 26, 36. Why? Because Christ is a little away from me, and hath forsaken me; but I shall not despair, she will come again. Now I must not go and cling to the pope, or try to help myself with works; but keep still and wait until Christ comes again; he remains a little one outside. When he looks at the heart again and appears to the heart, there is joy again; then I can withstand all misfortune and terror.
(26) All this is said and commanded, that we may know our weakness and inability, and that with our works it is nothing and lost. And this joy is almighty and eternal when we now die, but now, here in this life, it is mingled; for now I fall, soon I rise again, and cannot be eternal because of flesh and blood. Therefore Christ says here to his disciples:
And ye also now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice again, and your joy no man shall take from you.
27 David described all of this in a masterful and beautiful Psalm, where he says Ps. 30:2-8: "I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have raised me up, and you will not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord my God, when I cry unto thee, thou makest me whole. O Lord, thou hast brought my soul out of hell; thou hast kept me alive when they went into the pits. Praise the Lord, ye saints, and give thanks in remembrance of his glory. For his wrath endureth for a moment, and he delighteth to live. Weeping lasts through the evening, but glory in the morning. I said, when I was well: I will abide for ever: for, O Lord, by thy lovingkindness thou hast made my mountain strong: but when thou hidest thy face, I was afraid." Now where is the man who said the other day, "I will abide forever"? Yea, because thou hast strengthened my mountain, saith he, I am strong.
test by your good pleasure, so I spoke. "But when thou hidest thy face from me, I was afraid," and I fell. If Christ were always with us, I think we would never be afraid; but because he departs from us at times, we must be afraid at times.
28 In this psalm we have a fine illustration of how a good conscience is to be recognized and felt, for David holds the whole world like a drop and fears nothing at all, even if it rages and rages against him, for he has the Lord with him, who has made his mountain strong. But when he fell, and the Lord hid his face from him, he was afraid, and his heart and his courage and his mountain were gone; he feared a rustling leaf, which feared not the whole world: as he saith unto the Lord in another Psalm, Ps. 23:4: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me"; item Psalm 3:7: "I will not be afraid of a hundred thousand people that are set against me." And there are many such sayings in the Psalms, all of which indicate how a righteous conscience stands, namely: when God is with him, he is brave and bold; but when he is from him, he is afraid and frightened.
(29) Now it is clear what the word of Christ means: "I go to the Father. Before, no one knew, not even the disciples. But this is the course: I must die, he says, and you must die also. Peter, according to the old Adam, wanted to die with the Lord, presumed to be great; and we all think we want to die with Christ, as the other disciples all said they wanted to go to their death with Christ, Matth. 26, 35. But all this must perish in us; you must come to an hour when Christ is not with you and does not die with you, when you cannot help yourself, like the woman in childbirth. When this happens, then you come to the Father, that is, God fills you with His power and makes a new man out of you, who is no longer afraid after that, whose being is also a heavenly being here, as Paul says in Phil. 3"20.
and this is what is raised up here in faith. Then you become courageous and bold, and say, like the prophet in the Psalm: "I am not afraid of a hundred thousand people, and though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why is that? Because you have come to the Father. Now who can overthrow God's omnipotence? No one. Well, no one can harm you, nor can anyone harm you.
(30) This is not understood, except it be now done. If you are in death and come out, then you say: I was in death, and if the Lord had not saved me, I would have remained in it forever. The whole of the thirtieth Psalm belongs here; you may look at it and think it over.
31 So now you have the fruit and the example of the death and resurrection of Christ, and how free will is nothing and everything that reason concludes in the things that lead to salvation. May God have mercy on us, so that we may also grasp it and judge ourselves according to it, amen.
Supplement to the above sermon.*)
Christ.
Forsaken, forsaken I say unto you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice etc. Joh. on 16.
M. Luther on this Gospel.
1 Let no man lay up a cross for himself: as some foolish men have done, and do still, go themselves to prison and to death, saying, If Christ went willingly to death, I will follow his example, as he commanded us. There is no need to do this, for your torture and cross will not fail. But people do not understand divine things, and they think that they want to go to the death with Christ, whom they have never known except in words.
*This supplement is found in a letter from a certain Nather to his father, dated 1531. See Erl. Ed. 12, 69 f. Walch does not have it. D. Red.
**) on a stutz, that is, suddenly; stutz - push.
D. Red.
Death go. Peter was also of the same mind, but he stood by Christ like a hare by a drumbeater. Behold, how his is the old Adam in the cross! But a new man may well persevere by grace. In this there is no end with the pious, but when it pleases God, they, as the tree planted by the water, give good fruit; and this is pleasant in the sight of God, and otherwise all presumption condemned, the appearance or excuse seem as good as ever they will. But he who fights chivalrously will receive joy for suffering here and there, and eternity for the temporal. Christ says: "Your joy shall be turned into sadness.
2 This saying of Christ is spoken to all Christians in general. For let the matter be what it will, convenient or inconvenient, the Christian must strive in temptation, fear, distress and adversity. Christ also does not mention any special punishment, cross or torture; therefore he says badly: "You will weep, cry and be sad, because the Christians suffer many persecutions. Some suffer damage to their property, some are mocked by their name, some
drowned, a part burned, a part beheaded. Thus the Christians perish killed with many hands, one more wicked than the other, so that the Christians always have misfortune, persecution and repugnance on their necks. And this is the fox's tail of the Christians, so that they are painted, and not to hope certain things for them, while they crawl here. And this is the court dress, by which the Christians are to be recognized. Whoever wants to be a Christian must not be ashamed of the color.
But why did God cause His own to be driven about with persecution? Because of the free will, so that it may perish and become a fool in the works of God and learn to trust in Him alone; therefore, to give good works to the creatures and finally to ourselves, and thus to trust in God and cling to Christ. But this would probably annoy someone, that the world should rejoice in our misfortune. It is a bad thing, the magpie does not leave its hopping. But this is the consolation of Christians: Their joy will not last long, but our misfortune will be transformed into eternal joy. Amen.