There was a real possibility the disciples might fall away. Jesus’ crucifixion was at hand and His death would make it appear that all was lost; that evil itself had triumphed. Judas had already fallen, doing the bidding of Satan by betraying Jesus to the authorities. Peter, over-confidant, foolishly bragging that he would suffer even death for Jesus, would deny Him three times before the morning. The disciples did not understand the gravity of the events that were about to transpire. They did not know what the immediate future held for them. The sham trial; the beatings and mocking of Jesus; His crucifixion and death. Witnessing those events alone might lead them to question their faith in Jesus; to consider returning to their old lives, taking up their fishing nets and calling it quits. So Jesus speaks words of comfort to them about the promise of the Holy Spirit. He speaks to them of a future beyond the immediate shock of what they would witness over those next several days.

 

The disciples also had no idea what the distant future held for them. The triumph of Jesus’ resurrection would reorient their faith and lives. Jesus’ ascension would fill them with untold joy. The Holy Spirit would descend on them at Pentecost. The Spirit would bear witness to Jesus Christ, creating, sustaining and strengthening their faith. The Spirit would also send them out into the world to give testimony to the Good News of Jesus’ salvation. This call to be apostles, however, would not be easy. They would be kicked out of synagogues. They would even be killed by people who thought they were serving God, but were actually ignorant of God because they had rejected His Son. The disciples faced a long, hard, difficult road for the sake of Jesus. The world would not receive them, just as it had not received Him. So Jesus wanted them to know what to expect for the sake of His kingdom and to prepare them for their own hour of suffering, rejection, and, perhaps, death.

 

And those disciples had their hour. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and this country honors those who gave their lives in battle. Today the Church should be mindful of those who gave their lives for their witness to Jesus; martyrs to the death who did not fall away. Consider the men who sat in that Upper Room listening to Jesus’ words. St. Andrew would be crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece. St. Barnabas would be martyred in Turkey. St. Bartholomew would be flayed alive and crucified upside down in Armenia. St. James the Greater would be put to death by the sword in Jerusalem at the hands of Herod. St. James the Lesser would be thrown from the temple in Jerusalem and then stoned and beaten to death. St. John would be imprisoned, burned with oil, and exiled; the only one of the twelve spared death. St. Jude would be beaten to death and then beheaded in Persia. St. Matthias would be stoned to death. St. Paul, the only apostle not present in the Upper Room, would be beheaded in Rome. St. Peter would be crucified upside down in Rome. St. Philip would be martyred in Turkey. St. Simon would be sawn in half in Persia. St. Thomas would be pierced through by four spears in India. These men suffered much for the sake of Christ. These twelve, of course, were not alone in martyrdom. St. Stephen was stoned to death in Jerusalem. And there have been countless others who refused to deny their Lord by the strength of the Holy Spirit and received the martyrs crown.

 

These martyrs, these witnesses to Jesus Christ, are a testimony to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. How easy it would have been for them to fall away. They could have lived lives of relative ease and safety, choosing the comforts of this world. They could have denied Jesus Christ, going back to their fishing boats, their tax-collecting, their false religions. They could have worked toward early retirement and a Florida condo. In the face of such hardship, persecution, suffering and the constant threat of death, falling away from Jesus would have been the easier road. These disciples, however, refused to seek comfort in the things of this world. Rather, they found comfort by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who established them in Jesus Christ and the things of His kingdom. They had been witnesses of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension and so they would be witnesses to God’s salvation in Christ to the ends of the earth. They faced persecution and despised death because Jesus Christ had overcome and was triumphant. They certainly did not suffer such things because Jesus was a neat, encouraging guy or a wise teacher of pithy, spiritual bromides. No, they confessed Jesus as the Son of God, crucified, risen, and ascended. He alone was their hope and salvation. Jesus Christ was their Savior from sin, death, and the power of the grave. This was their faith, a faith nurtured and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit, the Comforter, opened the eyes of their hearts and made Jesus their comfort. While they could not know what their worldly future had in store for them, they knew that their eternity was secure in the ascended Jesus, and so they gave their Spirit-driven testimony to a world that hated Jesus and them. They were even willing to suffer all things for Him and the sake of His Kingdom.

 

Like the disciples who sat in the Upper Room, listening to Jesus, we do not know what the future holds for us. Yet we know the call of our Lord Jesus Christ in our Holy Baptism. At the font, our Lord Jesus Christ sprinkled water on us, cleansing us by His Word and giving us the Holy Spirit. As His baptized people, we are called to be His witnesses by the power of His Holy Spirit. In our lives-our hospitality, our charity, our service, our stewardship, our words and deeds-we are to give testimony to the eternal hope that is ours in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, creating, sustaining and strengthening our faith in Jesus, so that we may be His witnesses to a world that does not care much for Jesus or His disciples. 

 

Do not be deceived. The world still hates Jesus. Now the world will tolerate a pantheon of generic, distant, aloof deities. The world will tolerate spirituality and religion. The world will tolerate superstition and magic. But the world will not tolerate the exclusive, particular, scandalous claims of Jesus Christ and His Church. The world considers the message of the Gospel to be absurd and foolish. The world will tolerate a Jesus who is merely a good teacher, an alright guy, a spiritual guru, or a prophet. But it will not accept Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, who told the disciples in the Upper Room, “No one comes to the Father except through me” and said that He alone is the means of salvation for sinners. Know this: if the world rejects Jesus, then it will reject us as well. It should be no surprise that those who confess the apostolic faith are dismissed by the wise and enlightened as narrow, atavistic troglodytes. This should not bother us, however. We should expect the world to mock and dismiss us, if not persecute us. Of course it does bother us. We like to be accepted or exalted. We like prestige and status. The thought of rejection, dismissal, or persecution for the sake of Jesus is troublesome. We are even tempted to downplay Jesus, to fall away just a little bit, merely to avoid controversy. The pursuit of such comfort in this life and with a world opposed to Jesus is dangerous.

 

Martin Luther, preaching on this text, said there were two types of comfort in this life. The first is the comfort that comes from the world. This comfort is false and counterfeit because it directs a person to rely on material goods, fame, honor, power, and the assistance of the high and mighty, the powerful. In other words, the comfort of the world is found in our looks, our smarts, our bank accounts, our retirement funds, our friends, our accumulations, our degrees, our generally decent circumstances and the like. Such comfort deceives us into placing our trust in things we think we can control, as if we hold our future in our own hands. Yet this is simply not true. Like the disciples, we do not know what our future, immediate or distant, holds for us. We do not know what the next doctor visit will bring. We do not know what news the next phone call will bring. We do not know what today or tomorrow, next week or next year will bring for us or our loved ones. If we have only sought the comforts of this life, then, when our hour arrives, we will be left with no true or lasting comfort at all. We must know that this life will bring all sorts of trials and eventually death. This is the product of sin and so no person is exempt or immune. We must also know that nothing in this world can prepare us for our hour or sustain us in the midst of hardship, suffering, and trial. The comforts of this world are really no comfort at all. They are vain, fleeting, and temporal. They will fail because they come only from us and our imaginations.

 

The other comfort in this life is that which comes from the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Here is true and real comfort because it comes from the Spirit who gives us life in Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who has overcome sin and death. This is the only sustaining comfort because it comes from our Redeemer. So when our hour comes; when we are afflicted with illness, disease or tragedy; when we are frightened and discouraged; when we are miserable and wretched; when we are forsaken both by other people and by our own hearts, the Holy Spirit comforts us with the Good News that Jesus Christ is for us. The Holy Spirit bears witness to us about Jesus. In Jesus there is an eternal, unfathomable comfort. For Jesus Christ went to the cross to destroy our sins; He rose from the grave to destroy our death; He ascended into heaven so that we will also ascend into His heavenly kingdom to join with the martyrs and saints; angels and archangels; and all the company of heaven. This is the Gospel, by which our faith is strengthened and nourished in Christ through His gifts, the means by which the Holy Spirit keeps us from falling away. The same Holy Spirit at work in those apostles is at work in us, through the very same Gospel. So as we gather in faith to hear the Word and receive the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit exercises and works our faith in the risen and ascended Jesus. The result is the profound, eternal comfort of God that comes from His certain promise that there is nothing in this life that can separate us from His love that is in Christ Jesus. +INJ+