I Have Overcome the World
[Read John 16:16-33]
There’s one line in this passage that I don’t need to convince anyone about. It’s the line that says, “In the world you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33, ESV). This passage had been on my mind ever since I started in ministry. On one of the very first nights as a Youth Director, I had a girl come into my office and tell me that she tried to kill herself the previous night and was unsuccessful. This was only the beginning of the struggle and suffering I would walk through with these teenagers.
I used to have a prayer board in front of my desk. Teenagers would give me things to pin on it to pray for them in the midst of their struggles and sufferings. I had suicide notes pinned to that board. I had razors pinned to that board from kids who were trying to stop cutting. I had other notes and letters describing hurts and pains and struggles they were facing in their homes, in their schools, and in their souls. Our youth group was full of teenagers who were experiencing the tribulations of this world.
This hasn’t changed as I’ve entered into my role as a senior pastor. The only thing that changes are the tribulations being faced—multiple health issues, weakening bodies, family tensions and struggles, marital tension, struggling to be free from an addiction, struggling to figure out how to make it to the next paycheck. This church is full of people who are experiencing the tribulations of this world.
This is why I preach and lead the way I do. A veteran pastor told me as I was preparing for ministry that it was my job to prepare people to suffer, because suffering is going to come whether you want it or not. You will get a phone call that changes everything or you’ll get a diagnosis that changes everything. Something will happen that makes it feel like your whole world has just been turned upside down. What are you going to do in that moment? I can tell you what you don’t want to be doing. You don’t want to be figuring out how to suffer in those moments. You want to have some things figured out—you want to be prepared—when that moment hits so that you can endure those moments in faith and peace and even joy.
Jesus is preparing his disciples for one of those moments. He tells them, “A little while, and you will see me no longer…” (John 16:16, ESV). This will be one of those moments when it will feel like their world has been turned upside down and everything is falling apart. It will seem like all of their hopes and dreams have just faded away in a moment. That’s why Jesus tells them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament…You will be sorrowful…” (John 16:20, ESV). This will be one of those moments when they feel that tremendous weight on their soul. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. That weight you feel when you get hit with really bad news about yourself, or someone else. It hangs right around your heart. When it’s heavy enough, it almost physically hurts. They will feel those levels of sorrow.
Jesus also describes this moment with the analogy of a woman in the anguish (his word) of birth. Obviously, some of you know this analogy better than I do, since I’ve never given birth. However, we understand the point he is making. Giving birth ranks way up there on the pain scale. This is going to hurt real bad.
Not only that, but in their weeping and sorrow, in their pain, Jesus says, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.” (John 16:32, ESV). In their sorrow and pain they will scatter and run away from Jesus back to their own homes, back to their old professions, back to their old lives. They will completely abandon Jesus in the midst of their sorrow and pain—most likely because it will seem as though their hopes and dreams had vanished and their world had been turned upside down. In those moments, we always want to go back to what is familiar, trying to find some form of firm ground.
To add insult to injury, Jesus also says this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” (John 16:20, ESV). What a contrast! As they are in the midst of tremendous pain and sorrow, feeling like their world has been turned upside down, feeling like all of their hopes and dreams have vanished, the world will be rejoicing. The world will be throwing a party, holding a parade, celebrating the very thing that has devastated them.
Then that familiar last line comes where Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33, ESV). In saying this, Jesus is expanding everything that he just said to his disciples. Their tribulation will not only be limited to this moment of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and burial, but it will expand beyond that moment and be something they experience throughout their life. In the world—as long as you live in the world—you will have tribulation. There’s no getting away from it. There’s no hiding from it. We talk a lot about the promises of God. This is one of those promises: You WILL have tribulation.
Thankfully, that’s only part of the promise. There’s more. Jesus hints at it in the beginning when he says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” (John 16:16, ESV). Something is going to happen and you will no longer see me. I’m going to be crucified, dead, and buried. You will no longer be able to see me. You will think that all is lost. BUT, again in a little while—three days—you will see me again. It’s a reminder to the disciples that although it will seem like the end, it’s not the end. More is coming later. It’s a reminder to the disciples that this period of pain and suffering will not last forever—only a little while.
When they see Jesus again, it will all make sense. That’s what Jesus means when he says, “In that day you will ask nothing of me.” (John 16:23, ESV). We automatically think of this as talking about prayer, but it’s really talking about the disciple’s constant confusion. They didn’t understand anything. Even this dialogue began with them being confused about what Jesus was talking about. Jesus comforts them by saying something like, “When you see me again, everything will begin to make sense, you won’t be so confused anymore, you won’t have to keep asking me.” To connect this with last week’s sermon, they will finally understand because they will be filled with the Holy Spirit who will be guiding them into all truth.
In the midst of this Jesus says, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (John 16:20, ESV). Isn’t this a beautiful picture? After all of their pain and suffering and sorrow, it will turn into joy. When Jesus reminded them earlier that the pain and suffering wouldn’t last forever, it’s not simply going to go away, but it will be replaced by joy.
It’ll be replaced by a joy that is extremely powerful. That brings us back to the analogy of the woman giving birth. Jesus says, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (John 16:21, ESV). This has to be one of my favorite images in all of the Bible. Jesus says that when a woman is giving birth, she’s in sorrow and anguish and pain, but once she has delivered the baby, the joy is so strong that she no longer remembers the sorrow and pain and anguish. It’s not that the sorrow and pain simply go away, they are actually overcome by a joy that is so powerful that she no longer remembers the pain and sorrow. Let that sink in a little bit. On top of that, all of the suffering and pain and sorrow led to the joy that would overcome them. The joy of a child coming into the world requires the pain and sorrow and anguish—it’s the fruit of those things. The sorrow and pain and anguish actually brought forth the joy that is so powerful that we no longer remember the sorrow and pain. It’s such a powerful analogy and reminder.
For the disciples this had various layers to it. The immediate application of this for them came when they saw Jesus immediately after his resurrection. We read this line when they see Jesus: “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:20, ESV). The word “glad” is actually the same word as “rejoice” that is used in this passage. When the disciples saw Jesus after his resurrection, they immediately rejoiced and their sorrow was turned into joy.
Yet, they are not to place the foundation of their joy on seeing Jesus after the resurrection. Jesus wants their joy placed on a firmer foundation. Their joy must be founded on what Jesus accomplished through his resurrection. Because Jesus died and rose again, he can say, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV). The world threw everything at him, every power and principality, every weapon it had and Jesus overcame. He didn’t stay dead, but rose again. Jesus overcame the world, and along with that he overcame all of the trials and tribulations of the world. That’s the foundation of the disciple’s joy and needs to be the foundation of our joy.
That’s why Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV). Because Jesus has overcome the world and all of its trials and tribulations, we can have peace in the midst of our trials and we can “take heart”—which basically means have courage—and we can have joy in the midst of those trials. And because Jesus has overcome the world he says this: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22, ESV). No one will be able to take this joy from you. Nobody. Why? Because Jesus has overcome the world. That’s why. Who’s going to do anything about it? No one. Jesus has already won. So, take heart, have courage, and rest in this unshakeable joy.
Yet also realize something deeper. The tribulations you are currently facing, or will face in the future, are accomplishing something—something that we don’t realize in the moment. It’s like giving birth, the sorrow and the pain and the agony right now are not pointless, they are going to give birth to something greater, something beautiful, something that will produce a joy so great that you will completely forget all of the pain and sorrow and agony that lead to it. You can have confidence that this is true because Jesus has overcome the world. He’s in control. Nothing can happen to you apart from his will, and he has promised that all things will work together for your good—for a joy that will overcome all of your sorrow. Take heart, Jesus has overcome the world.
That also means that something greater is coming. Since Jesus has overcome the world, it also means there is something bigger than the world coming—a joy that bigger than the world. It’s one of the reasons why I love the way heaven is described in this parable when we hear the Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21, ESV). Enter into the joy of your master. That’s heaven. That’s eternal life. That’s what is ultimately on the other side of the tribulation of this life—the joy of our master. A joy that is so powerful, so great, so unbelievable that it causes us to completely forget all of the pain and sorrow and anguish that we experienced in this life. And we will rest in that joy for the rest of eternity.
These are things we need to meditate upon often. Yet, we don’t do it very often. We often get so caught up in the midst of life that we never raise our eyes to what is on the other side. I think it’s part of the reason why we often grow weak and weary. We need to regularly be lifting our eyes beyond the suffering and anguish of this life to the powerful, eternal joy waiting for us in heaven. We need to do that in preparation for our suffering. We need to do that in the midst of our suffering. We need to do it on the other side of our suffering.
We need this constant reminder in front of us: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, ESV).