“Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When thou saidst, ‘Seek ye my face;’ my heart said unto thee, ‘Thy face, LORD, will I seek.’ Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.” (Psalm 27:7-9, KJV)

Jesus was born, grew up, was baptized, taught, healed, died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. God lived among His people; He lived among His creation. Jesus, the very Image of the Father, is God-in-the-flesh. He assumed flesh like yours in order to live among you and die for you, and in so doing, glorified that flesh, and so your flesh will also be glorified. Now, however, Jesus is ascended, and it is in your own ascension—when you are caught together with all the saints and Jesus in the clouds—when your flesh will be glorified.

He is gone from the disciples’ sight. He never was in yours, but even now, having been claimed by Him in the waters of Holy Baptism, your eyes long to see Him, much as Job longed to see Him, who also lived never having the sight of Jesus. (cf. Job 19:25-27) The disciples, having witnessed Jesus’ ascension, returned to the city with great joy; it is the same joy that you are given as you gather with your fellow saints and receive from the hand of God through the mouth of His called servant the very gifts that Jesus won for you on Calvary.

And these gifts you receive because the Helper is come to you to give you faith in order that you would receive them. He brings them to you, from Jesus, via the Word and Sacraments, into your ears and mouths, and makes them yours. Jesus said, “[The Helper] will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:14) The Helper is at work, and so you are forgiven, alive forevermore in Christ, and saved.

But that joy is so easily fleeting. You may no longer be of the world, but you are still in it. As soon as you leave this heavenly embassy, perhaps even while you are still here, the thoughts, cares, and concerns of your life in this world flood and overwhelm you. The world in which you live so eagerly seeks to rob you of the joy that you have in Christ.

It is as Jesus warned the disciples, “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” Jesus told them that the world will hate them, because it doesn’t know Jesus, refuses to know Him, and rejects Him. The disciples were to expect no better treatment, because a servant is not above his master. (cf. John 15:18; Matthew 10:24)

Jesus warned them because they will go from town to town, across the countryside, and around the world, entering synagogues and proclaiming the great deeds that God has done in Christ. In so doing, they will be fulfilling the word that Jesus last gave them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you...” (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20a) Some will hear them and believe. Many will not and throw them out of the synagogues and towns in which they live. Some of those will even seek to kill the apostles, and for many of them, succeed in doing so—only John survived their attempts.

“But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” Jesus told them it would happen. But He has told them other things, too. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) “They will throw you out of the synagogues. They will kill you. I have told you these things. Remember them. But take heart, the world will give you tribulation, but I have overcome the world.”

In those times when they are being tossed from synagogues and killed, you can believe that they cried out to God with their voice, as was stated in today’s antiphon. They would have been tempted to believe that God had forsaken them and turned His face from them. But Jesus’ words should also ring in their ears, “I have told you these things that you would remember them, so that you may have peace, because I have overcome the world.” It is not God who has forsaken them, it is the world that has, because it has forsaken Him. And because it has forsaken Him, it has forsaken them.

It has also forsaken you. You have the joyful privilege also of telling the wonderful deeds of God in Christ. In all of the world, as you are going, making disciples by baptizing and teaching—that’s what you as part of the church are given to do. And as you are doing so, the world will hate you, even from those who claim to be a part of the church. They will run you out of the congregation for being faithful to the Word of God.

The world will even seek to end your life. You see it in your brothers and sisters in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, among many other places, throughout history and to this day. Homes are marked as bearing the name of the Nazarene. Families are pulled out into the streets where they are hanged, crucified, and beheaded. Lives are lost for the sake of Christ.

The voices of the faithful cry out as one: “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.” They cry out for each other and for themselves. And the answer from Jesus is the same: “I have told you these things that you would remember them, so that you may have peace, because I have overcome the world.”

Jesus has overcome the world. The world runs after death, but Jesus has died and risen again—the Victor over sin, death, and the devil. The world seeks to kill, but you have already died in Christ. The life He has given you in His death and resurrection, no one will be able to snatch from you. As Jesus said,

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

The voice of Jesus declares to you that He has overcome the world. The world will hate you because it hates Him. The world did its best to get rid of God, but even the death He was subjected to at their hands could not contain Him. He has overcome death; He has overcome the world. And He has given that victory to you.

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:3-11)

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

This is a fact about which you sing, especially at Reformation and again in a month and a half: “The Word they still shall let remain / Nor any thanks have for it; / He's by our side upon the plain / With His good gifts and Spirit. / And take they our life, / Goods, fame, child and wife, / Let these all be gone, / They yet have nothing won; / The Kingdom our remaineth.” The world will hate you. The world will revile you, but you have a God and Man who has overcome the world and given you the victory. They will attempt to take your life, and as the climate becomes more hostile, they may even succeed in doing so. But take heart, through Christ, you have peace with God who has given you the kingdom. So then...

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

In all of these things you are more than conquerors, because Jesus has overcome the world, and given you the victory. This He has accomplished in His suffering, death, and resurrection. You receive this because He has sent the Helper, the Spirit of Truth to you, who takes from Jesus and makes it yours, even as He has taken from what Jesus has earned for you on the cross, and given it to you: salvation, life, the forgiveness of all of your sins.