The conversation was almost over. By the time we read our text it was late at night. Jesus and the apostles must have been nearing the garden of Gethsemane. Judas had probably already betrayed him. The soldiers may have already been on their way to arrest him. We know from Matthew’s account of that night that when Jesus finally got to the garden, that he told Peter, James and John, “my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me.” That king of sorrow doesn’t just come. It builds. It wasn’t just a sorrow that has been building throughout the night or even through that week. This was a sorrow that has been building throughout all of time. This was the sorrow that began in the garden of Eden when Adam and Even chose death over trust. It was the sorrow that built when the earth went so far in its own way that God sent a flood to begin again. This was the sorrow that was added when Israel just a few weeks after being delivered from Egypt made a golden calf and called it their God. This was the sorrow felt when Moses struck the rock rather than obeying the command, when Abraham gave Sarah away rather than trusting in the Father. It’s the sorrow that built when Saul turned from humility to arrogance. When David called for Bathsheba rather than going into battle. When Israel cycled from repentance to obedience and to idolatry. Jesus was feeling all the sorrows for all the sins because he was about to bear the weight, the wrath, the price of every sin and every sinner. That’s what Hebrews means when it says “He died once for all.” But here is what’s so amazing about God’s character. While Jesus was feeling the sorrow of all of sin, and of his own death for that sin, while he was feeling such sorrow that he himself said that it was as if the feelings themselves would kill him, he wa s focused on the sorrows of the apostles. When he was overwhelmed himself, he kept his attention on others. In this week’s sermon Pastor Abie Kulynych discusses how we go “From Sorrow to Joy.”
“From Sorrow to Joy,” John 16:16-22
