Take Heart!

Tom Barnard

 

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

(John 16:33)

 

“It is not fitting, when one is in God’s service,

to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.”

St. Francis of Assisi

 

The disciples were confused and perplexed. In the first few verses of John 16 Jesus warned his followers that bad times were ahead for them. He said, “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.” Can you imagine the expressions of worry on the disciples’ faces and the fear in their voices? In 17:32 Jesus predicted that his closest companions would abandon him. “A time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone.”

 

What had started out so well three years earlier, on the north shore of Galilee, was coming to an end. The Twelve had been called to follow Jesus. “Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men,” he said to Peter and Andrew, and James and John. They left their occupations and their families to become his disciples. Shortly thereafter, eight others joined the four to make the circle of twelve.

 

But now the euphoria of the three-year odyssey was over. The parables they heard him tell, and the miracles they watched him do, were in the past. Did Jesus say that his followers would be driven out of the synagogue? It seems so. Did he say that people would be out to get them, even tracking them down to kill them? That’s how I read it. Did he say that trouble would follow them wherever they went? Yep, that’s exactly what he said.

 

But that’s not all Jesus said. The bad news was not the end, but the beginning of exciting news. Jesus left them with a promise—a personal pledge. He said, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” And in a special way he was saying to them—and to us, “And because I have overcome the world, you will overcome your world.”  That is exactly what I needed to hear today!

 

Thank you, Lord Christ, for your words of encouragement. When politicians say, “Take heart,” I know that bad news is on the way. But when Jesus says, “Take heart,” I know that whatever is wrong in my life, he will help make right. Whatever is painful, he will heal. Whatever is missing in my life, he will add. And when someone significant has left me, he will fill their absence with his own presence. I am so blessed. Praise your Name. Amen.