He's Overcome the World
But what does that look like?
Last night, I took a few kids fishing on a boat and wouldn’t you know it, two of them went to the bow of the boat and yelled, “I’m the king of the world!” It’s somewhat remarkable that a little scene from a movie made a decade before they were even born can still provide a moment of fun.
Jesus is winding down (up?) his final discourse speech. John 17 will bring us some of his best-known encouragements and challenges. But here, at the end of chapter 16, he gives a dandy of a statement: Take heart! I have overcome the world!
Part of why this can feel like such a statement from Jesus is that he rarely comes across so definitively assertive. In just a bit, we’ll see him silent before a Roman governor. At other times, we would likely say a whole lot more than he does, putting people in their proper place. But he doesn’t usually.
Here, he’s clear: I have conquered the world!
But let’s not make Jesus out to be Alexander the Great or anything. Jesus has overcome the world, but it’s a whole lot different than humans might think or desire. We shouldn’t dress Jesus up in a suit of armor or holding a flag in triumph. He does not conquer like humans do or would.
This is especially true when we remember what’s about to happen. He’s saying this even before he will be brutally beaten and killed on a hill for all to see.
We have to wrestle with what overcoming looks like in Christ.
John 16:25-33
“I’ve been using figures of speech with you. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in such analogies. Instead, I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I’m not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. I left the Father and came into the world. I tell you again: I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.”
His disciples said, “See! Now you speak plainly; you aren’t using figures of speech. Now we know that you know everything and you don’t need anyone to ask you. Because of this we believe you have come from God.”
Jesus replied, “Now you believe? Look! A time is coming—and is here!—when each of you will be scattered to your own homes and you will leave me alone. I’m not really alone, for the Father is with me. I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.”
Prayer
God,
We want to win. We humans. We want to win our battles, fights. We want to be right. We have a sense of tribalism in us. And also, weirdly, individualism. Did you mean for this? Because it seems to be something kind of universal among humans.
But you call us in Christ to consider the needs of others. To love sacrificially. To follow a man who died rather than fight.
So help me, God. Help me to give in when it’s the right thing to do, despite my desire to win. But also, help me to dig in for justice, what you determine to be right. Sometimes I don’t always know which is which, God. So help me, indeed.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.