6th Sunday - I have overcome the world

Introduction

The Church arranges for us the readings of the Holy 50 Days about our new life in the Lord Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead. The Lord Jesus in His incarnation, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, did all of this for our sake. In order to give us a new life - a life free from the slavery of sin, slavery to the world, and slavery to Satan. A life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

• In the 1st week, the Lord confirms the faith of the disciples and reveals to them with Thomas, His Resurrection
• In the 2nd week, the Lord tells us I am the Bread of Life
• In the 3rd week, the Lord is the One who gives us the everlasting water - the Holy Spirit 
• In the 4th week, I am the Light of the World
• In the 5th week, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
• That was last Sunday. Then, this past week on Thursday, we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension (blessed Feast to you all).

Now it is the 6th Sunday and the gospel ended with the Lord telling His disciples: "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)

I Have Overcome the World

Actually these verses are the last things that the Lord tells His disciples. After the Lord washed the feet of the disciples, and they ate the Last Supper, the Lord starts to have with His disciples the final discourse:

• He reveals to them the Father and tells them if you know Me, then you know My Father. And if you have seen Me, then you have seen the Father.
• And He reveals to them the Holy Spirit, promises that He will send Him to be a Helper and Comforter.
• And He gives them warnings about what was to come - "if the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." - "They will put you out of the synagogues" - "whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."
• And He tells them that He will leave them and He is going to prepare a place for them.
• And in all of this, He gives them a message of hope - "You now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you."
• And most of all, He emphasizes to them to abide in Him, abide in His love, keep His commandments, believe in Him

The conclusion of this whole message is the verse that we ended with today: "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." It summarizes all of the chapters before it.

"In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

His Victory is My Victory

I have overcome the world - I have triumphed - I am victorious.

But what does that mean? In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Imagine if a teacher went to his students and said "look, the exam is very very hard... but don't worry, be of good cheer, I passed the exam." What might the student say? Okay you passed the exam... so what? I'm the one who has to take it, how does that help me?

The answer comes to us in today's Pauline Epistle. The first verse in the Pauline Epistle today: "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57)

When the Lord says "I have overcome the world" - "I have victory over the world" - we can take that to be our victory, as St Paul told us. When the Lord Jesus Christ conquers, then WE conquer - because we are IN the Lord Jesus Christ. We are UNITED with the Lord Jesus Christ. We ABIDE in Him and He in us.

How do we abide in Him? How do we unite with Him? In the Sacraments.

In Baptism, we "take off the old man and put on the new and superior one" (ⲁⲣⲓⲯⲁⲗⲓⲛ) - St Paul says (Ephesians 4) And we are putting on Christ (Romans 13)

In Confirmation, we receive His Spirit

In Repentance & Confession, we are transformed and renewed and our sins are forgiven

In the Eucharist, we eat His Body and His Blood and we "abide in Him and He in us."

So when we live the sacramental life, we are united with the Lord, we abide in Him and He in us, and in this way, we share in His victory, and we can overcome the world.

So now the question is, what are these tribulations that the Lord spoke of? What does it mean to overcome the world?

Tribulations

Many of us think the time of persecution is over... that was something that happened in the old days a thousand or two thousand years ago. Or we think the place of persecution is far away - now we are in the USA with freedom of religion, and modern Western Society... 

When we think of tribulations, sometimes we think of the stories of the martyrs: the tortures, the rulers who tried to tempt them. Or we may think of more modern history of the tribulations faced in Islamic countries: not able to practice your faith freely, or having limitations in social life because of your faith.

But what are the tribulations we are facing here in the Western Society in 2025?

We'll talk about x (#)

Persecution: Conforming to Ideologies

Unless you are conformed to the ideologies and principles of this world, you will be called prejudiced, extremist, homophobic

Unless you support abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, marijuana, sports gambling, you will be persecuted. You will be discriminated against... and they call it unconditional love. But they accept everybody except the Christians.

"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist." (Luke 21:14-15)

"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10)

Isolation

Tribulation: Easy Access to Sin

It used to be difficult to cheat on an exam or an essay... now it's as simple as asking ChatGPT to write it for you.

It used to be difficult to get involved in gambling... lots of checks and showing identification... now it's an app.

It used to be difficult to look at explicit media... and now it's at the fingertips.

It used to be difficult to acquire drugs... and now it's handed out by peers at school.

Busyness

But I Am Not Overcoming...

Someone might say: "I am doing all the right things... I come to Church. I take communion. But I am still suffering. I'm not overcoming anything." - "I'm still struggling with my sin" - "I'm still not getting the job I want" - "I am still not doing well in school" - "I'm still not financially advancing" - "I'm still having issues in my family"

And here I have to ask myself - am I united to Christ? Or just Visiting Him?

Am I living a life of repentance, or am I living the same Mon-Sat and showing up on Sunday?

Is Sunday God's day and the other days are my days? Or am I uniting with Christ in daily prayers, scripture readings, Vespers and Praises, Life of repentance?

There is no blessing in a life of sin... If I am in a sinful relationship, or watching or listening to things that are not befitting to me as a Christian, or cheating in my school or in my work, or going to places I shouldn't be going to, then I am not going to overcome the world. I am clinging to the world. I am rejecting His Victory. He has overcome the world, and I am clinging to it. So of course, I will not overcome, but I will be overcome.

Instead, let me cling to the Lord and unite with Him. Let me put behind the life of sin and the things that take me further from him. Let me seek virtue. Let me seek a personal relationship with the Lord and unite with Him, so that I, through the Lord Jesus Christ, can have victory in my struggles, and with Him, overcome the world.

Glory be to God, forever. Amen.