Separation Anxiety

The Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 10, 2026
John 14:15-21

“Separation Anxiety”

Perhaps the greatest human fear that we have is separation; fear of abandonment. This manifests itself in the thing we call separation anxiety. We usually associate this with children as they go off to school for the first time. Each year, we see this here at church with children who are new to our Early Childhood Education Center.  There can be lots of tears and cries of “I wanna go home!” as little ones settle into a new place and routine. But moms and dads can experience separation anxiety just as much as their children. And what about when our kids leave home and head off to college? Or when they take a job in a different city and state? Or when a spouse, or son, or daughter, is active duty and deployed somewhere far away? Or when we have to relocate and leave a much-loved home and neighbors behind? Even our pets can experience separation anxiety when we’re not around. The truth is that separation anxiety follows us all through life. In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is speaking to his disciples about his upcoming departure when he will return to his Father in heaven. It’s clear that the disciples are dealing with some separation anxiety. Jesus tells them: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). Isn’t this what we tell our loved ones when there are tearful goodbyes? “Don’t worry. I will see you soon. Before very long, we’ll be together again.” Jesus’ words to his disciples then and his disciples now in the Gospel lesson serve as the basis for today’s sermon under the theme “Separation Anxiety.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Jesus is preparing his followers for that day when he will no longer be with them: “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). Jesus is getting them ready for when he will withdraw his physical presence from them, which the church remembers each year on Ascension Day. Forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus ascended into heaven, as recorded in Scripture (Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11). Forty days after Easter, Ascension Day is always on a Thursday, and this year that will be Thursday of this week, May 14. We will be joining our brothers and sisters in Christ at Bethany Lutheran Church in Alexandria for an Ascension Day service at 7:30PM that evening.

Even in his resurrected body, Jesus was still with his disciples, but no longer bound by the laws of nature, as the Gospel accounts tell us (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:9-20; Luke 24:13-49; John 20:19-31, 21:1-25). All of this would come to a close forty days after Jesus rose from the dead when he ascended into heaven, as we confess in the creed, “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” The closing verse in today’s Epistle lesson (1 Peter 3:13-22) speaks to this: “Jesus Christ, [who] has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” Jesus addresses the separation anxiety that disciples are feeling. He promises his followers then and now that he has not and will not abandon us, leaving us to ourselves. As we hear in today’s Gospel lesson: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). The Helper (παράκλητος), the Spirit of truth – this is the One whom Jesus promises is coming, and indeed, has come. The coming of that Helper, the Spirit of truth, is what we will celebrate in two weeks’ time on the festival of Pentecost on Sunday, May 24. Pentecost is the fiftieth and final day of the Easter season as we rejoice in the Spirit of truth who calls us and keeps us in this one true faith.

The promise of Jesus’ ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit is behind what Paul the apostle has to say to the people of Athens in today’s Epistle reading (Acts 17:16-31). We are told that Paul was “provoked” (παρωξύνετο) when he saw idol after idol everywhere around the city. He was angered because the promise of Jesus and the power of the Spirit had not yet come to the people of Athens, and Paul very much wanted them to receive this same gift and blessing. And so Paul preaches this amazing sermon that speaks so eloquently to the audience at hand: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you…” (Acts 7:22b-23). Paul goes on to proclaim the God of all creation who made the heavens and the earth, and Christ Jesus who was raised from the dead. And from this, a new church was planted there in Athens as people received the promise of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in Jesus, who died and rose again. That same good news comes to us today just as it did to those early disciples. That good news comes to us in the cleansing waters of Holy Baptism, in the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, in the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive in the Lord’s Supper.

As we navigate times of separation anxiety in our own lives, whatever this may look like, we can be assured that we have a God who is near to us; who loves us with an everlasting love; who assures us that “I will never leave you nor forsake  you” (Hebrews 13:5, quoting Joshua 1:5). Amen.