John
16:12-22 NIV
12 “I have much more to say to you, more
than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak
on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet
to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from
me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the
Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he
will make known to you.”
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you
will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
17 At this, some of his disciples said to
one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will
see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the
Father’?” 18 They
kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what
he is saying.”
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him
about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I
meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a
little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep
and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will
turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has
pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the
anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your
time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no
one will take away your joy.
A Little While – See You Soon!
I’ll begin with
reflecting on the thought of “Ages.” Each age or generation takes in what came to
it from the generation before. It’s a gift from the past. And then the present
generation makes new discoveries to give to the next generation. This is an
unending cycle. Think of it as gifts from the past to the future that keep
giving. Eternity to eternity in some way, breaking in on mankind. It’s a giving
of what astonished the past to what astonishes the present that sets up an
astonishment of gifts into the future, all with something more and something
new.
Next, let’s consider
“understanding.” What gets in the way of understanding something? How about,
what gets in the way of understanding God, to be more specific?
There are three main
things that get in mankind’s way of understanding God.
· Sin – Rejecting God – If we reject God,
we certainly cease our understanding – the conversation is over. Sin also gets
in the way. Sin focuses us on our own needs and we begin to serve self in all
ways. Through our sin, we have turned away from God to self.
· Righteousness – This is
self-righteousness. We don’t need God because we are righteous without God.
This is when mankind sought to proudly put Christ to death on a cross. Mankind
felt that Jesus was not God and they didn’t need salvation. Or perhaps, even if
they knew Jesus was God they didn’t want God in the way of their own
righteousness. In this way mankind declared itself just and powerful all on
their own.
· Judgment – Here mankind condemned or
judged Jesus as or as not, God. The judgment was within whatever was decided,
each on their own, or as a group. Judgment belonged to the individual or group,
not with God.
With all this
thinking as a background, let’s consider the dilemma of the disciples in this
passage from John. What does this “A Little While” mean? Today we can see two possible
meanings. Perhaps “A Little While” refers to Jesus’ death and then His
resurrection. This passage takes place around the time of Jesus Last Supper
with His disciples.
But today and in the
future for these disciples, perhaps Jesus is also speaking of after His
ascension and then when He returns at the end of the age.
If we go back into
the beginning, we know that Jesus was with God in the Creation. Perhaps, just
maybe, we could think of a little while is when Jesus is born into flesh and
blood at Bethlehem.
So, this “A Little
While.” Brings meaning into our lives today. God has astonished us from age to
age, or generation to generation. We bring along God’s astonishment throughout
time and He gives us new astonishments daily. We are astonished by God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As is said, God’s wonders never cease. And
also, God’s wanders never cease. God wanders throughout all time and makes us
wonder throughout our life, at all He gives to us each and every day of our
life, and each and every day for all God’s Children.
Yet still, along
with the disciples, we pause…
17 At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What
does he mean by saying, ‘In a
little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will
see me,’ and ‘Because I
am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean
by ‘a little while’? We
don’t understand what he is saying.”
We seek the answer inwardly. We put our heads
together with other disciples and come out with an answer and an action plan. The
Church on earth has been doing this for ages. YET --- RATHER
Instead of listening to ourselves and coming up
with our own answers and plans; why don’t we do something else.
We need to turn to God and LISTEN. We need to sit
at the feed of Jesus and SEE and DO as Jesus leads and guides us through the
Word and the Spirit of God.
This is not about me, you or us. This “A Little
While” is an action of God.
Jesus goes on to open our eyes, to our present
pain, sorrow, suffering, death and such, that we have present in the here and
now of this place where we exist, to another time and place. A wonderful time
and place that is “A Little While” from now.
Jesus’ promise is goodness and joy and peace, in “A
Little While.”
This “A Little While” is not something we seek.
This is not our pursuit of happiness we all tend to think we have a right to.
When we seek happiness, it tends to disappear on us. We never seem to catch
happiness on our own.
Jesus guides us to do something else. Instead of
seeking personal or group happiness, let’s live for God. Let’s live for Christ.
Let’s live for one another. For, “A Little While.”
And when we do this, life takes on a better
flavor. Life becomes happiness. Not by what we have done, but rather, through
what Jesus has done for us. In this, happiness happens. But this happiness is
much more. This happiness is JOY.
What we seek, as believers, is Christ. And what
happens, is astonishing. Christ comes to us! God comes to us and works in us
and through us and gives us JOY. This JOY is so much better and beyond any
happiness we could ever seek. This JOY is thrown into our lives FREE. A Gift!
In “A Little While.”
We put on Christ --- well, that’s Heaven!
We live for God --- well, that’s Heaven!
Where do you come in, on this? Well… You don’t!
As Luther reflected upon a symbol he created
called the Luther Rose…
In my words…
I look to the cross and see death and pain, yet salvation.
This cross is the black of death.
The cross is centered in my heart of faith. The heart is the
red of Jesus’ life-giving blood.
The cross and the heart are enveloped by a rose of JOY
caused by faith. The rose is a white rose of all the angels and blessed saints
of God.
As I look to the heavens; the cross, the heart, and the rose,
are surrounded by a blue sky, which is the beginning of the heavenly JOY to
come. A blue sky of the hope of heavenly JOY to come.
Everything, the cross, the heart, the rose and the sky are
encompassed by the gold ring of endless JOY through the gift of grace. This
endless rind is the gold of Jesus, my most precious gift.
Thanks be to God!
That’s the JOY of “A Little While.” All the gift of Jesus
throughout time.
Sure, we all have our own “A Little While,” but, we can rejoice
on this Word of Jesus…
22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take
away your joy.
Age to age, generation to
generation, through and beyond our sinfulness and in “A Little While” ---
today, tomorrow and forever --- JOY!
I invite you to pause and enjoy the inspiration
that I received this week as I reflected on this passage of Scripture from John,
with this YouTube Music Video. --- Enjoy and may God bless you.
See You In A Little While – Steven Curtis Chapman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECRfLQVvyfs
