2 July 2016 - the joy of his presence

[ Today's Readings ]

The presence of the bridegroom is meant to bring us joy.

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?

Further, Jesus tells us that he is with us always, even unto the end of the age (see Matthew 28:20).

Only rejoicing forever, then, right? Well, not quite. Not yet at least.

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.

What does it mean that the bridegroom will be taken from us? This seems to be mutually exclusive of the idea of him being with us always. But is it? The truth of the presence of Jesus is in fact the deeper truth than that of his absence. Even when he is taken from us he is not completely gone. Yet he is taken first and foremost in the Cross. We still need the Cross in our lives which is why it is still present in and pervades all of history.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (see First Corinthians 11:26).

We still need to look upon him whom we have pierced (see Zechariah 12:10). We still need the freedom from sin that only the sacrificial oblation of Jesus, only his perfect obedience offered to the Father, can give us. So this reality is still present in time. But even as we experience from it and benefit from it we remember the deeper truth: he is risen! He is never really gone, even if we experience the desolation of his absence. This is the only way that the weight of the Cross does not crush it. Instead it becomes the weight of glory.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (see Second Corinthians 4:17).

This is why we can't patch old paradigms by adding a bit of Jesus. The old cloaks and old wine skins cannot contain this because they have no reference to the Cross and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus is speaking of peace to us this morning. This is a peace we can know even in the midst of trials because he truly is with us always. It does not mean that there is no longer a time for fasting. It just means that fasting is now undergirded with a hope that gives it definitive meaning.

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.

He is bringing us to a land of permanence where fasting gives way to the eternal feast. Let us rejoice in that hope.

I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.