A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.
We know that the disciples had difficulty directly understanding the fact that Jesus would die before the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus tried to explain in a way that would allow them to cling to hope even when the hour of darkness was upon them. He virtually never spoke of his coming death alone but also always of the resurrection, the fact that the disciples would indeed see him again.
So some of his disciples said to one another,
"What does this mean that he is saying to us,
'A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,'
and 'Because I am going to the Father'?"
So they said, "What is this 'little while' of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means."
Let us note how the disciples approached the question. They were afraid to ask the teacher so they speculated with one another. We may suggest that this was a flawed approach and therefore yielded no fruit. All it did was magnify their own existing confusion. They had some reasonable questions about what a little while meant, given that the resurrection of the body was something most Jews believed was reserved for the end of the age. They did not know what it meant to go to the Father by way of the cross, because, in human terms, how could the cross be the way to the Father? They did not yet see it in terms of obedience and self-offering. The love that was the inner logic of such an offering was still obscure to them.
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
"Are you discussing with one another what I said
Jesus, for his part, was not content to leave the disciples isolated in their own confusion. Yet, knowing that the truth was difficult, he gave them another indirect approach by which they could begin to grasp it. He did not spell things out in literal and concrete terms at that moment because he was patient with their inability to bear some things right away. He knew that the Holy Spirit was needed in order to bring the reality of Paschal mystery home to their hearts. Only the Spirit that raised Jesus himself from the dead could fully enlighten them about this mystery.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
It was not required of them just then that they gaze directly on the bright sun of the Passion. It was enough that they be able to understand that the impending sorrow they would see and feel would not be the end of the story. This hope was enough to give them something to which they could cling even during the the crucifixion of Jesus when all hope seemed beyond reach and even the sun in the sky was darkened. All that had been done, all that had been built, all that Jesus had accomplished and taught, seemed to be for naught. But Jesus anticipated this in advance and mitigated what would otherwise have been unbearable by his promise of hope. He does the same thing for us, in all of our circumstances, no matter what darkness we face.
But this speech of our Lord’s is applicable to all believers who strive through present tears and afflictions to attain to the joys eternal.- Alcuin
No comments:
Post a Comment