A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.
Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that his death was not the end, and neither did it mean he was defeated. It would remove him, for the moment, from their sight. But it did not mean that he was even momentarily incapacitated. He was at work the whole time, both in dying, and in death. The disciples couldn't see the later, but would later learn about the descent into hell, where Jesus triumphed over the devil and gave freedom to all the Old Testament era saints who awaited his coming. Jesus never referred to the death of anyone in a way that made it sound ultimate. Of others, he sometimes said they fell asleep. But of himself even sleep was an insufficient metaphor. He was out of their sight, but not inactive. He rested from his worldly work, and from the pain and sorrow that accompanied it. But he continued his work of the spiritual liberation of creation.
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’?”
The disciples were already reluctant to ask Jesus about his death. But even coming to terms with that eventuality could not help them understand what he meant we he said he would be missed only for "a little while". They really didn't want to think about the predictions of the death of Jesus any more than they had to. And they probably also felt somewhat inadequate for not understanding, since it seemed that Jesus expected them to understand. But Jesus did not at that moment expect them to understand perfectly. He had just told them as much when he said there was much that they could not yet bear to know. Even so, he did not leave them in complete confusion. He wanted them to have the context as clear as possible so that when he speech was illuminated by the events of his death and resurrection it would become fully intelligible.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Before Jesus rose from the dead the only resurrection anyone expected was slated for the end of time, and for everyone all at once. No one guessed that Jesus would experience this first, after only "a little while" as a kind of "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (see First Corinthians 15:20). Nor was it clear why such a thing would happen. In hindsight we can see that, in a way unique to Jesus, his dying defeated death. By contrast others can only hope to rise by being united to him. He blazed a trail which he can now bring to bear on our own lives and struggles, and eventually on our own dying and death.
While the world rejoiced over the death of Jesus the disciples wept and mourned. But on the third day their grief was turned to joy. They thought that all hope was lost until the impossible happened and they realized they never suspected how much hope there had been all along. All of us too in some measure experience sorrow and grief in this life, even in our spiritual lives when things don't always go smoothly on a linear path of progress. But our hope is often too narrow as it was for the disciples. We are meant to see beyond this little while of sorrow to the joy that lies before us. We can recognize that those who mourn in this way are truly blessed, for we may hope to share in the same joy that filled the disciples when they encountered the risen Lord Jesus. We have encountered him, even in our recent celebration of Easter. But in just a little while, if we remain united to him, we will see him face to face.
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