A Little While
The text for today is our Gospel
lesson, John 16:16-22, which has already been read.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Before I begin, I must issue the
following warning: This sermon contains an illustration featuring the exploits
of one of my adorable grandchildren.
A couple of years ago we were in the
van headed to Gillette , Wyoming
Now, as biased as I may be about my
grandchildren’s advanced abilities, I realize Abbott didn’t really
understand. He was only four months old
at the time. But even though he didn’t
understand, that voice seemed to reassure him.
And the running joke seemed to pass the time more quickly for us adults
than a crying baby. At the same time, it
was a reminder to me that the day will come when Abbott will ask that age-old
question: “How much longer until we get there?”
And now that he’s almost three we’re getting pretty close to that time.
The key to good communication is to
speak to someone’s level. Not too far
below as to be condescending. Not too
far above, as to be unintelligible. What
do you say to a young child, who has no real concept of time or distance? You tell them: “We’ll be there in a little
while.” They don’t really understand “10
minutes” or “15 miles,” but they do learn to understand “a little while.”
And that’s what Jesus is doing in our
text. He’s speaking to His disciples,
who are like young children, theologically speaking. They don’t understand His plan of salvation. They don’t realize that God, who is not bound
by time and space, looks at time and space in a much different way than we
mortal, finite men and women. And so to
explain to them what is going to be happening in the next few terrible days and
in the glorious age to come, He says to them: “A little while, and you will see
Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me… because I am going
to the Father.”
“A little while.” We’ll come back to that phrase. But before we do, we need to understand the
context in which Jesus spoke these words.
“A little while” could be a few days if you’re waiting for Christmas,
but not much more than a minute or two if you really have to use the restroom. And so it’s helpful for us to have a better
understanding of the situation Jesus and His disciples faced when these words
were spoken.
Our text is part of Jesus’ last
discourse with His disciples in the Upper Room as He prepared them for the
difficult days ahead. The disciples were
still laboring under misconceptions as to what the Messiah would do for Israel
But now He was talking about going and
suffering and dying. He was telling them
that they would be denying Him and be put out of the synagogues and killed. And if that weren’t enough, Jesus was trying
to explain the work of the Holy Spirit and the interaction of the Trinity, and
indicated that He had many other things on His mind He wanted to share with
them, but they were more than the disciples could bear at that time. No wonder they were confused and bewildered.
Indeed, their hearts were
breaking. They had left their homes behind. They had given
everything just to be with Jesus. He was their home now. Wherever
He went, they followed. And being with Him was enough. Hearing that
voice, sometimes so gentle and sometimes so stern. Looking into those
eyes, sometimes filled with laughter and sometimes sparking in anger. He
was their Jesus. He was their home. But now He says that He is
going away and that they cannot come with Him. Their hearts were
breaking. He tries to help them understand.
“I am not leaving forever. I am
going away. Going to the Father. You will not see Me. But
then you will see Me. Truly you will have sorrow. You will cry and
weep and the world will go on oblivious to your pain, in its own
happiness. But look… though you will be sorrowful, your sorrow will be
turned into joy.”
The look on their faces must have told
Him that they did not understand. They
were not following what He was trying to say to them. So He explained
further: “Look, it’s like this. A woman, when she is in labor has sorrow
because her hour has come. She’s in pain. It hurts. It hurts
badly. But it doesn’t hurt forever. No. There comes the moment
when the little baby is laid beside her and she looks into his face. She
embraces her in her bosom and her joy is total and complete. The
sorrow and pain are forgotten. The anguish is gone. Her heart
swells with joy that a human being has been born. Her little baby.”
Jesus looked around at their
faces. “Do you understand now?” There was the dawning of
understanding written on their faces. They understood what He had just
said, but they were not sure of its application to them. So He goes on: “That’s
how it is with you and Me. Now you will have sorrow. Your gut will
feel as though it’s being ripped in two. Your heart will feel like it’s
being pulled out. You will cry out in your pain. Because of what’s
about to happen to Me. You are going to lose your home for a little
while. You are going to lose your companion for a little while. You
are going to be alone for a little while.
“A little while. Do you hear
that? ‘A little while.’ Cling to
that. Through the hours and days to come, keep saying to yourself: ‘a
little while, a little while.’ Because I will see you again. Though death bars the way, though the grave
closes its gates upon Me, I will see you again. Me. The One
speaking to you now. Not a phantom. Not a ghost. But Me, the flesh
and blood Me that you have known lo these three years. You will see Me
again when the time of sorrow is through and when you do… and when you do… such
joy will fill your heart…. such rapture will seize you… such happiness will
flood your very being that you will be forever changed. You will have
planted in you a joy that no one and nothing has the power to take away.
Because you will see Me again. And then you will understand. Joy
abounding. Joy forever.
Their heads were nodding now.
Pain was ahead. Bad pain. The pain of their own weakness, their own
betrayals of Him, their own denials and running away…. the pain of watching
their Beloved hanging on the tree, in agony. Knowing that it was their
sin and the world’s sin that put Him there. Knowing that there was
nothing they could do to help the One they loved. Having to stand by and
watch Him die, utterly helpless and alone. Pain indeed. But it
wasn’t forever. Not for Him, and not for them and not for you. It was
only for a little while. And when it was over, there was the promise of
joy that never ended, the joy of Jesus alive, seeing them again.
That joy was theirs when He came and
stood among them and said to them: “Peace be with you!” And their
hearts burst with joy as they saw it was indeed the Lord, risen and alive with
life that never ends. And the promise He brought them was that He was
only the firstfruits, the beginning. There were many to follow. Yes, them too. He would raise them from
the dead as He had been raised. He, who conquered death, would set all
His children free from its power. Joy abounding and overflowing.
It was indeed a joy that no one could
take away from them, no circumstances could rob of them. They went out
into the world a laughing, joy-filled, celebrating people. They marched
out into the world where death and the sadness of sin held sway, and by the
news they brought they set free then people who dwelt in darkness and the
shadow of death. Those who all the length of their lives were held in
bondage by fear of death, they set free. Everywhere they went they
announced: “Your sins have been answered for completely. Your guilt has
been taken away. Your death has been destroyed. You are loved by
God in His Son. Repent and believe! Taste and see! Your Lord
is good to you!”
And they did not forget to tell the
rest of the message. What Jesus had said to the Apostles in the Upper
Room illumined for them the way Jesus’ people were to walk through all the
sorrows of this world. The Apostles tell us flat out: “In this world
you will have trouble.” All kinds of troubles.
In this world your heart will
break. You will grow old and begin to fall apart. You will have
disappointment and heartache and trial upon trial. You will watch your
closest friend turn his back on you just when you need him the most. You will suffer the consequences of your own
sinful actions and the decisions of others.
You will watch helplessly as a loved one struggles with a terrible
disease… perhaps, even dies. You will
face the day of your own death. But do
not despair. Learn to say to yourself: “A little while.”
And a little while and it will be
over. For it is true that Jesus will see you again. He will see you
again in His kingdom, on that day when He wipes the tears from all eyes and
comforts and heals all hurts and gives eternal joy to His people.
In the meantime, we know that we are
God’s children now, and what we will be hasn’t been revealed yet, but that when
He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And when
our hearts are overwhelmed and the joy of Jesus Christ seems far away, we learn
to say inside: “a little while, it’s just for a little while.” We
lift our eyes to the heavenly City and see the joy and feasting that awaits us
up ahead and so we go on. We journey towards the goal.
And for the moments when we are so
weary that we do not know if we can go on, when we are bone tired and the
thought of our own failures to win the battles against the flesh and our
betrayals of the new life in Christ and our sins weigh heavy and we feel
discouraged and down, Jesus reaches out to us with the food of the pilgrims,
the waybread of His people, His Supper.
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