A Little While - Times Seven
KJV John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
Luther said this word - a little while - is used so often in this one passage that it becomes annoying. I have had kids count them off during the reading.
I have contended that Jesus knew a lot about education methods, because He used them so effectively. He used little short stories (parables), and analogies from the customs of the time (the Good Shepherd), and short, descriptive words (a little while). Some are saying, "Of course, He did. He is the Creating Word." But I am saying that I lead my secular class in adult education back to His methods. I have a class of professing Christians and they catch on.
The context of this passage is important because:
- It is a going away sermon, and the last words of leaders are especially significant in the Bible, as they often are today.
- The disciples were facing a terrible trial, losing Jesus to arrest, torture, and death, leaving them weak and unafraid.
We are an impatient society, always in a hurry to be ahead instead of enjoying the moment, the abundant life God gives us. During our extra-cold winter, many people said, "I can't wait for warm weather." I was thinking and saying, "No I can wait to enjoy each day as spring approaches." I watch Creation unfold on our morning walks. The entire garden and all the bushes seemed dead. Then plants, insects, and birds began to garnish the yard in tiny increments - early bulbs, wildflowers and weeds, robins and cardinals, bees and wasps.
I was sure the roses would be late in blooming for Mother's Day, but then the rains came, 8 inches in a few days, lots of fertilizer from the sky, and even more rain. Perhaps 50 roses are in full blooms or budded - on two Easy-Does-It bushes. New bushes are also producing. Joe Pye is preparing to welcome butterflies.
Why rush? The yardwork is zero in early spring. Now it demands more than anyone can do.
My mother was always telling me to be patient. I think our oldest granddaughter had that issue. One time, she explained to me - "Grampy, you have to wait."
Jesus was teaching the disciples that the Passion was only a little while away. And - that He would be taken from them - to the Father - after that. Both parts of the message left the grieving disciples even more alarmed as anxious. But the truth ultimately strengthens use, and this lesson was built with the same brick - a little while.
17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
One thing we can see in John's Gospel is the distance between Jesus' teaching and the comprehension of His audience. He is always far above them because He is "from above" and descended to be the Son of God in the flesh. These perplexing conversations (Nicodemus, the Woman at the Well, Peter and his feet being washed) are that much more convincing - if we catch on.
Uncertainty makes us anxious. Graduation meant driving into campus construction, with a zillion anxious relatives, to a stadium with 16,000 seats and limited parking, uncertain weather, and meeting up somehow. Then, hours later, how does one feed a family with thousands of hungry grads and relatives pouring out from the same location? And it all went well.
One person was happy to save the day in two ways, first we got an up to date handicap sign to park next to the stadium. Secondly, the same person went to the restaurant to save a table for us while we were escaping graduation traffic, which saved a 45 minute wait. That was my best English student locally, a wife, mother, aunt, and future nurse. Absent that help, which was thrust on us, it could have been as anxious as I imagined. And that is how God works, as Jesus explained then and does now.
18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
1. Here in this Gospel we see how the Lord comforts and imparts courage to his children whom he is about to leave behind him, when they would come in fear and distress on account of his death or of their backsliding. We also notice what induced the evangelist John to use so many words that he indeed repeats one expression four times, which according to our thinking he might have expressed in fewer words. There is first of all presented to us here the nature of the true Christian in the example of the dear apostles. In the second place, how the suffering and the resurrection of Christ are to become effective in us.
2. We also see that Christ announces to his disciples, how sorrowful they should be because he would leave them, but they are still so simpleminded and ignorant, and also so sorrowful on account of his recent conversation at the Last Supper, that they did not understand at all what he said unto them; yea, the nature of that which Christ presents to them is too great and incomprehensible for them. And it was also necessary that they should first become sorrowful before they could rejoice, even as Christ himself was an example to us that without the cross we could not enter into glory.
Long explanations can be forgotten or mixed up easily. Jesus gave them a word, which we know as a phrase, to calm their anxiety and give them some peace in a time of turmoil - "a little while." Because it is used so often, we cannot help remembering it when the same challenges arise. But it is also good for enjoying those special, peaceful, joy-filled moments that grow in our memories as we reflect on them.
The fact remains - we do not know the future, but we know Who holds the future. That is the basis for patience - faith in our loving, gracious God, Whose power is chiefly shown in His mercy.
During a time of grief or crisis, we become confused and anxious. Experience with God's guidance helps a great deal, and the Scriptures encourage us to take all our troubles, anxieties, and pain to Him.
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
The childbirth analogy is difficult to misunderstand. There is always anxiety and pain, so the time leading up to childbirth is a genuine trial.
Jesus predicted that His disciples would be in mourning, weeping, and distraught. The greatest joy in their lives, the greatest meaning for them - that would be ripped away, simply because He threatened the powers of darkness with the message of faith in Him.
Looking at the words here, the anguish of the disciples is stressed and described in detail. But in contrast, the travail of childbirth is passed over quickly because of the joy that follows. That is what we continue to hear today, even when a child must struggle to live so that everyone is anxious all the time. But when prayers are answered, the joy is overwhelming and we can see it in the baby, too. And that is just as true in those children whose conditions continue. God's love and guidance, and the family love illuminate the child, even though a thousand plagues seem to hit that little person. The spiritually blind and unbelievers cannot see it and will not look, because God hides the joyful peace from their hardened hearts.
The question is not whether our favored outcome develops, but whether we see, in faith, God's foresight and blessings.
Mothers
Mothers live a life of constant turmoil from the unceasing concern they have for their children and descendants. This hardly ever goes away and it is astonishing in those cases where a mother simply does not care. The vast majority want everything taken care of for everyone - and the best for their children.
Evolutionists intrigue me because they do not see the same characteristics in animals. It is not so clear in scorpions, but they do carry their cute little children around with them. The mammals show an overwhelming love for their children and great pride in them too. We used to show off our Siamese kittens to company, but the mother cat jumped in each lap and took each kitten back down to the basement. One night we left the kittens alone in the basement. The mother cat brought each one up, put them in the middle of the company, on the rug, and stood next to her kittens, proudly.
Who programmed cats and dogs to be so motherly?
21. Christ says here to his disciples, So it will also go with you. The woman is here in such a state of mind that she is fearful of great danger, and yet she knows that the whole work lies in the hands of God; in him she trusts; upon him it is she depends; he also helps her and accomplishes the work, which the whole world could not do, and she thinks of nothing but the time that shall follow, when she shall again rejoice; and her heart feels and says, A dangerous hour is at hand, but afterwards it will be well. Courage and' the heart press through all obstacles. Thus it will also be with you, when you are in sorrow and adversity, and when you become new creatures. Only quietly wait and permit God to work. He will accomplish everything without your assistance.
22. This parable of the woman is a strong and stubborn argument against free will, that it is entirely powerless and without strength in the things pertaining to the salvation of our souls. The Gospel shows very plainly that divine strength and grace are needed. Man's free will is entirely too weak and insignificant to accomplish anything here. But we have established our own orders and regulations instead of the Gospel and through these we want to free ourselves from sin, from death, from hell, and from all misfortune and finally be saved thereby. A great mistake.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
Sorrow comes our way. As Luther says, women are more easily moved to joy and to sorrow. One woman began crying when she suddenly saw the bulbs blooming along our garage in Midland.
Jesus assured His disciples that they would have sorrow. To care for others is a gentle burden. It weighs on us but that weight is better than the emptiness of not caring. Our nurse friend, after raising her kids, cannot wait to foster some young children. It is her nature to care and to take care of others, and she was raised by a nurse herself.
The rejoicing we experience is from getting past difficult times, from finding out they were for the best, and from learning to appreciate how short our time is with others.
As grandparents we have constant flashbacks from the grandchildren growing up, their father growing up, and the fun with had with their aunts Bethany and Erin. Each day that seems ordinary at the time often becomes special in our memories, for various reasons.
During graduation preparation - Remember when we dropped of Brenda's computer at their place and retrieved it later? Little Josie came down the hall after it. She wanted to keep it, so she wailed for that computer.
23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
The entire Bible matches the Promises of God with encouragement to pray. I do not pray because I know what the outcome will be, but I put the outcome is in God's gracious hands. Experience shows His wisdom, and the Gospel moves us always to keep this - rather than man's wisdom - as our guide.
