May 12, 2025
A Little While - Part 1
John 16:16-18
05/12/2025
16 ``A little while, and you will see me no longer;
and again a little while, and you will see me.''
17 So some of his disciples said to one another,
``What is this that he says 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?'''
18 So they were saying, ``What does he mean by `a
little while'? We do not know what he is talking
about.'' (ESV)
During the forty-nine days of the Easter Season, the Church
focuses on Jesus' words of comfort which He gave His disciples on
the night He was betrayed. We are preparing for His Ascension
where He is no longer visibly present. The Gospel reading for
this week, part of the conversation Jesus had with His disciples
as they walked from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane,
speaks both of Jesus' death and resurrection, and His Ascension.
``A little while, and you will see me no longer; and
again a little while, and you will see me.'' So some
of his disciples said to one another, ``What is this
that he says 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
were saying, ``What does he mean by `a little while'?
We do not know what he is talking about.''
Within a few short minutes, Jesus would be met in the Garden
by Judas and the Temple guards. There He would be forcibly taken
away from the disciples, tortured, crucified, and buried. For
three days the disciples could not see their Lord, for He was in
the tomb.
Even at this point of Jesus' time on earth, His disciples
expected that Jesus would restore the temporal kingdom of David
and Solomon. They did not know, they did not understand, that
Jesus' kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, an eternal kingdom which
is not of this world.
This week we will examine Jesus' words, finding hope even in
the turmoil of our own days.
May our Lord grant you the joy of knowing your sins are
forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.