Being simple shouldn’t be confused with
being simplistic.
Jesus was never simplistic. He wanted to communicate his message and lead
his listeners to think about what he was saying, to wrestle with his
statements.
Whether he would have approved of trying to
capture his teachings on a bumper-sticker, in a tweet, or even in a Facebook
post is anyone’s guess.
The Gospel writers never hedged in talking
about the disciples’ struggled to grasp what Jesus was saying. Some of it was going on the night before the
crucifixion.
John tells us about it in chapter 16 verses
16 through thirty-three.
Maybe it’s best to think of Jesus’ comments
in this way. Jesus was offering his
disciples a kind of pre-Easter Easter sermon.
He was telling them what his death and resurrection would bring.
It sounded cryptic at this point because it
was: "A little while, and you will
no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me." The disciples attempted to fathom the meaning
of Jesus’ words but failed. So Jesus
clarified what he meant, “Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but
the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.”
The coming crucifixion would bring a
painful sense of loss and separation.
The disciples, despite all Jesus had said to them, would have thought it
was the end of their dream, that their hopes in Jesus had been futile.
It would be a time of despair.
Then, in “a little while” it would all
change. They would see him again. He would defeat death and open the way of
victory to all of them.
Jesus explained this by comparing their
coming experience to that of a woman giving birth. She would go through a period of intense
pain, followed by the joy of seeing her child.
Jesus’ Victory Over Death Gives Us A New Way
To See The Sorrowful Experiences Of Life.
There are experiences of pain and loss in
life that take hold of us and darken the horizon. There is no glimmer of hope as we face the
future.
Then we recall the resurrection, Jesus’
victory over death. The memory of that
victory provides a new way to see tragedy and loss. It doesn’t have to be the end. The darkness of loss can be followed by the
dawn of a new day.
It’s crucial to keep this in mind as we
face those times of sorrow and loss.
Jesus’ Victory Over
Death Opens The Way To A New Relationship With The Father.
The disciples would enjoy a new access to
the Father. They would be able to
approach the Father with their greatest needs.
This was not a simply a promise of material or physical blessings,
although God is concerned for these needs of ours; it was a promise that God
would meet our needs for spiritual growth and direction.
Jesus’ Victory Over
Death Leads The Way To A Deeper Understanding.
During their time with Jesus the disciples
grew in their understanding, sometimes slowly, sometimes by leaps. That seems to have happened the night before
the crucifixion. The disciples had a
sudden flash of understanding.
They declared, “Now we know you come from
God.” Their affirmation “you know all
things” underscores their perception that Jesus was omniscient, a quality that
belonged only to God. Their insight was
growing but it needed the further confirmation of the cross and the empty tomb.
Looking ahead to the days following the
crucifixion and Jesus’ resurrection, Thomas would address Jesus as, “My Lord
and my God.”
This is significant. In recent years some writers have suggested
that the “orthodox” picture of Jesus as God incarnate was the product of
fourth-century theological debates and decreed by the Roman emperor. That is really bad history. True, the early Christians wrestled with how
Jesus could be God and man but the vast majority of Christian thinkers never
doubted he was. New Testament scholar
Larry Hurtado has demonstrated that monotheistic Jewish converts to
Christianity were describing Jesus as God early on. Moreover, the position the emperor originally
supported is not the explanation the church eventually settled on as the best
explanation for the mystery of the incarnation.
The earliest creedal statement—“Jesus is Lord”—leaves little wiggle room
on the matter. The earliest Christian
believed that somehow, someway Jesus was God.
But let’s go back to the night before the
crucifixion.
Jesus responded, “Do you really
believe?” He wasn’t denying that they
had achieved a new level of recognition, but he was suggesting that their new
understanding wasn’t deep enough to allow them to face the opposition to come.
He predicted they would they would be
“scattered,” leaving him alone. Yet,
even as he predicted their failure, he made it clear they would one day take up
his cause and face persecution for him.
He wanted them to have peace when that time came.
Anyone who knows the Book of Acts knows the
remarkable transformation that took place in the lives of these disciples. Once they had been fearful, hiding from the
authorities, then they became bold proclaimers of Christ. What made the difference? The Resurrection.
The resurrection, of course, became the
foundation for the Christian understanding of Jesus’ identity and the Christian
world-view. And, ultimately, for the
peace and confidence the disciples would know following the first Easter.
One of my favorite Peanuts cartoon involves
Lucy and her little brother Linus. The
two are standing at a window watching it rain, a rain that was a torrent.
Lucy says to Linus, “What if the world
floods?”
“In Genesis chapter nine,” Linus answers,
“God promises he will never again destroy the world with water.”
Lucy breathes a sigh of relief and says,
“You’ve taken a great load off my mind.”
To this, Linus responds, “Sound theology
has a way of doing that.”
The resurrection gives soundness to the
Christian theology that allows us to deal with sorrow, loss, and pain, the
Christian theology that gives us hope for the future.
Conclusion
Hours before the crucifixion Jesus was
preparing his disciples for the impact of the cross—tempering it with the
reality of the resurrection, a fact they weren’t yet ready to appreciate.
He was preparing them for the impact of
Easter on their experiences, on their perspectives, on all they would say and
do in the future.
Unlike the disciples on that night, we live
in a post-Resurrection world. Your
sorrow, like the sorrow the disciples felt, can be turned to joy—because of
Jesus’ victory over death.
Right now, you might still be experiencing
the darkness of that sorrow. But Jesus
promises that one day the transformation will be a reality.
