Acts 18:1-8 / John 16:16-20
Jesus speaks about his leaving: “In a
little while and you will no longer see me” (Jn 16/16)
Someone said hindsight is always 20/20. But
hindsight is what you don’t have at the time.
In simple matters of fact hindsight is a simple
thing: you can see within the hour that you backed the wrong horse – or within seconds
that you said the wrong thing. But in deeper matters, hindsight is a slow
process of realisation. The Holy Spirit gives hindsight on Jesus. This is the
Spirit working in us, the patient inner teacher, opening our minds slowly to
the light that has long since come into the world. The Spirit guides us (hodegeo) along
the way; it is Jesus who is the way (hodos) itself – indeed
the truth itself (Jn 14:6).
“The Spirit will guide you into all truth,” that is,
all the truth about God. The Son has revealed the Father, and now the Spirit
will reveal the Father by revealing the Son. We are being attracted by the
Spirit into the inner life of God.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you
cannot bear them now.” The disciples to whom these words were addressed had the
best of excuses for not having hindsight: the event had not taken place yet.
The event was the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. They could not
possibly have understood him at that time, except as a remarkable man.
When disciples of any age consider Jesus without the
guidance of the Spirit, that is what they find: a remarkable man. There were so
many boring things written in the 19th century about the ‘moral excellence’ of
Jesus…. This would only get him a place among the Pharisees. It is the Spirit
alone that can draw us into the mind of Jesus.
****
The context: In the Last Supper discourse, Jesus tells the Apostles about
leaving them in order to return to his Father and
about coming again at the end of time to usher in the new age of
God’s kingdom. When they start asking each other the meaning of these
statements, Jesus explains to them the hardships they will have to face after
his departure and the glorious reward waiting for them in his Second Coming.
But as he had consoled them earlier, promising to send a Paraclete, now Jesus
assures them that his absence is only temporary.
A
little while: Jesus is
speaking about a three-level disappearance and reappearance. The first
level is Jesus’ death and Resurrection. The apostles will no longer
see Jesus when he dies. But they will see Jesus again in three days
as their risen Lord. The second level is the mystical level: They will
lose sight of Jesus physically when he ascends to the glory of the
Father. But they will see Jesus again in many ways by Faith, when
the Holy Spirit comes. There is also a third level. Jesus is
not now visible physically to the world but will manifest his glory to the
whole world when he comes again in glory. In the light of eternity, a few
thousand years are but an instant, a very short while.
Life messages: 1)
Let us try to recognize the presence of the living Lord in our midst here and
now. 2) Let us ask Him to help us adjust our daily lives accordingly, so that
we, too, may inherit the eternal joy prepared for us. (TK)
