5-May-16

Gospel JN 16:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying 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 said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
“Are you discussing with one another what I said,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me’?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Reflection:
As He continues His march toward Jerusalem, Jesus tries to prepare His disciples for what is ahead.
He knows that the rulers of this world will soon reject His message of our Father's love and forgiveness.
"Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
While the Pharisees and Scribes "rejoice" at His death, the followers of Christ "will weep and mourn" at His crucifixion.
Jesus understood that once He was put to death, His own followers would not only "mourn and weep," but they would be filled with the fear of being put to death themselves.
In order to put their fear of death to rest, Jesus would first have to overcome death itself.
Only upon His resurrection will the disciple's grief "become joy."
It is much the same in our own life.
Parting is a sweet sorrow, and we "weep and mourn" at the loss of a loved one.
But, our joy is complete in our confidence that death has been defeated by Jesus.
Those we love are alive again in Christ.

"The day we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity." - - - Lucius Annaeus Seneca