Posted by The WORD in Other Words by Fr Emil Lim SVD (Philippines)
Thursday Week 6 Easter
When Jesus spoke to his apostles, they were often clueless on what He was saying because they did not get the context of His passion, resurrection, and ascension. Today‘s gospel is a case in point. What does this ‘little while” mean? Will Jesus play hide and seek with them? We have the benefit of knowing the context and should understand Jesus‘ words better.
When Jesus said “in a little while you will no longer see me, ” it was a foretelling of his impending death and burial. Jesus would be gone, absent from their sight. And yet “again a little while later and you will see me,” he said. This surely referred to his resurrection after which he appeared to them several times, back to life from death in just a matter of three days.
But then again, in preparing us towards the celebration of Jesus‘ Ascension, the Church uses these words of Jesus in yet another context. When Jesus ascended to heaven he disappeared again from people‘s sight, this time, a little longer. But he also promised to see us again. He would be back, on his second coming!
We are now caught in this in—between time. We forget to appreciate this as one of our greatest hopes in life and death — to see Jesus, to meet God in person. Let the gospel today speak to us again of this hope. Probably, more than anything else, we could wish to be with God for all eternity. Nothing else matters more.
Let us not allow the seeming silence of God and darkness of His absence now defeat us into despair and disbelief. Hang on in there. Just a little more time, in God‘s time, we would see the light of grace.
