“IN HIS WORD THE LITTLE WHILE IS OVER”
Saint John 16. 16-23
Jubilate-the Third Sunday after Easter: 25 April Anno Domini 2010
Fr Watson S.S.P.
Jesus tells His followers that He is going to go to the Father. Who is the Father but the First Person of the blessed and Holy Trinity? Who is the Father but God? Who is the Father but Creator and eternal begetter of the eternally begotten Son? And Who is the Christ's Father, but your very own dear Father-"Our Father Who art in heaven?"
His prophecy was made before Good Friday, so in one sense it refers to the Father's "side" to which His spirit returned when He "gave up the ghost" on Calvary's altar-the moment of His death. The Holy Scriptures do not give out a detailed, minute-by-minute, play by play, GPS, traceable, monitoring of the Savior's spirit/soul during the time that His precious Body was interred in Joseph's tomb. At some point His Spirit re-animated His Body and He descended into Hell to proclaim Victory of Satan's now broken-open kingdom. And then after ripping the doors, the gates, off that hellish prison house, He left the cave grave never to be in the dark again. But there would be more "little whiles."
His prophecy made, and thus recorded by Saint John, also refers in a smaller way, to His somewhat disconcerting (to those who witnessed it) way of vanishing out of their sight after His purpose of revelation had been accomplished; to-wit: the invisible leaving the table-side of the two disciples in Emmaus.
For the Son of God, the Second Person of the Triune, the Incarnated God/Man to be with The Father (and of course, WITH the Holy Ghost) is as it should be, and always will be. The essence of God, the only True God, is not omnipotence, glory, sovereignty, awesomeness, or anything else but LOVE; Love and Communion. The Lover, the Beloved, + and the Love between them is a very beautiful, metaphorical, and Augustinian way of thinking of the mystery of the Trinity.
The time before Bethlehem, four thousand long years (or some such other longish period of time-- of centuries) was for the most part a time of "not seeing." The Lord of course did have many Theophanies and physical manifestations of revelation which the Hebrew authors have preserved for the Church by the gift of the Holy Spirit. There were marvelous visions and min-breakthroughs which occurred in the fabric of man's mundane understanding of space and time and place. But for the most part, during the "little while" of the First Covenant, the Lord delighted in being made known, in being actually PRESENT, in His Word. The Word of God was delivered by Patriarchs and Prophets, by Psalmists, and by Priests with their buckets of blood and red-stained hands and arms. The Word of God was "seen" in all of the "types" of Christ which were foreshadowed in His chosen earthly vessels, His proto-forerunners and nascent deliverers (from Joshua to Gideon, from Elijah to Daniel, from Jonah to John Baptizer).
And then that little time, that "little while" was over and the Lord was seen! He was beheld with the eyes. He was gazed upon, not just by the Host, but by Shepherds, by a carpenter, and by a still-Virgin mother.
It wasn't that the Son of God, the en-fleshed Christ, was NOT with the Father (and the Paraclete) during His 33 years of local and visual Israel ministry, but rather, that for those three decades He was in the midst of His sheep-fold in a wonderfully new and merciful way.
And then, the dark night of Maundy Thursday was upon His closet friends, and He was gone. "Gone?" Hardly. The Lord was still present with those disheveled Galilean fisherman in His Word. Mountains crumble; seas dry out, man-made institutions cease to be, but…THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER. And where the Word is preached, and where the Word is given out, CHRIST IS PRESENT. Your eyes may be "held" like the Emmaus duo; but even as He was really with them in BODY AND BLOOD, in solidness and realness, so too He is here right now with you!
Though the time period, from His arrest in the Garden to the time of His re-appearance in the Upper Room to say "PEACE! PEACE TO YOU," may have seemed interminably long, it was but a "little while." And then, and then, He was seen again… He was touched, handled, talked with, and gazed upon. Blessed are the 12 for the gift that was given them.
Oh, I do not mean the gift to see Jesus with their eye-balls and to hear his voice, (its tenor, cadence, volume, accent, timbre, authority and love) with their ears. I mean blessed are those disciples who were graced to be made Apostles: SENT ONES. He did far more than forgive the 12 their sins (forgive Peter his betrayal). He made them forgivers In HIS STEAD and by HIS POWER. He breathed on them the Holy Ghost. Now, not only was His Father their Father (just like all of you) but also His Key of Loosing, His Breath of Remission, and His Words of Institution were theirs to use and safeguard and administer on behalf of all the world, not just those in Judea, but those in Germany, Africa, Mexico, and Kansas.
Now the Apostles, and the Church which they served and nourished (BY HIS WORD, that is, by THE WORD), was ready and waiting for the last time that the Lord would visibly take His "leave" to be with the Father. In a "little while," 40 days to be exact, came the ASCENSION to the throne of glory where Christ now FILLS ALL THINGS. The Son of God now fills all Scripture, all Fonts, all Chalices & Patens, all WORDS OF + ABSOLUTION and all Christ-centered homilies with His REAL BODILY (albeit invisible) PRESENCE.
So, Jesus' "leave" (His leaving) to be with the Father, is only a leaving of your visions' ability to perceive a spectrum that the pupil, iris and retina can no longer receive. For a "little while."
He has given you something better than ocular, hawk-like perspicuity; he has given you Faith! He has given you His Word (Himself) in the Words poured out upon you by men as blessed, and as fallible as the Galileans.
Yes, the Son is WITH the Father and the Spirit. And He's now with you: this morning, during your darkest nights, and forever and ever.
And, in a "little while" (the time it takes to sing the Offertory, pray the General Prayer, and sing through the Sanctus and Agnus Dei) He will be WITH YOU AGAIN. He is for you!
Your hearts turn to him, receive Him, and you rejoice. All that God has He gives to you.
In the Name of The Father and + of The Son and of The Holy Ghost