“JUBILATE 2024”
Saint John 16: 16-23
Jubilate: 21 April Anno Domini 2024
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
Except for several appearances, to Saint Paul, Jesus was never seen with the eyes after His visible Ascension into the sky—to be covered and veiled in a cloud. So, when talking about “seeing” The Lord, Jesus first of all means, “seeing” Him—with the eyes in your head; the way He was seen by His Mother, The Blessed Virgin Mary, by James and John, by the Magdalene, by Judas, Herod, and Pilate; the way I now see you and you see me.
The ability to perceive with the eyes is a true 1st Article gift from God: “my eyes, and all my senses” writes the Reformer. But things that cannot be seen are still real and true and of sometimes great effect. Sub-atomic particles can not be seen; neither can an electrical current or the wind—not really. You see the results of the atmosphere on other visibly solid objects to be sure. Your thoughts and your emotions as pure intellect and will are not visible—but they are real. Okay. Then, literally, of course, The Christ speaks truth. In a short time, a “little while” the “12” would not be able to see Him. He would be dead on the cross and taken by Joseph and Nicodemus to be buried in a cave covered by a stone—no one would see Him on late Friday until early Sunday morning Easter. True! And also true that in a little while The Disciples would see Him after His Resurrection (Emmaus, Easter Eve, Quasimodogeniti Eve, the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and other visible AND Bodily appearances for the 40 days of Eastertide). And even after The Ascension, they in another “little while” (10 more days) would “see” Him in the work of The Holy Ghost on The Feast of Pentecost.
Christ was preparing His Apostles for His permanent “visible” removal. He, removing Himself from their field of vision: His Ascension to the right hand of power and majesty; or as He says: “I go to The Father.” The “12” did not yet fully understand the upcoming Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection. They certainly did not comprehend The Ascension and its affect on them, their ministry, and the sustaining life of Christ’s Church Catholic. It is not that they were clueless; it is that they were human, sinfully human. Like you.
This was new and unique to all the disciples then. But now, for all of you, it should not be as difficult since you have the total counsel of God. Yet, while you intellectually know it, your old nature does not like it; does not understand why it must be this way; and due to weak faith, even begins to doubt The Lord’s Words: “for I will see you again.” Do you believe Him? Do you trust His promise? Every Christian knows this with the brain (we would hope and pray) but not with the soul of indomitable faith—at least not all the time. No, “old Adam” wants to actually SEE Jesus the way Peter and Andrew saw Jesus; or at least, ahh, here it is, see the results of Jesus’s words in miraculous and life affirming signs and wonders: RESULTS, darn it! “If I’m a Christian then The Lord should be good to me—the way I know good is—to ME!” Read your Bible much? No. If one is a Christian one will have done to him/her what was done to The Master. One will be shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, cursed, spit upon, publicly humiliated, and possibly executed. If one is a Christian then that crucifix around your neck that you should be wearing, is not costume jewelry or virtue signaling to your Reformed friends, but rather an avatar of your whole life—“under the cross” and perhaps one day “on a cross.”
You want Jesus to be standing right next to you, really, (which He is) but also visibly? Really? I do not think you have thought this through. What you really want is to have Jesus pop out of your magic lamp whenever you call on Him to fix something, someone. No. That is worshipping yourself as God.
If you desire a loyal, loving, always forgiving companion that will both constantly be at your side and VISIBLE—buy a dog.
Psalm 139. The Lord knows you better than you know yourself. He truly “gets you,” for He knows what you are feeling in your heart—in the pit of your stomach. He knows your sighs, angry fits and rages, your sobbing and convulsions before they even appear. Jesus knows you are at times lonely and at times alone—at least from other humans. “Verily, verily, [Jesus] say[s] to you…ye shall weep and lament.” To be sure, a lot of your pain and sorrow comes simply because you presumptuously sin—you do things, like Paul himself, that you know you should not do. Also, you sin because you want to. Causation dear Saints…not mystical mumbo-jumbo “karma” dealing with salvific matters, just every day normal wrong—do stupid, evil, and sinful stuff, and there will be earthly, right now “in-time” results. So, stop it.
But Christ is also teaching about the weeping and lamenting you experience by confessing Him clearly and boldly to an unbelieving world. So yes, when Satan and his minions in this world, of which he is “the prince of the air,” mercilessly persecute you for being and ACTING as a Christian, weep. It is fine to lament. And yes, when our dear fellow Saints are taken from us in suffering and death because, we still live here in a fallen and decaying world of sin—yes weep and lament.
But hear and believe The Gospel of Jesus! “Your sorrow shall be turned into joy! I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
No one has seen The Father says Saint John. True. The 1st Person is Spirit. No one has seen The Holy Ghost—He is the “Ghost/Spirit.” True. Ah, but Jesus told Philip, and you, “he who has seen Me HAS seen The Father.” It is all Jesus. All theology is Christology. To see God as God—the fullness of Trinitarian glory would burn you like a crisp after first burning out your eyeballs from your head. You used special “glasses” so see the eclipse of the sun a week or so back. You are given The Word of God—Jesus—to see Him, and thus The Father and The Spirit—in His means of Grace. In a little while, a couple of minutes, with your Jesus spectacles of His Merciful Word of Institution, you will see Him in His true and real, and yes, BODILY, Body and Blood at table. What you ask The Father in His Name—SAVIOR—GRACE—PEACE that passes understanding, “He will give it you.”
Take eat; take drink—the true Joy of Jesus: For You!
In The Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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