“FOR THE JOY THAT THE GOD/MAN IS BORN FOR YOU”
Saint John 16: 16-23
Jubilate: 22 April Anno Domini 2018
Father Jay Watson SSP
You will see Jesus. The joy will be great, as if you’re seeing Him again after a long absence, the absence of your dearest Father, or Brother, or spouse…a loved one temporarily gone to another place to prepare it for you. And by being gone, away from you, Christ means only that He is locally absent, i.e. He is not seeable by your eyes or touchable in the exact same way you can see and touch a pencil or a tree. Your hearts will rejoice with a gladness that will cause even the angels to be astonished. You will ask The Father for everything that your “new creation/new man/Baptized Saint” truly wants and desires—and that is Salvation, Life, and Peace, i.e. Jesus, and The Father will give you His only Begotten Son forever and ever.
What is Saint John telling you? What is the Good News that the Evangelist is casting into your heads and hearts this Lord’s Day? Jesus! Well of course, and even better, Jesus Himself explains the events and even uses the analogy of child-birth, the very creation of new life itself to illustrate the “now, not yet” of your lives under the Cross.
There is seeing and there is non-seeing. Both exist in the life of the believing Saint. The heathen, the lost, do not see at all. They are blind in the darkness of death. But for Christ’s Disciples there are two flip-sides that are part and parcel of the daily walk in His Way. For the “12” He was speaking primarily of their literal, eye-ball apprehension, of His physical and visible Body—both in His pre-Resurrection “state of Humiliation” and in His Easter and hereafter forever “state of Glorification.”
They would see Him for a “little while” leading up to His Crucifixion and burial. Then, for a “little while,” part of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and a large part of the Sunday of His Triumph, they would not “see Him.” And then again, they would behold His countenance, His face to theirs, His wounds, and His words of Peace. And then, for the next 40 days, days just like Jubilate Sunday, they would not see Him for a while, and then they would see Him. We too, are on their own countdown to The Feast of The Ascension, for its application is for all of us as much as for the “12.”
For you modern day Disciples, there is a seeing and non-seeing as well. While you will not behold The Messias with your eye-balls, in your own head, your own body, as Job prophesies until The Resurrection of all flesh, you still have periods of His Presence and His non-presence. But as a Saint, you only really have a non-presence, or absence, by intentionally resisting His love and embrace. Only if you with a blackened heart actively and continually push Jesus away will you experience what feels like, is perceived as, a non-seeing of The Lord. This is done through sinning and refusing to repent. This is done through a malicious absenting yourself from His “means of Grace,” His Church where He IS “for you.” This is done through a long-standing prodigal runway to the point of apostasy and death in unbelief. We pray that all of our own periods of non-seeing will only be brief and momentary as we do sin daily in thought, word, and deed. “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our trespasses.” There is joy in heaven, amongst the host of Sabaoth, over you, when you repent. The joy of The Good News is that YES…a man is born into the world…The God/Man!
And, in your own daily trials under the Cross, drowning your sinful “old natures,” fighting the good fight, running the race, setting your eyes always on The Crucified One—The Author and Perfecter of your faith—you are “seeing” Jesus in the exact way He wants you to see Him, for now, in The Word. His presence “for you” His apprehension by you, His Body and Blood being seen by you will be in The Word, and only The Word. The Word of Holy Scripture, as it is preached, taught, and spoken onto you in His Sacrament of Holy + Absolution; and in His Word made flesh through His Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Communion.
So yes, you will, to be sure, guaranteed, weep and lament. You will see your dearest loved ones die; you will experience loss of homes, vocations, possessions, and even your health; and you will become thirsty and hungry, and cold, and frightened. The world will attack you because the fallen creation is for the moment under the influence of the old ancient foe. The devil, the world, and your rebelling flesh will laugh and mock and rejoice as you suffer. But take heart, for He gives you to eat and drink His own VERY and TRUE heart in His Supper. He told the “12” He was going to The Father. He did, He Ascended. He tells you He is with His Father, He remains seated at the Right Hand of Majesty and at the right hand of right here, right now! He is coming soon and He is coming in The Sacrament even sooner.
The woman who is pregnant, indeed the entire family that awaits the delivery, is happy and anticipating, and even apprehensive as they count the days. As the delivery date draws near the soon-to-be-Mother may experience difficulties even as she did in the first few weeks of pregnancy. During labor there is wait, struggle, pain….AND THEN, HALLELUJAH, the baby boy is in her arms nursing at her breast. The travail is over and there is only joy and rejoicing. That arrival, The Final Advent, that unparalleled joy is coming soon. How soon? Who can predict when the “water breaks” when Saint Gabriel blows his trumpet and the heavens flash the lighting of He Who is Light of Light. But for now, you are all washed and fed and loved and given safety and comfort “in utero,” in The Church by the present though invisible Lord Jesus. The Word: font, pulpit, altar, is where you see Him. Your hearts rejoice.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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