Lent-What does he mean by “a little while”?

We begin this Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for what will come. In John 16:16, Jesus tells them that in “a little while” they will see him no longer, and again ” in a little while they will see him.” In our Journey of Lent, we enter the scene and listen to Jesus as we experience ourselves this last week on earth. What happens in this last week is crucial to our own faith journey, and our understanding of the Christian Faith. We can’t just accept it at face value; we can’t just experience it as we always have. We must be open to receive it afresh, with all the power it contains to transform lives into the glory of eternity. So, here we are, the disciples…Jesus is trying to say “Goodbye”….Oh so hard for Jesus to leave those whom he loves so dearly! And we get it on some level, as we think about the most difficult “goodbye” we have experienced yet.

After three years of a battle with cancer, Mom’s “goodbye” was near. There was very little communication now. We were all waiting, knowing what was coming. We thought we were finally ready, but maybe we weren’t. Someone from my church called, “Have you told her it is OK for her to go?”. Well, I am not sure, but she knows how I feel. We are so close. She knows!! But have I told her? That night she sat in that big, comfy reclining chair, seeming so distant. She was surrounded and embraced by my Dad, my sister, and me. We were remembering and laughing, when suddenly my laughter turned into sobbing as I sat at her feet. Her piercing eyes looked straight at me, through me, as if to say, “Are you OK?” I looked into her beautiful eyes and said, “It’s OK, Momma, you can go”…and she died that night. From that moment on, I felt her spirit was released from her body to be present with me wherever I would go. In the midst of deep sorrow, it was a new sort of joy!

Jesus, trying to say “Goodbye” to his disciples, is letting them know that ” in a little while” they will see him again and they will be with him forever in fullness of joy! Today I said “Goodbye” to my grandchildren and said to them that I would see them again “in a little while” . What does that mean? ….hours, days, weeks, months, years, centuries? None of us know really. But, the time will come when we are all in eternity together and it will truly be a fullness of joy!

My grandson and I were sharing his first ride on an escalator. He is my youngest. Who knows how much of his life I will get to share on earth. But we will be together in eternity in “just a little while”. And we will know all the joy you see in our faces right here!

This morning in worship while visiting grandchildren in Atlanta, I experienced that fullness of joy as all the choirs, including the children, sang “Hosanna to the King”. .