It seems to me that this passage is part of the biggest and
most significant half time team talk of all time.
Jesus is fully aware of what was facing him and he had begun
to prepare the disciples for some difficult times ahead. Indeed, they would
face fear as Jesus was arrested, distress and pain as they watched Jesus being
crucified, the life-changing experience of the resurrection and later the
responsibility of sharing the gospel which would bring persecution and
suffering.
As Jesus begins to reveal the bigger plan, the disciples
fail to grasp the significance of his words. Their feet are firmly rooted in
the here and now and they flounder and struggle with a lack of deeper
understanding. “What is he talking about?” is their response, one that is a
common human experience. How hard it is
for us to sometimes see beyond the situations that we are currently in.
I take encouragement from Jesus’ patient response, his
honest answer that the disciples will know sadness, suffering and hostility,
but that a time was coming when they would have direct access to the Father in
prayer, a Father who loved them, would answer them and turn their sadness into
gladness. Just as a mother forgets the suffering of childbirth, once her baby
is born. This picture took me back to the birth of my own daughters. I
experienced two difficult deliveries that were immediately forgotten when I
held my beautiful daughters for the first time.
I wonder if the disciples looked back on this conversation in later
years and suddenly ‘got it’, or if this conversation remained a mystery that
they tried to unravel or even struggled with at points during their lives.
Response
May we know the inner assurance that Jesus offers and be able to hold
onto it during times of hardship. May we experience the love of our Heavenly
Father, and know what it is to receive his peace. Amen.
Louise
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