"A Little While"

The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
The Third Sunday after Easter

May 15, 2011

“A little while…”

John 16:16 “ A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”

From one of the most beloved books of the New Testament comes this interesting and puzzling statement. John the beloved disciple tells us that Christ speaks to the apostles thus, both puzzling them and intriguing them at the same time. In fact, in the verse following this one, some of the disciples openly questioned this. They asked, “What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. “What is this that he saith to us?”

In short, they were baffled. As a boy, listening to this passage in Trinity Episcopal Church in Monmouth, Illinois and again as a teenager at St. Joseph of Arimathea Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, I too was puzzled. I remember one time walking out of church shaking my head at it. Evidently, our rector didn’t choose to elucidate that particular piece of Scripture that day. Perhaps he should have.

What Christ says here is both simple and profound, as always. As the second member of the Trinity, Christ always speaks to us in ways we can understand, while also speaking of things beyond our natural understanding; that is, absent the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

This is one of those sayings. On the surface, we understand, especially with the aid of 2000 years of Christian tradition behind us. That is, we have the Word of God to inform us that Christ did indeed die and was buried. Thus, “a little while and you will not see me.” We also understand the part where he says, “and again, a little while, and ye shall see me:”

Obviously, this is in reference to His post-resurrection appearances. First, he appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, then to the gathered disciples who were assembled for fear of the Jews”, in a locked room , and to the disciples while fishing in John 21. Finally as St. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:6, “After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;”

No doubt the disciples’ joy was immense. Christ even compares to the joy and relief a woman feels after the agony of childbirth. The disciples’ joy was to be similar, so great and real that they would forget the pain and grief they knew when Christ was parted from them. One of them, John, felt this pain most acutely because he, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdeline witnessed his death at the foot of the Cross.

Thus far, we understand the meaning of these words. Yet, in the next statement, Christ throws his disciples into confusion because he says, “ because I go to the Father.” This is what really bothered them. It stuck “in their craw”, so to speak, to use a country colloquialism.

As well it might in ours, if we didn’t have the historic Christian experience and calendar to guide us. In His last, most puzzling statement, Jesus is telling about His last mighty act in this world. He is, in fact, foreshadowing the glorious completion of the earthly ministry.

This final act is the completion of Christ’s ministry, as he ascends to the Father, returning back to the Glory from whence He came, some thirty-three years ago. The final act we will celebrate on June 2nd, better known as Ascension Day, which is one of those important, but usually inconvenient and sparsely-attended mid-week services.

Ascension marks the final act of Christ’s life in all its major scenes, including his Immaculate Conception, His humble Nativity, His daily Ministry, His woeful Passion, His glorious Resurrection, and finally, His Dazzling Ascension. The Ascension marked the final chapter in the earthly saga of the Christ on Earth.


We will speak more on the importance of Ascension later, when we celebrate the Day itself. Suffice it to say that its importance is immense, as well as the immense amount of neglect it receives. However, one point must be mentioned, namely that without the Ascension, our exaltation into Heaven would be impossible as the family of Man. Thus, Jesus, on His way to the ultimate exaltation in Heaven as He rejoins His Father in unspeakable splendor, came to visit and reassure us. When He does come out of the grave in glorious resurrection form, both showing Himself and enjoying fellowship with His disciples, he tells them that ” your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

This statement is most profound and poignant, simultaneously. The reason for this profound sense of joy comes from Christ’s earlier mention of the expediency of His going away in verse 7 of this same chapter. Christ is going away, yes; Christ is leaving His disciples in bodily form, yes, but Someone else is coming. Following on the heels of Ascension is that great New Testament celebration of the coming of the Holy Ghost, or as the Authorized Version calls him, the Comforter. The Third Person of the Holy Trinity comes to us, to lead, guide, instruct, comfort and strengthen us.

Thus, this is an amazing time of year. Perhaps the historic church calendar truly captures the fullness of the Christian faith as we celebrate Ascension first, honoring the Son, then Whitsunday (Pentecost), where we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, then finally Trinity Sunday, where all three members of the Holy Trinity are celebrated together. We sing and worship the fullness of the Three Persons of God: one being in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Truly, if one is living one’s life in accordance with the Church year, this is amazing and most fulfilling.

Returning to one theme we can seize for the day, it might very well be that of Joy. Jesus said that our joy ..”no man taketh from you.” So we hope it is for you. When one considers the sheer enormity of what Christ accomplished for us, our joy should be full. When one considers the durability of our forgiveness and the permanence of our salvation, our joy should be full.
What does this mean? Simply that when Christ forgives us our sins, they are remembered no more. There is no sneaking, half-remembrance of what we did in the past. It is covered with the precious Blood of Christ in complete forgiveness. Simply said, God remembers no sin for which one exhibits true repentance and amendment of life. Surely this is an occasion for joy, as well as immense thanksgiving.

Our joy, which no man can take from us, must stem from another source as well. While this may seem incredibly obvious, it stems from the fact that we Christians even have a God like our God. Unlike what the Existentialists may have once believe, we don’t stumble, Godot-like, through our lives. We don’t face the Universe alone and un-befriended. We don’t have to make those brave existential decisions to prove that we are. With all due respect to Camus and Sartre, theirs was a unnecessarily lonely and erroneous position as to the orientation of Man. We are not alone. We are not lonely, in the recesses of our soul, unless we want to be, or have allowed the deceptions of the Devil to convince us so. For the spirit-filled Christian, is just the reverse. Our position, the Christian position, is completely opposite the sterile, sad and hopeless state of the atheistic humanist or existentialist. We are not filled with the sad darkness of the deceived, we are full of light. We are not aching with loneliness in a dead universe, vainly searching for meaning from a cold and passionless void. We are filled with the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, who brings us into full relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. We are not sad and depressed as we try to fill our emptiness with counterfeit or fabricated experiences. We have the real experience of Christ in our hearts, our minds, and our souls as we move forward to our eternal Home with Him.

We Christians can’t claim to have cornered the market on joy. That would be absurd and even a bit egotistical, perhaps. After all, many things in this life can give us joy. There is a difference, however, between true Christian joy and that of the World. Whereas joy from things in this life is fleeting and transient, only the joy in Christ can withstand the test of time. There is a joy which no man can take from you. It is the same joy that Christ promised to His disciples so long ago. It is the same joy available to us today.

John 16:22 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
AMEN