WATCHWORD:
1 “I have told you these things so that you won’t be staggered by all that lies ahead, 2 For you will be excommunicated from the synagogues, and indeed the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing God a service. 3 This is because they have never known the Father or me. 4 Yes, I’m telling you these things now so that when they happen you will remember I warned you. 5 “But now I am going away to the one who sent me; and none of you seems interested in the purpose of my going; none wonders why. 6 Instead you are only filled with sorrow. 7 But the fact of the matter is that it is best for you that I go away, for if I don’t, the Comforter won’t come. If I do, he will—for I will send him to you.
16 “In just a little while I will be gone, and you will see me no more; but just a little while after that, and you will see me again!” 17-18 “Whatever is he saying?” some of his disciples asked. “What is this about ‘going to the Father’? We don’t know what he means.”
31 “Do you finally believe this?” Jesus asked. 32 “But the time is coming—in fact, it is here—when you will be scattered, each one returning to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I will not be alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.” John 16:1-7, 16-18, 31-33 TLB
Meditation:
Between Here and There
Two years ago the Nashville Story Conference theme was “Between No Longer and Not Yet.” Give that a little thought. Have you ever been in that span of life in between what was and what is yet to be? Or between yesterday and tomorrow. Or, the old thing and the new thing that has not yet arrived?
I did a little digging and there’s actually a Latin word, ‘Liminal’, which means threshold, the place of entering or beginning. It’s the place of transition between what was and what is next. I would think that that space would be characterized by patience or lack thereof. You know, ”I can hardly wait”, or maybe you can hear your kids, as kids, say, repeatedly, “Are we there yet?”
Let’s put this in a little different context. In John 16, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what will be coming – His trial and crucifixion, followed by the Resurrection. He is trying to fix in their minds the fact that he would be killed, and would later rise from the dead and they would see him again. They struggled with that and they argued with Him. They muttered among themselves about what he had actually said and what it meant. It was a real test of their newborning faith. They had been following this man for more than two years, they trusted Him, thinking, in error, that he would overthrow the Roman government, and now he was talking about going away, being killed.
Well, their faith in Jesús would soon be tested in the most radical, and, for them, unexpected way. They will, indeed, see or at least know that he was crucified, dead and buried. They will learn from the women the story of an angel appearing and telling them that Jesus would meet the disciples in Capernaum. Now they are faced with the decision: Do they travel to Capernaum, a distance of 75 miles, taking them at least three days, or do they just go back to fishing? Do we trust what the women said, or is it a fool’s errand? These disciples were in that space “between no longer and not yet!”
We are no different than those disciples. We embrace Jesus Christ in faith alone, trusting the promises that have been laid before us. In essence, we are on that road to Capernaum, on the strength of the promises given, that at the end of our road we will meet Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. We have every reason to believe and to act on that trust for we know that God loves us. Yet, we are humans, and, like it or not, God has gifted us with a mind that sometimes raises doubtful questions to test us. Sometimes it feels like the evil one is whispering in our ear, things like, “how do you know, for sure?”
The fact is, we don’t know, and yet we do know, and that defines our faith. It is the character of God’s waiting room. We, all of us, wait there, without knowing the outcome, yet, trusting the outcome, because our faith is built on nothing less then Jesus blood and righteousness, and we wholly lean on Jesus name. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we prayer, as Jabez prayed, that You will wonderfully bless us and strengthen us in our faith, so that the life that we live, we live for You. Please, be with us in all that we do and keep us from all evil and disaster. Your blessings, Lord, are the ultimate value in life and we surrender ourselves entirely to Your will, Your power and the purposes You have for us. All else is secondary, Lord, to what we really want, which is to become Holy and immersed in what You are doing in us and around us. This prayer Lord, and our petitions, we offer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
