by, ‘A little while, and you will not see me; and then a little while, and you will see me’?
And why did he say, ‘I go to the Father’?” And they said to one another, “What does he
mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.” Jesus knew that they wanted to question
him; so he said to them, “You are puzzled because I told you that in a little while you will
see me no more, and then a little while later you will see me. Truly, I say to you, you will
weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will
turn to joy.

Reflect

“Eyes of Faith.” In John’s Gospel, there are several levels of seeing reality. The first
level is the manner of seeing, commonly, with one’s physical eyes (blepō). The second
level indicates a manner of seeing with observation (theōreō). The third level
connotes the manner of seeing in the eyes of faith (horaō). In today’s Gospel, Jesus
told his disciples that in a little while they would not see him but in a little while they
would see him. Jesus explained to his disciples that they would no longer see him with
eyes that merely observe (theōreō) but with eyes of faith (horaō). Jesus cautioned them
that they would weep and mourn while the world would rejoice. However, Jesus also
gave them the assurance that their sorrow would turn into joy. Jesus also told them that
the world (those who rejected Jesus) would hate them because this same portion of
humanity hated Jesus first (Jn. 15:18). Thus, we as Jesus’ followers, need eyes of faith
that enable us to find deeper meaning in suffering, which can only be found in our
identification with Jesus. And Jesus, in turn, will never let us down. If we are with Jesus,
every suffering will eventually, surely, turn into joy.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2024