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Resurrection Joy with the Father, through the Spirit
Pain? Leaving? Joy? Childbirth? What was Jesus talking about? He was preparing his disciples for his death. To fulfill the Fathers plan he would have to go to the cross and die for us, for our sins. But like in childbirth, after a time of pain, joy will overwhelm them - a joy that is both unshakable and complete. But what was being born? The Day of new birth that Jesus had in mind involved not only his resurrection, but also the coming of the 'Spirit of truth'. Through the Spirit, the disciples would finally be restored to their loving Father and experience the first stage of being his adult sons and daughters, but only if they actively enter into this intimate 'asking and receiving' relationship with him. â Johanna Duran-Greve (Germany)
Meditation Text
'Father' texts:Â John 16:10,17,23,25, 26,27,28
Scripture passage:Â Jn.16:5-7,10,12-13, 16-31
Introduction Video Time:Â 00:50
SCRIPTURE PASSAGE
âNow I am going away to the One who sent me, and not one of YOU is asking me, âWhere are you going?â ¡Instead, because I have said these things to YOU, sorrow has filled YOUR heart. ¡But I tell YOU the truth, it is advantageous for YOU that I leave, because if I do not leave the Advocate will not come to YOU. Yet if I make this journey, I will send him to YOU, ¡ âŚas a consequence of my going away to the Father⌠¡ I still have many things to say to YOU, but YOU cannot bear them at the moment. ¡Yet when that One comes, the Spirit of the truth, he will guide YOU in the complete truth [Gr. aleetheia]⌠¡Yes, for a short while YOU will no longer see me, and also for a short while again YOU shall be seeing me.â
Some of his disciples said towards one another, âWhat is this that he is telling us, âFor a short while YOU will not see me, and also for a short while again YOU shall be seeing meâ, and âas a consequence of my going away to the Fatherâ? ¡What is this âshort whileâ that he refers to? We do not understand what he is talking about!â
Now Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said to them, ¡â... YOU will be mourning, even wailing; yet the world will be rejoicing. Yes, YOU shall be grieving, but YOUR grief will turn to joy.
 A woman, when she is in labor is miserable because her hour has arrived. But when she has given birth to the child she no longer dwells on the pressures, because of the joy over a person born into the world.
âSo YOU now too are miserable indeed; but I shall be seeing YOU again. Then YOUR hearts will be rejoicing, and that joy of YOURS no one will take from YOU. ¡And in that day⌠whatever desire YOU might ask of the Father in my name he will give YOU. ¡âŚAsk and YOU will receive, so that YOUR joy may be full. ¡I have spoken these things to YOU in metaphors. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to YOU in metaphors but will outspokenly make known the Father to YOU. ¡In that day YOU will ask in my name, for I am not saying to YOU that I will ask the Father for YOU â¡for the Father himself is deeply fond [Gr. philei] of YOU because YOU have been deeply fond of me; and YOU have believed that I came from being with God. ¡I came from being with the Father and have come to the world. Once again: I am leaving the world, and I am making my way to the Father.â
His disciples said to him, âLook at that! You are talking outspokenly now and not using a metaphor. ¡Now we know that you know everything and do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.â  ¡Jesus responded to them, âDo YOU believe now?â (John 16:5-7,10,12-13a,16-31 GH[i])
MEDITATION
In the last parable Jesus uses to teach about the Father, he is responding to the disciples' emotions. He likens their misery to the pain and fear of a woman âin laborâ. As her contractions grow in intensity the pain, and even a fear of death and loss temporarily overwhelm everything else. After a healthy child is born, the new mother probably doesn't forget the pains, but she can no longer dwell on these, due to the joy she shares with the people around her over the baby. Even so, Jesus' death will bring the disciples a deep sense of loss. But their seemingly overwhelming pain will last only for âa short whileâ, and will be overwhelmed by a lasting joy that will soon fill and surround them.
Why the birth analogy? What is being born? And why will the Day of new birth bring such joy? The new birth Jesus has in mind is not about baptism for the forgiveness of sins, nor about confession of faith in him as Messiah, nor about making a commitment to follow him. The disciples already have done all of these things. The Day of ânew birthâ will begin with the disciples seeing Jesus in a resurrected body. 'For a short while again' they will touch him, eat with him, talk with him, and see him come and go through locked doors. Over a forty-day period they will grow in confidence that Death has been defeated and that there is indeed bodily (eternal) life after death. They will be filled with a joy that no one can take away from them (Med.#49). Yet this will not be the âfullâ joy, for there will still be something about Jesus' life, death and resurrection that they cannot yet take on board.
The full joy will require both a greater revelation and a response to it on their part. The greater revelation will come through the Spirit. When he comes, he will guide them into âthe complete truthâ [Gr. aleetheia]âinto the previously âsecretâ things that do not need to be kept secret anymore[ii], because the New Time has begun (Med.#3). Through the Spirit, the disciples will begin to experience the intimate, yet âadultâ relationship with their âAbbaâ (Med.#4) that God planned for all humanity before the creation, but kept hidden through all previous generations (Med.#8). In the New Day the disciples will recognize that what they witnessed in Jesus' life is not only the source of their new life with the Father, but the model for it as well. Yes, Jesus' sonship relationship with the Father is unique in one way. There can be only one divine/human Eldest Brother. But his disciples will also receive the Spiritâthe âfirst fruitsâ of being âplaced as sonsâ. And by seeing and touching Jesus' resurrection body, they will gain a glimpse of the final stage of their own âplacement as sonsâ: âthe redemption of their bodiesâ (Med.#5Â & #94). No wonder they will be filled with unshakable hope and joy.
Yet the disciples will need to activate this relationship: by asking âthe Fatherâ directly for âwhateverâ they desire, in Jesus' name, so that they can be âfruitfulâ as his adult daughters and sons. Only when they enter into this asking-and-receiving relationship with the Fatherâwhile continuing to obey Jesus' commandsâwill their joy be full. For then they will finally understand that Jesus calls them friends (Med.#22) because the Father is just as âdeeply fondâ [Gr. philei] of them as friends, as he is of Jesus.[iii]
Yet as the disciples listen to Jesus on the night he was betrayed, all this is still in the future. They are still in pain. Though they've walked with Jesus for three years, believed in him and been baptized, they still do not understand these things. They say that they finally understand Jesus' teaching. But what they understand is still limited to Jesus' uniqueness and his relationship to âGodâ. Such faith is, of course, good. But it is not the goal of our faith. It is only the first step towards the goal. If our Christian faith is limited to boasting about âourâ Jesus as superior to all other religious leaders, because he is God's Son, then we have gotten âstuckâ on the road to âfull joyââto a maturing relationship with the Father ourselves, through Jesus, and by the Spirit.
Thus, Jesus' concluding question (âdo you believe now?â) is a challenge to us today. Is your life with Jesus characterized by the joy of this revelation? Or are you struggling, like they were, with a mixture of expectant hopes and painâa struggle in which the pain threatens to overwhelm the hope because your expectations for a better life with Jesus have remained largely unfulfilled? When Jesus went away âfor a short whileâ to the cross, he did not do so only to âfixâ the problems of sin and evil in our lives. He did so also to break the power of our limited (worldly and cultural) perspectives. I find it very ironic that many Christian theologians think of âFatherâ as a metaphor for God. For in this text it is the disciple's transition from pain to joy that Jesus describes using a âmetaphorâ (childbirth). By contrast he speaks of the coming of the Spirit as a time when he will âoutspokenlyâ make the Father known. Knowing God as âFatherâ, according to Jesus, is no metaphor.
Full joy in this relationship comes through asking and receiving. And it begins by asking the Father to receive the Holy Spirit (Lk.11:13; Med.#14). Is this message plain to you yet? Or is there some theology or something in your earthly experience of fatherhood that is still getting in the way?
PRAYING THE WORD
Father, we praise you for your great mercy, for giving us new birth: into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fadeâkept in heaven for us. Though we have not seen you, we love you; though we do not see Jesus now, we believe in him. You fill us with an inexpressible and glorious JOY as we are receiving the goal of our faith. You shield us with the power of your Spirit when we too have to suffer all kinds of trials for the 'little while'. May our faithâmore precious to you than perishable gold refined by fireâbe proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honor to you when Jesus is revealed. (1 Pet.1:3-4,8-9,5-7)
Give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, Father, that we may know you better. (Eph.1:17)
NOTES
[i]Â The whole Scripture Passage is taken from J.K. Mellis, The Good News of the Messiah by the Four Witnesses, pp.243-245.
[ii] The Greek word for truthâ [a-leethia] comes from the Greek words for 'secret' [lathein]â (as in Mk.7:24), preceded by ânotâ [a-]. Â
[iii] The Greek verb, philei, that Jesus uses to describe the Father's love for him (5:20) and for his disciples (16:27) is derived from the word for âfriendâ [philos]; and it also relates to the kind of âkissâ [phileema] that friends give to each other (e.g. 1 Pet.5:14).