THE DISCIPLES WERE OFTEN PERPLEXED by Jesus. Luke records “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” (Luke 9:44) But they did not understand what this meant. “It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it.” (Luke 9:44) When he spoke, what the disciples heard from him had the familiarity of conversation from a well-known friend, but what he conveyed carried them to the edge of mystery. He spoke out of a secret knowledge for which they had no reference; he was permeated by the intimacy that he shared with his heavenly Father. When he said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30), perhaps all they could hear was of a closeness that he had with God that they also longed for. They could not fathom that it was far more than affinity that Jesus referred to.
Jesus’ personal and true identity was rooted in the Shema, the primary prayer of all observant Jews: “She-ma yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.” – “Hear O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4) He had heard it in synagogue and yeshiva since his boyhood, and prayed it every day of his life. That one-ness filled him, and overflowed from him in every thought, in every word, and in every activity. The astounding purity of that which flowed through him burst out in his joyous expression of both life and mission: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38); “the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (John 14:31); and, “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” (John 16:28) His statements of self all leaked light from some other realm, like sunlight through clouds on a day of intermittent rain. But the most dazzling of all was, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58)
The disciples walked with and in the mystery that is Jesus, which he intermittently made clear to them—at least, as clear as they could process. There was too much to take in, and he cautioned them, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” (John 16:12)
The conscious mind needs time for the stretching required to accommodate its new and larger spiritual dimensions. Periodically, the soon-to-be apostles would make their own statements of new identity, rooted in a great truth outside themselves. So, Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt. 16:13), and “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)
Separated from such a life-giving relationship by Jesus’ death on the cross, no wonder they would grieve, and bitterly. Knowing this moment of pain for his disciples, the lover of their souls gave them a comfort that they would not understand until later: “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16:22)
And so it is also with us. To experience the pleasure of Jesus’ company is to find an intimacy with God that transcends all other relationships. We have a predilection for this particular relationship; it feels as though we were, as in fact we are, uniquely made for this. (cf. Isa. 43:6b-7) We are compelled to a unity that is beyond us, that stretches all of our boundaries as we are called into a magnetic attraction with the very force of creation.
But in the fierce brightness of such an otherworldly light, we are overwhelmed by the power—all of our neural receptors vibrate more quickly than our physiological or spiritual systems can adequately channel the flow of such energy. “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” (Isa. 33:14) We are attracted and repelled at the same time. The bright light of God and any darkness within us are mutually incompatible, and this too is by design of Jesus’ Father and our Father.
Maintaining an undiluted relationship with God is not for this time. We speak now not of salvation, but of sanctification. This, life in the now, is a time of first drawing close, and having sin… cauterized, cast out, purified (?); a time of healing, and then holding on to the spiritual territory we have gained. And then doing it again. And again.
After refreshment, each time of times between times and half-times creates a space for not only reflection, but application. We are in a life-long process of being transformed into the image of Christ. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. And that metamorphosis requires of us a growing intentionality and the continual development of new and stronger spiritual disciplines. It is a day-by-day and trial-by-trial process. Yes, there will be times of grief for us, as there were for the apostles, but Jesus tells us the same thing he told them. “I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16:22)
Ever. Reckon this be so.
Q. Is eternal joy a foundation stone in my cathedral of faith?
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