I Will Come Again and See You Again

I Will Come Again And See You Again

John 16:16-24

We were all there. The whole family. Hugs being given. Held tightly. She was crying. She said that she would see us again and hoped that it would not be too long. My brother-in-law waved. My sister waved. And off they were to go through the airport security to begin their journey of moving to Germany. This was a huge deal for our family. We have always been close. My mother full of tears not knowing when she would actually see my sister again. And when my sister and her husband were no longer in view, she came up to me and said, “Steve, you promise me you will keep your passport valid. I need to know you will be able to go to your sister if she needs you.” My mother and father didn’t have the money to travel to Europe. I didn’t have the money to do the same either, but I did have a passport, and so I gave the obligatory nod to my mother. But what was I promising? I couldn’t really promise to be available to go to Germany if my sister needed me. We were broke. And what was my sister promising? What if they couldn’t come back? What if her husband’s job didn’t allow them to relocate back to the States beyond their agreed upon 3 year commitment? What if they loved Germany and wanted to stay there permanently?

Goodbyes are hard. See you laters have no real promise. Things happen. Things change.

Been there? Felt the sting of goodbye? Felt the crushing weight of desertion? Felt the pain and suffocation of loneliness?

I imagine many of us have had those feelings at one time or another in some sense or manner.

Jesus’ disciples did.

You see, as we have studied the “I will” promises of Jesus, this week we are looking at Jesus’ promise in John 16 when He makes the promise, “I will come again and see you again.” What exactly was Jesus promising?

Well, we need to begin with the start of that night. The night that Jesus was betrayed, the night He instituted the Lord’s Supper is the same night He made the promise, “I will come again and see you again.”

That particular Maundy Thursday night was the celebration of the Passover. Jesus and His disciples are gathered in the upper room to have a meal in remembrance of the Exodus…to remember the Angel of Death passing over the land of Egypt and taking the first born wherever the blood of the lamb was not spread on to the door posts. The Lord was in the process of delivering His people out from the bondage of Pharoah. That was what the Passover was all about.

And so, Jesus and His disciples are gathered there about to eat the Passover meal, and He first washes the disciples’ feet.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” (John 13:5-7)

They did not understand. They didn’t comprehend the magnitude of that special night. The could not fathom what He was doing, how He modeled service…how He modeled His humble love for them…all that would unfold the night in which He was betrayed.

And then the night He was betrayed, He speaks truth to them. He tells them about the significance of what He was doing washing their feet. He tells them that one of them is going to betray Him. He then gives them a new command…a new mandatum…from which we get the name of Maundy Thursday…to love one another. Jesus then foreshadows Peter’s denial of Him.

And then, Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And then Jesus promises His disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And then, He drops the bombshell…

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:18-19)

What? Jesus is leaving? The world will see Him no more?

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you.’ (John 14:27-28)

And then He goes on with more confusing talk…confusing at the time…not confusing anymore…that He is the Vine and we are the branches…

And then He talks about the hatred of the world.

And then He talks more about the coming work of the Holy Spirit…

All this in one night’s dinner conversation in celebration of the Passover feast.

But the conversation is not over.

Jesus has more to say. More for the disciples to try and comprehend.

“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” (John 16:16-18)

What does He mean that He is leaving them?

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. (John 16:19-20)

Weeping and lamenting? Sorry into joy? How?

Let’s put things into perspective. The disciples are at the Passover feast with their rabbi, their teacher, their mentor, their friend. In a bit of unorthodoxy and pure culture shock, Jesus begins the night by washing their feet, and then he foreshadows things to come that they just can’t quite grasp. And then, he shocks them by saying he is leaving them.

I can only imagine their shock. I can only imagine their sorrow. You’ve been there when someone close to you says they are leaving. Deep down it is troubling, even if you are happy for the person. But here in this matter, the disciples are unsure what Jesus means.

Their uncertainty doesn’t come to pass until that Sunday morning. It is then they lived what Jesus had been foreshadowing.

He said He was going to leave them. Jesus was going to die. For them. For you. For me. His Father sent Him to make all things right again…to reclaim a cursed and fallen creation…to redeem and restore a broken people—broken in sin.

Just as God the Father sent Moses to deliver the Israelites out of the bondage of Pharoah at the time of the Passover and Exodus, God the Father sent His Son, Jesus the Christ—the Son of the living God to deliver us sinners out of the bondage of sin.

The deliverance came at a cost. A terrible cost. The cost of the life of Jesus on the cross. The cost that would be sorrowful for the disciples and twisted grin of jubilance to a cursed and fallen world.

Jesus would be put into the tomb. Darkness filled the sky in the middle of the day. A deep darkness…darker than any stormy front encroaching upon that in its path. Darkness seemed to win. Darkness shriveled the hope of the followers of Jesus. Darkness that brought weeping and lamenting. Jesus died. Their rabbi, their teacher, their mentor, their friend…died.