Nobody likes to be left, not even Jesus’ disciples. In our lectionary travels through Eastertide, we’re back to the night Jesus was arrested. He gives a lengthy farewell to his friends in the upper room where they have just had supper and he’s washed their feet and said strange things about the bread and wine and predicted that one of them would betray him. Judas has just left to do that. Jesus has a lot to say to his followers before they go out into the Garden of Gethsemane.
There is something rather confusing about glorifying and being glorified, but the next part is painfully clear: Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.”
It makes me think of a child wailing, “Wanna come with! Wanna come with!” as his mother gently but firmly explains why he cannot join her for her evening out. “Where I am going, you cannot come.” But a mother usually adds, “I’ll be home later,” while here Jesus tells his disciples the worst: “I am with you only a little longer.” And soon he would be gone, gone, gone… and then mysteriously back, but not in the same way. Never again in the same way.
The movement of God is forward, not back. The mystery of God is One in unity yet Three distinct persons. And one of the mysteries we live with as followers of the risen and ascended Christ is being separate from him, yet mystically united with him. We claim his life lives in us through the Spirit, yet when we pray, it is to an Other distinct from us.
The disciples had to get used to Jesus’ absence. We have a different challenge: to become used to his presence, real though not enfleshed. For when Jesus made his final departure in bodily form, he promised that his Father would send His Spirit to be with his followers, that he would be with them through his Spirit.
Children learning to deal with separation from parents are often given a “transitional object,” a blanket or toy or stuffed animal that carries some of the presence of the parent and eases the separating process. Well, Christ-followers are given what we might call the ultimate in transitional objects, the Spirit of the Holy God to fill us, surround us, comfort us, empower us – and remind us that God will never leave us or forsake us.
Separation anxiety is real, and an issue in varying degrees for us given our experiences in early childhood. But in the spiritual life, the Life we live in God’s realm, Jesus is always here, always present. And not only is he never leaving again; he wants us to come out and play with him.
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