Day 36
It was the summer of 1982, between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. I was very involved in my church, Roswell Street Baptist, in both the youth group and choir and that summer we had been on a two-week long camp and choir tour across several southern states, ending with a week at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. I remember stepping onto the church bus at some point during the trip and hearing a beautiful voice I wasn’t familiar with. I was used to gospel music and the growing contemporary christian music genre, but this woman’s voice was new to me. The late 70’s and early 80’s were when contemporary christian artists, like the Imperials, Keith Green, Andraé Crouch and Phil Kaeggy, began changing the landscape of christian music, especially for teens, but there really weren’t any strong women’s voices in the mix.
“Sing Your Praise to the Lord” was booming from my friend, Summer McNair’s cassette tape player. I stopped and asked, “Who is that?” Summer answered, “Amy Grant! She has a new album out, Age to Age, and there isn’t a bad song on it!” I hadn’t even heard of Amy Grant before that bus ride, but sat next to Summer that day and listened to the whole album multiple times! I couldn’t get enough! Amy clearly and creatively put truth to music in a way that connected with and encouraged me to love the Lord more deeply. While all of the songs were great, her song, “In a Little While” was particularly special. I would find myself listening and singing along, often with tears in my eyes, “In a little while we’ll be with the Father - can’t you see Him smile? In a little while we’ll be home forever, in a while. We’re just here to learn to love Him. We’ll be home in just a little while.”
In today’s reading from John, Jesus continues giving His disciples final instructions on what He is doing and where He is going. Today He gives them timing on these events - “in a little while” - but it leaves them with even more questions.
Read John 16:16-33
“A little while and you will no longer see me; again a little while and you will see me.” (v 16) What in the world was Jesus talking about? The disciples were equally confused by His words, questioning what He meant by “a little while.” Jesus explained that they would weep and mourn during the brief period between the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, (even while His enemies rejoiced) but their sorrow would soon turn into joy as He revealed Himself to them in His resurrected body. I imagine the disciples asking, “Master, could you be more specific? Are we talking a few hours? A day? What exactly do you consider “a little while’?”
What do you do when “a little while” feels unending? Jesus’ death didn’t feel like “a little while” when the disciples were experiencing it. As they watched Jesus arrested, beaten, crucified, and buried, surely it felt like an eternity. “A little while” feels like forever when you’re in the middle of it. But you can find peace when you know joy is coming. So Jesus tells his disciples, “Your sorrow will turn into joy” (v 20)
He compares what they’re about to endure to childbirth: “When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.” (v 21) The disciples are the woman in Jesus’ example, giving birth. Their pain will be real! But it’s the beginning of the story, not the end. When they encounter Jesus alive, He promises they’ll be overjoyed!
While the primary meaning of “a little while” relates to the three days between the crucifixion and resurrection, commentators often identify a secondary, deeper meaning regarding the “little while” between Christ’s Ascension and His promised Second Coming. Jesus is talking not only about the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection but also about the 2,000-plus years between his ascension and second coming. In other words, “a little while” is for us too. During this time, believers will not see Him physically but experience Him through the presence of the Holy Spirit, continuously looking forward to ultimately seeing him face-to-face.
Jesus says resurrection brings a joy so great we’ll no longer remember the anguish. Paul reiterates this in his letter to the church in Rome, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18) I don’t think this means that we are able or required to forget the sufferings we experience in this life on earth, but that our memories are transformed, overwhelmed by joy. We’ll be like laughing mothers recounting birth stories that were once so painful.
But for now, we have a pregnant faith, waiting for delivery, for the final resurrection to come. And we aren’t alone. Again the Apostle Paul writes, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first-fruits - we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (Rom 8:22-23)
“In a little while we’ll be with the Father - can’t you see Him smile? In a little while we’ll be home forever, in a while. We’re just here to learn to love Him. We’ll be home in just a little while.”
Big Picture Questions for Today:
* What do you do when “a little while” feels unending?
* Who can you encourage today, to hang onto Jesus through their present suffering, knowing that He will make all things new and right?
Pray for courage in Christ as we wait for the redemption of our bodies, for hope as we eagerly wait with patience, knowing that in our waiting we are being conformed into the likeness of God’s Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
With all of this remembering of Amy Grant’s Age to Age album, I leave you with “In a Little While.” However, I can’t just leave it there. I’ll have the entire album playing on my HomePod Mini the remainder of the day!
