Text: John 16:23-33
Date: Easter VI + 5/5/13
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. With those words Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem…for the last time! “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” These were His last words to His disciples in the upper room that night in which He was betrayed. This was His last attempt to equip them to endure through the next days of His cruel and brutal suffering and death. This was the “hour” of which He spoke and told them, “you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.” And they were. When Jesus was arrested later that night, “then all the disciples left him and fled” (Mt 26:56). But we remember His words from last Sunday, “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 6:20). These words pointed to the day of His resurrection from the dead. But not only that day alone! For He also means all the coming days up to His ascension, which we celebrate this coming Thursday. Ever since the Day of Pentecost to this day He invisibly shows Himself to the eyes of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preached Word and the Sacraments. This is His promised place of dwelling, where faith not only sees Him but also receives His constant supply of the forgiveness of all our sins. Continue reading “Enlightenment”
