NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 16:16-30

 Jesus talked to His disciples about His ascension and His overcoming the world.

REFLECTION

The theme for today’s reflection is “Cryptic Christ”. A cryptic person is one who is usually mysterious and difficult to understand. Today we focus on the cryptic nature of Christ. If we worship a Cryptic God whose ways are sometimes difficult to comprehend then we must also embrace his only begotten Son whose teachings are sometimes hard to understand. We may safely say like Father like Son since Jesus said in John 10:30 that “I and my father are one”

The disciples had spent quite a long time with Jesus yet they sometimes appear confused when He talks to them about His relationship with God and His redemptive role in the lives of humanity. Having lived with the disciples for sometime, Jesus began to prepare their minds towards His suffering, death, resurrection, ascension and second coming. Placed in the shoes of the disciples, we will equally find it very difficult to understand that a person whom we have lived our lives with will tell us that “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” (John 16:16)  The statement is simple but difficult to understand. What does a “little while” mean? It would have been easier if Jesus had said He was going to visit a relative or one of the towns and return in a little while yet on this occasion He does not reveal any geographical location. If it were in our day, they would have searched for given location on Google map even if they have not heard of its name and existence before. The mystery surrounded when Jesus will leave, where He was going and how long a little while meant?

While they were pondering over “a little while” Cryptic Christ yet again dropped another bombshell about weeping and sorrow when he said “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 16:20). In the disciples’ mind, they were thinking of a situation where their master will leave them for an ambiguous time, a duration of a  “little while” which they do not understand then all of a sudden they are being told again that when He lives they will be sorrowful but their sorrow will turn into joy. What a mystery?! I am sure by this time some may be wondering if they made the right decision to follow the cryptic Christ, who was becoming difficult to comprehend.

Historically and in our time, there are dozens of cryptic teachers of mysterious cults and religious sects who solely teach and reveal things their followers do not understand but are made to adhere to those teachings regardless of their confusion. This what Paul revealed to the people of Athens in Act 17:22-25 when he said “… Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” A true religion must appeal to the senses of a person even if it possesses some mystical elements. Jesus unlike other teachers and practitioners of cryptic religious cults, does not leave his disciples and followers hanging in their misunderstanding or confusion but unambiguously reveals the meaning of what He had said before. “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” (John16:25-30)

Jesus remains the Cryptic Christ to those who do not know him nor have a personal relationship with Him. If we walk with Christ daily through prayer and the study of Scripture, He will continue to answer our prayers and reveal God’s will to us and grant us divine knowledge to comprehend God’s will. Peter who had walked with Christ and had received the power of the Holy Spirit gained immeasurable knowledge into the teachings of the cryptic Christ that he now fully understood what “a little while” and “sorrow to joy” meant when he wrote in 2 Peter 3:7-10 that “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” May you be empowered to grow in the knowledge of the cryptic Christ even as we await His second coming in a little while for our sorrows to be turned to joy. 

 PRAYER

 GRACIOUS LORD, CONTINUALLY ENABLE US TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR WORD SO THAT WE SHALL BE FULLY PREPARED WHEN YOU COME THE SECOND TIME. AMEN.

 Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)