Word to the Wise
Friday, May 22, 2020 - 6th Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 18:9-18 and John 16:20-23]"Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world." [John]
I really feel that a mom who has given birth should be writing this reflection! Elsewhere, Jesus uses the image of childbirth in speaking of the last times (Mk 13:8]. Indeed in this Last Supper scene, his speech about his departure and the troubles ahead refers to these struggles as childbirth. Their grief and pain over his death will be turned into joy over his resurrection. Of course, this was all written later on when the big picture had developed.
Physical childbirth has come to be a source of analogy for any effort to create something. I am sure there are those in the Beloved Congregation who have been involved in projects that begin with a great idea that can be called a "conception" and work through what it takes to get it going (gestation) and finally, with much anxiety and sacrifice, see it established and creating a future, know what I mean. We would say that this project was so-and-so's "baby."
For the moment, Jesus builds on the feelings created by his warnings that he will be leaving the disciples and offers them the hope of joy once his passion death and resurrection have taken place and they have received the Holy Spirit. Those feelings are genuine but the disciples are challenged to look ahead. Indeed our own current sorrows in the coronavirus pandemic and all the troubles whether physical, emotional or economic can overwhelm us if we do not work toward the eventual defeat of this pandemic. Our faith in God and in the gifts God has given to those who care for the sick and work to find a vaccine will get us through our grief. AMEN