RBWords

    Many are the parents who have had to say, as Jesus said, "In a little while!" to an impatient child for whom "a little while" seems like an eternity.  The disciples spoke from within the time/space context that all of us mortals are subjecc to.  Jesus is speaking from a timeless context.  The difference is between two different Greek words for time.  The first is chronos, which is the time we measure with our clocks.  The second is kairos which we would express by saying, "It's about time we did this!"  Jesus refers to his "hour" throughout the Gospel According to John in that sense.  His death and resurrection and the sending of the Spirit all occur within the time/space continuum but are not subject to it.  Jesus did not assign a schedule to these events.  They occurred in "God's good time."   The Gospel According to John focuses on the significance of these events rather than their timing (which has led to endless debates among scripture scholars trying to square John's timing with the other three gospels' timing of events.)

     Although we are liturgically focusing on the period between Jesus' death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we have to live with the tension between those events and the Second Coming - another "little while" that the New Testament scriptures struggled with and we struggle with.  God's "time" is not our "time."  Jesus assures the disciples that even if he is returning to his Father, he will not "leave them orphans (John 14:18), but, like small children, they want their "When?" to be a human one.  We have to learn over and over again that just because we can schedule a sacrament, we can't put God on a calendar!  AMEN