John 16:16-33
Jesus Overcomes Death and the World
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
17 At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus tells us that He overcame death and this world, so we can take heart...Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote: “Everyone else who was ever born into the world, came into it to live; our LORD came into it to die.”...
Our LORD knew what was going to happen to Him, yet Our Savior and His Words will always be remembered...Jesus Words will never pass away...While man will come to earth to eventually die, Jesus can help us live again...Because He has died we might live...He teaches us that this is eternal life that we believe in Him and the One True God who sent Him...
Sheen writes in his book the Life of Christ that "Some books are written to answer one's own questions; other books are written to question answers already given...This book was written to find solace in the Cross of Christ, as for about ten years of my life I endured a great trial...The nature of that trial is not important, but what is important is how it was met...Plunging into the Life of Christ what seemed to stare at me from the pages of the Gospel was that Christ, the Son of God, did not come into this world to live...He came into it to die...Death was the goal of His Life, the gold that He was seeking...You and I come into the world to live...Death is an interruption, as death halted the teaching of Socrates...But for Him, as He told the Creeks, the seed must fall to the ground and die before it springs forth to new life."...
So the Christian story continues even after His death on the cross...Fulton Sheen says “Christianity, unlike any other religion in the world, begins with catastrophe and defeat...Sunshine religions and psychological inspirations collapse in calamity and wither in adversity...But the Life of the Founder of Christianity, having begun with the Cross, ends with the empty tomb and victory.”...
And so Christianity got its start from catastrophe and death...Sheen says it must happen that way...He writes: If we leave the Cross out of the Life of Christ, we have nothing and certainly not Christianity...For the Cross is related to our sins...Christ was our "stand-in" on the stage of life...He took our guilt as if He were guilty and thus paid the debt that sin deserved, namely, death...This made possible our resurrection to a "new life" in Him...Therefore, He is not just a Teacher or a Peasant Revolutionist, but Our Savior...Our modern world does not like the word "sin”…and if I deny there is sin, I make forgiveness impossible."...
To summarize this Sheen writes: "If He is what He claimed to be, a Savior, a Redeemer, then we have a virile Christ and a Leader worth following in these terrible times; One Who will step into the breach of death, crushing sin, gloom and despair; a Leader to Whom we can make totalitarian sacrifice without losing, but gaining freedom, and Whom we can love even unto death...We need a Christ today Who will make cords and drive the buyers and the sellers from our new temples; Who will blast the unfruitful fig tree; Who will talk of crosses and sacrifices and Whose voice will be like the voice of the raging sea...But He will not allow us to pick and choose among His Words, discarding the hard ones, and accepting the ones that please our fancy...We need a Christ Who will restore moral indignation, Who will make us hate evil with a passionate intensity, and love goodness to a point where we can drink death like water."...