A Little While

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.”

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’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

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’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 

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. 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. 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. (John 16:16-23 NIV)

Happy Mother’s Day! We’re thankful for all the moms who are here today. Moms often say a little phrase that somehow makes everything better: “A little while.” When you scrape your knee, and it seems like it’s going to hurt forever, what does mom say? “In a little while, it will feel better.” And it does! When you are starving and feel like you are going to die if you don’t eat right now, what does mom say? “In a little while, supper will be ready.” And you make it. When the car trip seems to drag on forever, what does mom say? “We’ll be there in a little while.” And you get there. See what I mean? Moms know just when to say, “A little while”. We need that!

Because we have a problem from the moment we’re born: Patiently waiting. We all struggle with our sense of time. Even the littlest babies do. When a baby is hungry, when is it time to eat? Right now! You carry your baby into the kitchen, and the moment she sees a bottle of milk on the counter, what happens? She acts like she’s dying of hungry. Like the 1.5 seconds it takes to walk across the kitchen are an eternity. We don’t ever really grow out of that, do we? We can’t take waiting. No one is born with the gift of patience. Everything seems like it takes forever.

That impacts our relationship with God. We struggle with God’s sense of time. It often seems like God takes forever, doesn’t it? It seems like our problems last forever. It seems like our pain will never go away. It seems like that relationship will never get better. It seems like our sorrow will never heal. It seems like we’re stuck forever. We all struggle with God’s sense of time.

So today, Jesus tells us mom’s little phrase—“a little while”—over and over again. On the night before Good Friday, Jesus said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” Got it? It sounds kind of like a riddle, doesn’t it? “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” What did Jesus mean?

The disciples didn’t get it. They started saying to each other, “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’?” They didn’t understand. What did Jesus mean by “a little while”?

So Jesus explained, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” In a little while, something was going to happen that would make the disciples weep and mourn while the rest of the world rejoiced. Christians often find themselves with the opposite reaction of the world. Don’t be surprised if when the world is rejoicing, you are weeping. But Jesus promised that after another little while, that grief would turn to joy. In a little while they would weep, but then in a little while they would rejoice.

What was Jesus talking about? You know: His death and resurrection. In a little while—the next day!—those disciples would feel sorrow they had never felt before when Jesus died on the cross. Yet, what would the world do? Rejoice. “You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” But then, after just a little while—three more days—their grief would turn to joy. When? Easter. Why? Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. “You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”

That wasn’t all. Jesus’ death wasn’t the only time he was going away. He had also told his disciples that he was going to the Father. Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven. So just a little while after Easter, the disciples wouldn’t see Jesus again. But after a little while, they would see him. When? On Judgment Day. When Jesus came again on Judgment Day, all their sadness would turn to joy that no one could ever take away. Jesus was preparing his disciples for both things. His death and resurrection. And his ascension and Judgment Day. “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” Understand that riddle?

In both cases, whether it was waiting for Jesus to rise again or waiting for Jesus to come back on Judgment Day, Jesus wanted his followers to trust this: Sorrow will not last forever. How long will it last? A little while. Just a little while. That doesn’t mean it isn’t hard. Grief is real. But every grief and sadness has an end date. All grief and sadness will end. That’s Jesus’ promise! “You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” When? In a little while. In just a little while.

That means we don’t have to spend so much time feeling sorry for ourselves. Do you do that? I’m afraid I do. “Woe is me. My life is so hard. No one else has to go through this. It will never get better!” Any of that sound familiar? How much time do you spend feeling sorry for yourself? Self-pity is an awful thing. “Other people have more than me. Other people are healthier than me. Other people have better relationships than me.” Isn’t it easy to fall into that? Know why it’s so awful? Self-pity ignores God’s blessings. It ignores God’s promises. It ignores our sins.

Eventually, feeling sorry for yourself will lead to real sorrow. Do you know what real sorrow is? Losing Christ. There is a lot of suffering and pain in life, but nothing is so sad as when you lose Jesus. When God’s comfort is nowhere to be found. Where there is no one to forgive you and save you. Have you been there? Then you’ll find real sorrow and grief. The devil wants to drag each one of us into a place where we can’t see Jesus. The devil wants to drag us into a pit where it seems like Jesus can’t find us. Where all we see is our trouble and sorrow. So that we despair.

Jesus loves you too much to allow that to happen. So he prepared his disciples. “I will not be gone forever. No sorrow will last forever. There is joy coming that you can’t possibly imagine.” Because God hasn’t given us the short end in life. You know that, right? God hasn’t mistreated us. We merited death for our sins, and yet who died? Jesus died for us! We deserve hell, and yet who saved us from it? Jesus saved us. We deserve rejection, and yet what does God show us? Grace—undeserved love for us. Even when life is hard, even when life is sad, don’t let the devil tell you that all hope is gone. It never is. You have this promise, “Your grief will turn to joy.”

When? I don’t see it! Aren’t we all still like little toddlers? When pain comes, we despair that it will last forever. When conflict tears at our hearts, we assume it will never get better. When our souls hunger, we think we will never get filled in time. And what does Jesus say to you and me? “A little while.” In a little while, your pain will be gone. In a little while, your soul will be filled. In a little while, you’ll be in paradise. In a little while, you’ll see Jesus again. Do you see the comfort in those words? Your sorrow won’t last forever. Instead, Jesus says, “A little while…”

Then he gives us the perfect illustration for Mother’s Day: “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.” When a mother goes into labor, is there pain? Yes! Intense pain that seems like it will go on forever. I’ve seen it. Five times! To that mother, it feels like she’s never going to make it through. But then the baby is born, and what happens? That mother is happy. Instantly happy. So happy that she doesn’t think about all the anguish anymore. Instead, she is filled with joy at her child. This is how it goes for a mother, right? She suffers terrible, seemingly never-ending pain that suddenly ends and is quickly forgotten because of joy.

Now Jesus says, “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.” There are times of grief in life. There are times of anguish as awful as labor for a mother. Those times of grief seem like they will last forever. It seems like there is no hope. Is there? Yes! Because Jesus comes. When Jesus comes, “no one will take away your joy.” Is that true? Yes! At Jesus’ resurrection, his disciples were filled with joy that they couldn’t have possibly imagined. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. On Judgment Day, when we see Jesus coming, we will be filled with joy that no one will ever take away.

When? In a little while. I know that all of us are carrying sorrow and sadness in our hearts. It’s like a suitcase that you drag around everywhere, but it won’t last forever. Every sorrow has an end date. Maybe, like the sorrow of Good Friday, it will be over soon. That deep sorrow at Jesus’ death lasted less than three days. A little while. And then there was joy! Whatever sorrow you’re facing, hear Jesus’ words: “A little while.” No matter what you are going through today, you are not going to remember this forever. When you look back over life, how many seemingly never-ending pains or troubles have you totally forgotten about? A little while, and they were gone.

But it’s true that some sorrows last longer. Maybe your pain will last the rest of your life. Maybe your body or that relationship will never be completely healed here on earth. It’s true that some sorrows last a very long time, but there is still an end date. There is still hope. It will still be gone. Every pain. Every sickness. Every sadness will still be gone. When? When Jesus comes. “I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” I know this is so hard for us to comprehend, but even ten years of sickness on earth is nothing compared to thousands of years in heaven. Even a lifetime of struggling with depression is nothing compared to thousands of years in heaven. Just a little while. A little while and your grief will turn to joy.

True joy from Jesus. I hope you’re learning that God likes to use unexpected ways to bring us his salvation. To make us alive, God first lets us die. Have you noticed that? To show us the light, God first shows us our sinful darkness. To fill us with his power, God first shows us our weakness. To make us into his saints, God first convinces us that we are sinners. To lift us up to heaven, God first leads us through the darkest valleys on earth. To bring us to faith, God first gives us the pains of repentance. To fill us with joy, God first lets our hearts face the deepest sorrow. It all has a purpose! So that we learn that it’s all by God’s grace and all at God’s time.

One day, it will all be over. Every sorrow. Every pain. Maybe that end date will come here on earth. It will certainly come in heaven. Like a mom talking to her child, learn to say to yourself, “My Savior Jesus has told me that it will only be a little while. So even if right now it feels like I have lost him, even if right now it feels like there is no joy at all, there is still hope. It will only be a little while.” One day, it will all be over. One day, your grief will turn to joy, a joy that no one will ever take away. Doesn’t that sound great? When? In a little while. In just a little while.

(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)