Reflection on John 16:16-20 ~
As we more deeply understand how to let Jesus rise within us, the greater we can know the joy that fills us. Necessary in this cycle is an internal processing of our inner strengths that we will need to deal with the world’s effort to defeat us. For some, this relentless hammering against our required defense represents sharing a fractional portion of Jesus’s journey of pain, weeping, and mourning. Like Jesus’s disciples, very few will understand how even just a willingness to try to do so also yields a personal victory of how to rejoice with Christ and receive unconditional love.
My Soul is Sorrowful unto Death by James Tissot (full resolution) and for more detail at the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Eastertide Reflections
John 16:16-20 – Scripture (NRSV Bible)
Sorrow Will Turn into Joy
16 “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? 20 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this daily Gospel reading and considering this Lectio DivinaJohn 16:16-20 Reflection – Rejoicing in Christ’s Unconditional Love.
Would you like to contribute related thoughts to these Lectio reflections of the Gospel readings or other contemplative material to this Web-based ministry? Do you see God’s grandeur everywhere and unconditionally enjoy sharing the love of Christ that you have inside? Are you willing to be anonymous in what you would share? If so, email me.
Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.
Attributions
This site has written permission from New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) to use the John 16 Bible passage.
This site follows the guidelines for image web use at the websites of the Brooklyn Museum and the Jewish Museum.