A Little While 等不多時 – John 16

Seven times, “A little while” mentioned in such a brief text. It’s a long preparation talk Jesus has to His disciples for His last words before He will die. Jesus would like to tell them everything, the reality is, like He mentioned in v.2 ‘it is more than you can bear’你們現在擔當不了. Therefore, He sends the Holy Spirit to ‘guide us into all truth.’ 只等真理的聖靈來… 引導你們明白…把將來的事告訴你們 (v.13) And it will just be in “A little while”.

Starting from John ch. 14-16, there is another repetitive word, ‘Whatever’.

“Whatever you ask in my name… I will do it” Ch. 14:3 

“Remain in me, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you.” Ch. 15:7 

“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” Ch. 16:23 

“Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” Ch. 16:24 

星期日早上，在Church In The Park服侍，大概有二百位流浪者和乞丐來吃早餐。清早八點，天吹著泠風，有一位非洲裔的青年流浪漢一邊拭流一邊搖頭一邊哽咽地說話，跟他同是非洲裔的牧師一隻手搭在他的肩膀安慰，一邊點頭，然後為他禱告，最後深深地擁抱。我在一旁，看見這充滿愛的畫面，深感耶穌就在這裡。我不知道這位流浪漢的苦情，也不知道他有多久沒有被溫暖的雙臂擁抱，他的苦還有多久才結束。’Whatever’! 然後我想身邊亦有在經歷一些 ‘Whatever’ 的朋友。

The key is ‘remain in Him’,’ask in my name’, and in just “A Little While”… 憂愁將變為喜樂。 

There are a lot of ‘whatever-ness’ in our lives, we want an answer. Like Jesus’ disciples, they like to ask and want to find out the truth. God knows us, the truth is more than we can bear, but it will not be too long for us to know, just in ‘A Little While’. Meanwhile, we will “weep and mourn” (v.20) while the world rejoices. “A Little While” means… SOON, very SOON, 等不多時, Your Joy will be complete!