Second Saturday of Advent – John 16:31-33
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
Have you ever fought for something you believed in and failed?
You worked hard for a promotion, only to be passed over..
You lost a loved one even though you prayed for their healing.
You told the truth, and you lost.
What types of emotions did you experience in that loss?
In today’s reading, Jesus tells his disciples that they will be scattered and will abandon him. The just cause that they had been fully committed to for three years will fall apart. Their rabbi, whom they thought would save them and their people, whom they loved, would be taken from them. They told the truth, and they were about to lose.
And yet, Jesus tells them that they will have peace. How, we all might be thinking, could someone experience peace at a time like this?
The answer that Jesus gives us in the Advent season is that he has conquered the world. In Christ, God’s light conquered the world not through violence or coercion… but through sacrificial, self-giving love.
As we remember Christ coming into the world that first Christmas, we also look forward to his returning to make all things right; bringing an end to injustice, suffering, and darkness.
We long for this in our own lives and in the world around us. We receive peace by trusting that the time is coming when darkness will give way to the light.
- Have you ever fought for something you believed in and failed?
- What types of emotions did you experience in that loss?
- How might you gain courage and hope by trusting that in Christ, God is intimately involved in the details of your life? What does this look like, today?