Simple Truths

“Ah!” his disciples said. “Now You’re speaking plainly and not using any figurative language. Now we know that You know everything and don’t need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God.”

Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said:

Father,

the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son

so that the Son may glorify You,

for You gave Him authority

over all flesh;

so He may give eternal life

to all You have given Him.

This is eternal life:

that they may know You, the only true God,

and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.

I have glorified You on the earth

by completing the work You gave Me to do.

Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence

with that glory I had with You

before the world existed. (John 16:29-17:5)

God can overcome our failures. He stays with us, even when we make the wrong choices. Jesus gave his disciples his reassurance even as he told them that they would fail him. He promised them peace and victory through suffering, even as he promised they would abandon him in his hour of greatest need. Knowing their coming betrayal, Jesus prayed for them nevertheless.

Jesus did not come into existence in Bethlehem. He always was and always will be. He is the creator of heaven and earth. He is God Almighty. He had become human for but a brief eye blink in the never-ending span of eternity. Remembering how it had been and how it would be was what gave Jesus the strength to face the cross. Nevertheless, he was a human being. He had the same human revulsion and fear of death, the same distaste for the physical pain he would have to experience.

But in the same way he could endure his cross, so can we endure ours. We too, have been granted eternal life. We too, will live with God in glory forever. For us as well, all our suffering and all our problems are but eye blinks in the never-ending story of eternity. Just as tears fade with the passing of time, so will all our pains in the never-ending passage of eternity.

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