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Christians ought to meditate on the emotions of absence that the disciples skilled after the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus Christ once they, too, are feeling alone, Dr. Jeannine Hanger advised Fox News Digital.
Hanger is an assistant professor on the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, California.
“When my husband and I dropped our daughter off at university, we had no idea how grateful we would be for FaceTime,” Hanger advised Fox News Digital through electronic mail. “What a treat to catch up with her face-to-face while our household was adjusting to her embodied absence.”
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But whereas it was comforting to see her daughter “pop up” on her telephone, it was not the identical as spending time together with her in particular person, she mentioned.
“Jesus’ disciples experience a similar adjustment period when they go from being with Jesus every day to having to adjust to life without Him,” mentioned Hanger.
Dr. Jeannine Hanger of Biola University mirrored on the “farewell discourse” from John’s gospel and what it means for Christians within the fashionable period. (iStock/Biola University)
In John’s Gospel, shortly earlier than Jesus is arrested within the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus delivers the “farewell discourse,” mentioned Hanger, “an extended conversation with His friends to prepare them for His absence.”
The message, she mentioned, “seems mixed.”
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“On the one hand, Jesus tells them, ‘I am leaving you’ — but in the next breath, He says, ‘I will be with you,’” mentioned Hanger.
“These are words of life, offering the tangible reminder that we are not alone.”
She mentioned this is “not unlike a FaceTime call,” the place you are “with” however not bodily current with somebody.
“Jesus is speaking, of course, of His death, resurrection, ascension and the coming Holy Spirit,” she mentioned.
“Though Jesus will now not be bodily current, His abiding Spirit assures us He is close to.”
Jesus, after His loss of life, was now not “bodily present” — however that doesn’t imply He was gone fully, mentioned one physician of theology. (iStock)
This “nearness,” she mentioned, could also be onerous for a particular person to know.
“Consider the next metaphor sprouting up in the midst of Jesus’ farewell handle. Jesus says, ‘I am the true vine, my Father is the gardener … and you [the disciples] are the branches,'” she said.
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God’s mission of salvation started with Israel and “is now being fulfilled by Jesus, the true vine and nexus of the people of God,” said Hanger.
“The Father tends the vine by caring for the branches (disciples), who in turn are exhorted to remain in Jesus, the vine.”
“The Father tends the vine by caring for the branches (disciples), who in turn are exhorted to remain in Jesus, the vine” — a reminder that Christians are never without Christ. (iStock)
Hanger said she likes this metaphor in particular, as “it pictures a stable connection between Jesus and His disciples.”
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Said Hanger, “This is not about how branches work to become connected. It doesn’t contain craving, or incomes, or straining to get related to the vine. It’s a snapshot of the believing life,” she mentioned.
Just as Hanger misses her daughter and longs to be bodily together with her — “I suspect that we sometimes long for the embodied presence of Jesus,” she mentioned.
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“In this Lenten season, may we draw encouragement from this garden scene. These are words of life, offering the tangible reminder that we are not alone.”
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