5. THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD

John 16:16-24; 15:4-13

A great mystery is contained in these words of Christ in St. John’s Gospel. We should give heed to it. Only so can we avoid misunderstanding the meaning and modes of Christ’s presence in the world.

‘A short time, and no more you see me; again after a short time, you will see me’ (v.16). The apostles could not understand that.

What is the nature of this ‘short time’ when we do not see Christ? And when is the end of this short time when we shall behold Him again ?

In any case the time in between is a time of sorrow and suffering (v.20), at least for Christians -- while the world may be making merry on its own. But it is creative suffering -- like the labour pain of a woman about to give birth to a child. And the pain, if it is not the pain of despair, must lead to the joy of bringing something new into the world. (v.21).

The time in which the Christian lives is a time for sharing in a life of creative suffering -- not for living the easy-going, easily successful, popular and pleasant life.

We can undertake this vocation to suffer in the interests of others because we have a joy to look forward to when we meet the Master face to face.

But does not the time look long and the work endless? Is it not 2000 years since Christ departed from this earth to ‘go to the father’? Has he forgotten us and our world of suffering and injustice, famine and disease, illiteracy and superstition, oppression and exploitation, war and cruelty, poverty and misery?

No, and here is the great mystery for the Church because we do see Him face to face. We rejoice the ‘short time’ is already over, and we rejoice in the midst of a life of suffering, and no one can take away the joy from us (v.22). This is the strange paradox of the Church’s life on earth. Christ has come back and is with us. After the risen Lord appeared to the apostles, the apostles ‘returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God’ (Luke 24: 52).

He said to them before he parted from them, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this age’ (Mt. 28: 20).

The long drag of time becomes transformed for us because of the risen and ascended Christ who continues to be present with us ‘to the close of the age’.

But how is He present?

FIRST: By our abiding in Him and He in us, through love: ‘If you remain faithful to my orders, you will continue to abide in my love. Just as I remained faithful to my Father’s orders and so continue to abide in His love. These words I have said to you so that the joy which is mine may be yours as well, so that your rejoicing can become full. And my orders are simple: Love each other as I have loved you. There is no love greater than this -- to offer up one’s life for those whom he loves’ (Jn.15: 10 - 13).

To open our hearts wide to the amazing love of Christ, by which He was willing to sacrifice his own life for our sake -- that is our source of joy. From that opening up and positive response to His wondrous love comes the capacity to love others as He loved, and to serve them at the cost of our own lives, our careers, our pleasures, our success in this world, our comfort and our convenience. And when our life becomes one that is continuously opening up to his love, and continuously serving and loving those in need -- then His presence becomes real to us. Time becomes no longer something to kill, boring and dragging. Time becomes short; life becomes full of joy in the midst of pain and suffering. This is the true personal faith; we believe not just in order to save our souls. Our souls have been saved by Christ’s loving self-sacrifice. To live in that knowledge is the motivation for loving, self-sacrificing service and source of incessant joy in the midst of suffering.

SECOND: His presence is through the Holy Spirit : The Gospels and Acts make it clear that the life, death and resurrection of Christ constitute a series of events which culminate in the outpouring of the Spirit. Christ said to His disciples that when he ascends to His Father, the Spirit would come (Jn. 14:16, 17, 26:15: 26; 16 :7 ff, etc.). The Spirit is Christ’s presence in His disciples, i.e., in the Church. He is the creator Spirit who works from the beginning in all creation (Genesis 1:2), but He is present in a special way in the Church. Through Him Christ is known, and the community of faith is built up in Christ. He is the Spirit that reveals the will of God to Church, prays through the Church in accordance with the will of God. He fills the community with his gifts, when the community awaits them in faith. He is Christ present in the Church and through the Church to the world.

THIRD: Christ is present in the world through the actions of his disciples, i. e; the church, in the world: As our Lord said in His highpriestly prayer: ‘Now I am no more in the world, but they (the disciples) are in the world, and I am coming to Thee ..... As thou didst send me into the world so I have sent them into thy world (Jn.17:11-18). The actions of His disciples in the world are to bear the ‘name of Christ’; that is to say, they are to be the expressions of the personality of Christ. That is the basic meaning of ‘name’ in Hebrew -- an expression of personality. We are Christ’s presence in the world.

FOURTH: He is present in the righteous actions of all men : There are several other modes of Christ’s presence and action in the world, but one that should not be overlooked is His presence wherever the poor and the oppressed are vindicated; wherever there is genuine love and self-sacrificing service; wherever the goodness, the beauty and the truth of God are manifested in the actions of all men -- whether they be Christians or not. He is also present where the oppressor is overthrown, the rich sent empty away, the proud are scattered, the mighty are put down from their thrones (Luke 1:51-53). This is generally spoken of as God’s action in history through redeeming love and evil-destroying wrath. But He is present not only through the great historical events, but also through the often unrecorded patient work of ordinary men in ordinary life -- whether they be scientists, labourers, farmers, professors, artists or journalists.

Our concern is to be able to discern as well as bear Christ’s presence in the world. The two poles of this concern will be the object of our next study.

QUESTIONS

1. The promises of Christ are on the one hand that He would return at the end of the age, and on the other that He is always with us to the end of the age. How do we reconcile these two promises?

2. Are suffering and joy opposed to each other? Or can they both be experienced by the same person at the same time?

3. What should be our attitude to those who are not Christians in the light of the insight that Christ is present wherever justice and righteousness are vindicated?