Bible Study With The Bishops: Hurry, Hurry, Hurry

Reading Plan Text for April 3: John 7:32-39

I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come. (33-34)

When my father was suffering from pancreatic cancer, I don't think any of us really knew how little time we had left together. The doctors diagnosed it late, and they attempted to use a new and experimental chemotherapy. From the diagnosis to death was one month. Four short weeks. The last two days of his life he spent in a drug-induced coma because of the pain. Although I knew the end was near, I left for a business trip. He died that evening, and I came home the next day.

Jesus is telling the crowd, and, more importantly, his disciples, that his time among them is short. Burridge puts it in terms of six months--from the feast of the Tabernacles to the following Passover. Prepare. Make plans. Talk with me.

Talk with me.

I was fortunate. My father and I had healed our relationship about two years earlier, and he and I had a good conversation the last night he was conscious. What had to be said was said, and there was a peace between us.

You will search for me, but you will not find me...

Even now, 15 years later, there are times when I still reach for the phone to ask Dad a question about some project or other I've gotten stuck with. But he's not there. He won't ever be there again. And after 15 years, that can still bring tears to my eyes.

Jesus will not be there, and he won't be ever again. But the crowd, the priests, and the Pharisees do not understand what he is saying, because they are still trying to comprehend the literal sense of his words. For three days he will not be in a place where they can find him. He will come among them again, but also for a short while. Once he is gone, they will never see him again, and they cannot go to where he is--until death.

Prepare. Make plans. Talk with me. There isn't much time. You need to do it now. Time is short. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.

The good news is that we can still talk to Jesus whenever we want. And the bad news? It is our time that is limited.

Prepare.

Make plans.

Talk with me.

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.

Peace,
Jeffri