Hide & Seek

 

Do you like to play Hide and Seek? We played that many times when I was your age. I still play it with my grandchildren. When they were at my house over Christmas, they played it a lot. If you’ve been to our house, you know that there are a lot of places to hide.

I mention Hide and Seek because in our Gospel today (John 16:12-22), Jesus says to his friends, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” It sounds like Jesus is playing Hide and Seek with them.

We know Jesus isn’t playing a game. He’s talking about what is going to happen to himself. He is telling his friends what will happen to him on Good Friday – that he will be beaten, nailed to a cross and die. It’s not a game, but a very serious matter. So serious, that Jesus tells them that this will make them all cry.

After telling them this, Jesus says that their sadness will turn to joy. Has that ever happened to you? One minute, you are so sad that you are crying, and the next minute, you are smiling? I see that in people when I take Maggie, my Golden Retriever, to the store with me. Serious, sad faces spot Maggie, and their faces light up with joy and delight. They exclaim, “What a beautiful puppy! Can I pet her?”

You can do that too because you have the Holy Spirit in you. God lets you change people’s sadness into joy, like Jesus did on Easter Sunday when he rose from the dead. Sad faces become joyful when they meet the Risen Lord.

 With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.