Who among you has not said goodbye to relatives or friends that have moved or gone on a trip? Is it not a moment of sadness? The youngest among us always cry when their mother or father goes to the plaza or anywhere else without them. However, it often is necessary to say goodbye to loved ones, whether to look for work in a new place, to visit other friends or for other reasons.
Likewise, after His resurrection, when our Lord Jesus Christ announced to His disciples the need for Him to leave this world, they were very sad. And why not? They had lived with their Teacher and Savior for more than three years, had been witnesses to His death and resurrection, and now did not understand why He had to leave them.
Certainly Jesus had conquered death. After His resurrection, He could not die again. He was the Firstborn of the resurrection, of those who will live with God forever. Why should he not have stayed with His disciples?
As Jesus explained to them, His departure was necessary for the fulfillment of God's plan. For the good of all, Jesus had to return to the Father. In His first coming, the Son of God appeared as a Servant, a kindly and humble Teacher. But it was not the will of God for the Son to live always as an ordinary man. The Son of God had to reclaim the power and glory that He had left behind to live among us as one of us.
The divine nature of Christ, Who had existed before the creation of the world, was brought down to earth in His birth as the Babe of Bethlehem, in His life of perfect obedience and His suffering and death on the cross. After the resurrection, He had conquered death, but for us to share in His eternal life, His human nature had to share in the exaltation of the divine Son of God.
As well, it was the will of God to proclaim the message of salvation to all nations before the second coming of Christ. Jesus entrusted the proclamation of the Gospel to His church and promised His disciples, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the world." He also promised to be present whenever two or three were gathered in His name. This could not come to pass with Jesus living as an ordinary man. It would not be possible for Him to be present every time we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion if He had remained on earth as an ordinary man. And, as our Lord says in today's Gospel, if Christ had not been taken again from the world, we could not have received the Holy Spirit for the proclamation of the Gospel.
It is the will of God for the Holy Spirit to work through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. The church, that is, the people of God, all those who believe in Jesus Christ, is charged with these mysteries through which the Holy Spirit works.
There are two aspects to the work of the Holy Spirit:
1.The consolation of believersand repentant sinners. For hearts wounded by the world's evil and weighed down by remorse for sin, the Spirit brings the message of complete forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
2.To convince the world that God is righteous. Why do I preach the Word of God in la Caramuca when at times there are less than 10 people listening? On one hand, because if there is even one believer, one lamb, that needs the Word and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the strengthening of faith, it is my calling to provide that. But also I preach for the judgment of God on those who reject the Gospel. On the day of the Last Judgment, those people will not have any excuse for their sin. They will not be able to say to Christ, on His throne of glory, "Where was Your voice in la Caramuca? We did not have the opportunity to hear Your Word." That will not be the truth.
So let us give thanks to God for the opportunity to hear His World and let us pray for those not among us that the Holy Spiirt would move them to take their places here before the hour of judgment. Amen.
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