Between the upper room and Gethsemane, Jesus assured the disciples that although He would be leaving and travail and sorrows were coming, it was just for a little while. If they had understood, they might have spent 3 days waiting outside his tomb, in joyful expectation. But they didn’t get it. They sunk deep into grief because He was gone. What grieved them, relieved the world. Like the disciples, our grief, our suffering is only for a little while. Then sorrow turns to joy, weakness, to strength; God took death and turned it into life. Like a woman’s travail in childbirth, but then see what the suffering has produced. For the Christian, sorrow is for a little while joy is eternal. For the lost, joy is for a little while and sorrow is eternal. Jesus wants to give us His perspective.
