Take Note - May 2012
As I am writing this article, I have a few days left in preparing for the Eastertide Concert. One of the pieces of the program is J.S. Bach's cantata No. 166, and the title of the first movement of the cantata is "Where are you going?", from John 16:5, Jesus' questions for his disciples: "but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'"
During the last Lent period, Grace and I had a chance to watch the movie "The Passion of Christ", directed by Mel Gibson. Toward the end of the movie, I told Grace that if Jesus was not the real Son of God, how can we explain how the disciples, who betrayed Jesus and scattered in the last moment from Him during the crucifixion, got back to their ministries until the end of their lives? Logically it doesn't make sense at all. There must have been undeniable evidence about Jesus and on-going support from someone, the Holy Spirit, for them.
Even after we accept Jesus as our savior and decide to commit our lives toward Jesus, we always stumble and turn our back to Him time after time because we are weak and uncertain about what Jesus taught us. Even with the worst times in our lives, however, Jesus keeps asking us, "Where are you going?" and "Do you know where I am for you?"
The secret of our happiness, the secret of our hope, the secret of the power we have with the name of Jesus seems to be like this: Jesus is with us always with the promise of God's words. Heaven is not only in the future but it has been in our past, the present and the future as long as we know where He is. As Jesus taught us, let's love people around us and serve them until we see Jesus eye-to-eye in the future. We can experience life in heaven right this moment by following His teaching. Jesus has never been far away from us after all.