Fanfare that precedes Disappointment ...

Anticipation will rot your brain.  Anticipating something is rarely ever a reflection of the reality of something.  Perhaps this is because our imaginations are greater than our capabilities.  Think back to your wedding day as an example.  How much time goes into making preparations for that day?  The food, the music, the paper invitations, the clothing, the guests, the reception … this list is as long as your arm.  It often takes more than 2 people to get it done.  There is an entire cottage industry of wedding planning, justifiably so, to deal the immensity of having a single spectacular day.  And the expense that goes with having “the” perfect day is sizeable as well.  You can worry yourself sick about your wedding day, right up until it happens, and then in hindsight remember it only as perfect.  Or perhaps ever watch a child anticipate going to Disney World?  It is nearly the same thing reduced into an age-appropriate comparison.  The anticipation of Disney World, or Christmas, can make your kid nearly nuts.  Rare that anything can ever live up to the hype we can assign to it while in anticipation mode.  And vacations; don’t even get me started.

So you would think that kind of thing doesn’t happen in scripture right?  At least not in the time of Christ.  But, … wait for it 😊, … it does happen.  And like most things, the reason why the anticipation does not match the reality, is because what we “believe” about what will or should happen, is mistaken.  Sometimes horribly mistaken.  Other gospel authors address the “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem from a number of different perspectives.  The central theme in all of them, is great excitement about Jesus coming “home” to the capital city of the nation.  There is just a huge feeling in the air itself, that Jesus is finally going home to become King of Israel, and begin the work of pushing the Romans out of Dodge.  Honestly this idea terrified the Pharisees and Sadducees.  If Jesus did this, they lose all leverage in opposing Him.  Jesus would be King of the land, and He had already shown Himself to be king of the church, or the faith.  Arguing with Jesus about anything after that would be pointless, and likely wind you up on the point of an Israelite spear, or under a ton of nearby Israelite stones.  This lack of pushing out the Romans, was “the” only thing the Sanhedrin had to cling to, to verify that Jesus was a false Messiah.  Ironic, how a leadership united by hatred of Rome, still preferred Rome to The Truth.  Are our modern denominations too far from this today?  Are we?

But enough Debbie-downer, this story is about anticipation, and it is going to begin with a bang!  Matthew writes his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries.  In doing so, Matthew wants to correlate the Old and New Testaments where Jesus is concerned.  Matthew wants to show the fulfillment of prophecy of Isaiah and OT prophets through what Jesus actually did.  And frankly what no other human before or since has ever even come close to.  In addition to the mistaken point of view of what the mission of the Messiah was, there were also a number of other prophecies that were fulfilled exactly as specified.  One need not throw out the Word, because something they believed in, was in error.  No, a great many other things happen exactly as outlined.  And the things we were wrong about, with perhaps a second look, and through the lens of Jesus, can find a better interpretation of, than first imagined.  Matthew is attempting to encourage his contemporaries, not to discard the Old Testament, or discard Christ, but to find the true harmony in both.

He picks up in chapter twenty-one in verse 1 saying … “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, [verse 2] Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. [verse 3] And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.”  Here Jesus begins with direction, with purpose, and with prophecy.  The great multitude is still in tow.  And the direction leads towards Jerusalem.  Nearly everybody is just seething with anticipation.  They all know where this trip will end, and they are all eager to get there.  But Jesus takes a pause.  Near one of His favorite places of prayer (the mount of Olives), Jesus pauses and asks His 2 disciples (in order that there may be 2 witnesses to what will occur), to go and fetch a colt in a particular place.  If they are questioned about it, by the owner, they are to say a particular thing.  And all will be well.  This is straight up prophecy.  And as you might imagine, it happens exactly as He has just specified, including the challenge, and response by the owner.

Matthew continues in verse 4 saying … “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, [verse 5] Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”  Keep in mind Jesus did not own an ass, or a colt.  He owned nothing.  And He did not purchase one for this occasion.  For those that would argue (as the Pharisees were quick to point out), that Jesus was “making” the prophecy of Isaiah come true – they have a point.  But to extend that argument, you would have to say that Jesus also “made” an owner of an ass, who happened to have a colt recently; appear at a particular place and time, and then respond in a particular way to these events.  It would have been easier to simply buy the needed animals in advance.  But this is not what took place.  And anticipation continued to rise.  The people were not completely ignorant of the prophecies of Isaiah and the other prophets, and they began to sense their fulfillment.

Matthew continues in verse 6 saying …” And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, [verse 7] And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. [verse 8] And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. [verse 9] And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”  At this point, the crowd begins to take action as well.  Common people begin to lay down palm frawns, and spread out their over coats, and tunics, across the dirt road.  In effect the worlds’ first protracted red carpet.  The idea was to make the road smooth, and give it a royal feel.  They did this without the slightest hesitation, and with no prompting, and with no concern with whether or not the donkey, or colt, might leave behind a few “treasures” on their particular coat which might require extensive cleaning afterwards.  No one cared about that.  Everyone just wanted in on making this road look more elegant for the King of Kings to travel upon.

Then came the music.  You cannot have a processional without awesome music, well you cannot have a “good” processional without awesome music.  And so began spontaneous praise singing from the entire crowd.  Old men, women, little children, of one accord singing in one voice, in multiple part harmony saying HOSANNA.  “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord”.  HOSANNA in the Highest.  HOSANNA to the Son of David.  The entire crowd recognizes the lineage of Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus as direct descendants of the house of David himself.  They then sing praises to the Father God in the highest.  And then sing praises to Jesus their soon to be crowned King.  And with these anthems began to shake the entire Roman empire.  But beyond that, with these anthems began to shake the entire Satanic empire, and evil itself.  These musical anthems foretell the end of evil, the end of death itself.  They foretell a time beyond all of this when life is restored to what it should have been all along.  No one coerced the praise and worship, it was natural, spontaneous, and could not be contained.

Matthew omits the naysayers who attempted to stop it along the way.  The Pharisees who came and demanded that Isaiah’s prophecy dare not be fulfilled in this way.  But Jesus instructed these Pharisees, that if the people were made to be silent, the very stones would cry out in praise.  The appointed time was at hand.  The appointed activity was in full swing.  And no matter what Satan wanted, this was happening, which made all of demon empire tremble even more at the echoes of the refrains blasting above them.  I am sure the courts of heaven echoed these anthem refrains with a more elegant, and boisterous noise than what was taking place on earth.  The angels sing their praises for the same reasons we do.  Because they want to.  Because they love it.  And because they mean every word of it.  This day, the music, the self-sacrifice, and the naked anticipation of what was coming was at its zenith.  It would never get any higher than it was now.  The worship service was in full swing.

But something goes sideways.  Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? [verse 11] And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”  His entry into Jerusalem moves the entire population to take notice.  Excitement bursts from everyone.  And then … we get it wrong.  Like all good modern worship services it only takes one false idea to burst an emotional bubble and leave you with nothing more than a memory of something you no longer understand.  The people ask who this is?  Instead of saying this is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  They answer, this is Jesus, the prophet, of Nazareth, of Galilee.  Not God on earth.  Not part of three in One.  Not the savior of our sins, but instead, just Jesus.  A normal guy like you and me, who happens to have some supernatural abilities.  Let’s force Him to be our King over the Romans.  Good idea.  But wait, where is He?  Where did He go?

The good-guy-prophet, just vanished in front of them.  The crowd once again was unable to force Jesus to become the earthly King they wanted Him to be.  The crowd was unable to force a false interpretation of the prophets no matter how much they wanted it.  No matter how high their emotions were.  No matter how strongly they held their belief, it was wrong, and it was not to come to pass, and they could not make it happen.  Huge disappointment.  And just like that, the entire thing fell apart.  And we think this is merely history?  How many of us crave the emotional high that comes from inspiring music, massive production value, lights, instrumentation, talent, comfort.  Our churches are designed for the ease of attending a show once a week, that lasts a few hours.  It is like going to a movie, only with live players in 3D in front of us.  And we get to join the festivities.  In offering calls, in study, in prayer, in song.  Our worship of God, that begins to swell in us an emotional high of this event.  Follow this with a sermon, that too might be inspiring, elevating, thought provoking.  And how could it get any better?  But just wait, next week is coming and we can do it all over again.  A new Sabbath to anticipate coming once again.

But there in is the rub.  Church is not something you attend.  Church is not something you participate in.  Church is a not a place where you go.  The church of Christ, is something that becomes – who you are.  The Kingdom of Heaven is something that “lives” inside of your heart and mind.  How you love.  Who you love.  Why you love.  Questions that have different answers when you are truly transformed by your surrender to Jesus who can re-create you into what He intended you to be.  “That” is church.  Things I hear.  Things I do.  That do not change me, that do not reach the part of me that would cast aside the old, and embrace the new – are nothing more than entertainment.  I could be watching Pureflix, and get as much out of it. 

When I place the concept of His church as something outside of myself, I am left empty.  When I look at the poor, and the needy, and the ones in open sin; and believe the “church”, that is the organization of the church, should do something about that.  I am left empty.  When I make excuse, by making donation, instead of making surrender – I am left empty.  Something has gone sideways in modern Christianity.  We have trained ourselves to treat church as something we are barely a part of.  We refer to church like we refer to any corporate entity.  It could just as easily be called Exxon.  Sure we identify with the church corporate body, but we miss the entirety of the personal power of change – because we refuse to accept the method from where change springs.  We make Jesus, that good-guy God who died for our sins and will one day take us to heaven.  But we refuse to acknowledge Him as our personal Creator, capable of remaking us, if we would only but personally allow Him to do so.  No corporate body can make that happen, but it sure can distract from it. 

Corporate church tells you not to worry about your sins, because there is always forgiveness for them.  In so doing they make grace cheap, of little worth.  Or they take the other extreme where they tell you to do nothing but focus on your sins, and make a “choice” to simply stop sinning, leaving the power of perfection in your hands, and tacitly telling you, it is your fault you continue to sin – and you will never make it to heaven until you stop doing it.  But I say, your sin is an addiction to self-love, that is more powerful than any cocaine habit ever dreamed of being.  You do not control it.  You were not meant to.  You were also not meant to keep living in the pain your sin causes, both you and everyone else.  You were meant to give it to Jesus, and let Him take them from you.  Not just forgive, but reform.  To truly change how you live, because you surrender any notions of control over to Jesus, giving Him full control of how you think, of what you want, of who you love, and of how you love.  That kind of full surrender changes you, and YOU become church.  Not a church of self-worship.  But a church fully surrendered to Christ, who then becomes in harmony with His laws, because His laws of love are etched into your heart.

All that anticipation wasted, because the doctrines of man, cause you to look at Jesus for what He could do for you in this world.  Instead of looking at our God for what He could work within you, and transform you to be.  Trusting in Jesus to save you.  To do what He promised.  If you will but get out of the way.  Only after you do this, will doctrine begin to make sense to you.  Only after you do this, can obedience become something not just possible within you, but natural within you.  That is change.  That is church.  Not something outside, but something deeply personal.  No one else has a say about that.  But once it infects you, you will hardly be able to stop talking about it.  You will not understand how it happens, but you will see with your own eyes, what it does to you.  And how you begin to truly love others, and love yourself less.  This is His love you were meant to reflect.  This is living where anticipation meets reality, instead of being a shallow shadow of what was possible.  Let us not be a repeat of the history of these events, but rather let them guide us to a surrender to God we trust completely to make us His church, how He wants it to be.  His reality will always outshine our anticipation.

 

Seperation Anxiety - Communion (part nine) ...

I am always amazed when I watch the TV reality series Survivor on the night when they reunite loved ones with those participating in the game who have had no contact with family for 4 weeks or more.  The reunions are almost always tearful, emotional, and filled with expressions of love.  The contestants are always sad when family leaves, and the visit carries what appears to be an immense amount of meaning to each of them, season after season after season.  To be separated from love, is a hard thing to endure for a creation made in the image of love.  But to be separated from the source of love is almost beyond comprehension.  It may be that separation from the source of love (God), is the very definition of hell itself.  For if God is the source of love, of life, of joy, of fulfillment, then separation from all those traits leaves only their antithesis – pain, death, misery, and hunger that cannot be filled. 

But this is where mankind is in a difficult position; the disciples had grown accustomed to a physical proximity to Christ (the source of love).  And now, due the fulfillment of His mission, there was going to be physical distance between Him and them, between Him and us.  His mission once fulfilled, there would be time between His first appearing and His second.  We were to be separated once again, at least by His physical proximity, by a physical distance we are unable to transcend.  And separation would be painful for us and for Him.  Anxiety would be natural in this circumstance.  Like those players on the show Survivor who know that family waits for them, and loves them, and misses them – each day of physical separation is difficult to endure.  The reality of that knowledge is not quite the same as the reality of their presence.  That feeling is amplified many fold when it is applied to us and to God.

John continues to relay the communion Christ was having with His disciples on that final night before all the ferocity of the hate of the world would be levied upon Him.  Christ was aware of the great sadness His followers would experience when He was taken from their view.  And so again, thinking nothing of His own comfort, and everything about theirs, even only moments before the pain He would endure; He offers His followers hope in the most hopeless of situations.  John records in chapter 16 of his gospel, beginning in verse 5 … “But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? [verse 6] But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.”  The reality of separation was near at hand, the anxiety and sadness that would accompany that reality was there as well.  The hopes of the disciples that an earthly anti-Roman kingdom was about to be established were crashing around their ears.  Jesus had never been wrong.  And everything He was saying ran counter to the idea that the Romans were about to be toast.  They were moving at night, alone, with no throngs of admirers, and the idea that Christ would be taken from them was not an appealing one.

Yet even with the impending doom of our separation, something was going to be different this time, than when in the garden Adam and Eve would leave their home and no longer enjoy the daily company of God walking with them in the evenings.  This time when Christ left, a new phenomenon was going to occur.  Jesus continued in verse 7 … “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”  While Christ was physically with them, and bound in the constraints of His humanity, He could only be with those who were in His immediate presence.  But God is more than what our human constructs can bind.  When He returned to the side of His Father, another part of God would be sent to “Comfort” them.  The Comforter would not be bound by human constructs forcing Him to localize in only one place at a time, or with one believer at a time.  The Comforter would be omni-present, able to be with each of us, no matter where we were in the world, at the same time, all the time.  This ability of God, Christ makes reference Himself as “expedient” for us.  It is more practical, and will be needed more by us, in the time of our physical separation.

Jesus continues in verse 8 … “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: [verse 9] Of sin, because they believe not on me; [verse 10] Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; [verse 11] Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”  Here Jesus outlines the primary work and mission of the Holy Spirit.  Remember in earlier verses Jesus had said that the Holy Spirit would testify of Him.  Here he captures three significant concepts that are worth a second look.  First, the Holy Spirit or Comforter (remember it is the name Comforter Christ uses in the context of this discussion), will “reprove” the world.  The term reprove might find synonyms in this context, with other words like “correct”, “aid in understanding”, “reveal”, or “identify” to the world.  Notice too, the world is bigger than just those who do not believe, it also includes those who do.  With respect to that, the first task our Comforter takes on relates to sin.  Our sin is identified when we do not believe on Christ.  When we cut off the source of our forgiveness because we refuse to believe in Him, we are left with our sin and no recourse for its pardon.  But our lack of belief has worse consequences; when we refuse to believe in Christ, trusting instead to ourselves, and our own ideas about the removal of sin, we cut ourselves off from the only source who can change our nature, and remove the sin from our desires as well as our actions.  When we do not look at Christ for perfection, we simply do not find perfection at all.  Thus, even when we believe in His forgiveness, we are left struggling with our sins, because we refuse to believe in His ability to perfect us, and save us – from us.

The second task of the Comforter (noting again that the work of a comforter is not supposed to be “bad” or upsetting news to us, but instead something to anticipate or desire) – is the reproval of righteousness because Christ is physically with His Father and we will see Him no more until He returns.  The eternal end to sin itself can come only in one way, through absolute trust in God, and NOT in ourselves.  We who have never seen Him face to face, are given the choice to believe in spite of our lack of “facts” and surety of scientific evidence of His existence.  We are given the choice to believe in His promises, recorded in His word, without benefit of absolute proof they are true.  We trust anyway.  We believe anyway.  Because our belief or lack of belief is a choice we make.  Our righteousness then, can only come when our belief allows Him to remake us, from the sinful creatures we are today, into the creations He intended that love without limit, and serve for the infinite joy that is found in service to others.  That definition of righteousness happens when we choose to believe in what we cannot see, what we cannot prove, what we cannot scientifically be assured is absolutely true beyond doubt.  And this belief and trust in God, is what will keep us from ever finding sin again throughout the eons of time in eternity.  There will be no “second Satan” because the lesson of evil has taught us to rely not on our wisdom, but on His.

The third task of our Comforter is the reproval of “Judgment” itself.  Our trial is over.  Our verdict was guilty.  Our sentence was passed.  And Our Advocate told the Judge that HE would take on our punishment in order that WE might be spared.  And so the “threat” of our judgment is over, done, and no longer hanging over our heads.  Instead, only hope remains for us.  Salvation, forgiveness, and redemption through the sacrifice of our Advocate on our behalf, means the trial has no more meaning to us.  We are past it.  The “great day of judgment” has already been revealed where we are concerned.  We are guilty, there is no escaping that, but our punishment we will escape, because our Judge took it on Himself in order to spare us.  Those who fear standing before God, in a trial of weighing all of the “good deeds” they have done in their lives against all of the “bad deeds” they are decidedly guilty of, have missed the point entirely.  Our “good” will never outweigh our evil.  For one thing, any good that ever came from us, came through us as we submitted our will to Christ.  Therefore it is not “our” good in the first place.  Second, our evil is as much a part of us as is our DNA, unless again we submit ourselves, including our decisions, our desires, even our thinking back to Christ in order to be remade.  When we are remade it is not evil that is natural to us, but repugnant to us, and only love is what we seek.  In this, our Comforter actually brings us comfort.  We need not fear a judgment that is already past, done, and over.  Instead we can accept His gift, of transformation and the removal of pain and death from our lives and existence.

It is a profound mystery to me, that Christians believe it to be their job to “judge the world” and “judge others” and “judge sin” when they have never been given this task to perform.  Even our Comforter comes to “correct” our ideas on these topics, and offer us hope through Jesus Christ.  He does not condemn us, as it is evil that has been judged, and salvation that is found in Jesus Christ.  Jesus does not constrict His offer of salvation only to men, or the young, or the healthy, or the perfect, or those who are straight or gay, or have abstained from adultery or addiction.  The condition we find ourselves in prior to accepting His salvation is ALWAYS one of self-inflicted pain.  This is the very condition He longs to free us from.  Our lives AFTER we allow Him to transform us will be different, and will find us more fulfilled, with different wants, needs, and attitude on what it means to love and serve.  It has never been the job of the Christian to judge, it has always only been the “job” of the Christian to love.  And when we are transformed, it is no “job” to love, and no “commandment” to love, instead His love is “who” we are, it is then natural for us to love.

Again what Jesus is offering His disciples, what is in fact expedient for them and us, is this Comforter, who does these 3 tasks, and enlightens our world through them.  He brings us Comfort through these tasks, not condemnation, reproach, or doom.  The point of His work, is to provide us Comfort and in these areas we should see the hope He brings.  Jesus assesses the situation and continues in verse 12 … “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”  Already the anxiety of losing their Lord was setting in.  They were unprepared to hear any more news that was not happy in nature.  Like we are today, we get mired in the reality of our day-to-day, and it is hard for us to see the bigger picture because we define our lives by the here and the now.  But the words Christ wished to communicate would be delivered.

Jesus continues in verse 13 … “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”  Here we go again.  When God, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit is come to us, he does NOT speak of Himself.  He is here to serve our needs, see to our comfort, and educate us into “all” truth.  God is always serving others, in this case, His creations.  He never seems to serve Himself.  The mission of the Holy Spirit is not to educate us on who He is right now, but instead on who Christ is.  He passes on to us the things He hears in heaven, the messages Christ wanted to communicate with us, but we were unable to bear.  It takes time to build trust with anyone.  If in the first encounter with God, Abraham had been asked to kill his only son, he would likely have declined.  It takes great trust to act against our own interests, logic, wisdom, and feelings, and do what God asks us to do.  This is not something we do overnight, but it becomes something we do over a lifetime, as we yield ourselves to Him.  When we first encounter God, we may not be willing to let go of our most cherished sin, but over time with Him, we realize the sin we cherish, is the sin that is destroying us and causing us the most pain in the here and now.  When once we may not have been able to bear the news that we would be losing that most cherished sin, we come to the point where we long to be free of it, and then mystified that it was ever a part of our desire and lives in the first place.  This too is the work of the Holy Spirit on each of us, unique to each of us.

Jesus continues in verse 14 … “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. [verse 15] All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”  Here is the union of the Godhead presented in the continuing mission to save us from the evil we embrace.  The Holy Spirit does NOT glorify Himself, instead only glorifying Christ.  Indeed the acts of love the Holy Spirit performs for us, are on behalf of Christ, and at the will of the Father.  We all belong to the Father, and He shares us all with His son.  Notice that the Father holds nothing back from His son.  He retains no ownership of even His most precious treasures, us, from the Son which He loves so much.  He holds no acts of love back from us, the objects of His so great love.  For God does not value ownership and possession, He values service and gifts and acts of love He is able to perform for us, and for all the creations He made and loves.  Those truths we still need to hear from Christ, are delivered to us through the mechanism of His co-partner in our redemption, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus then must tell them what is to come (once again), but He is no longer able to be so direct.  Instead He elects to speak more in the context of a proverb, to some extent a riddle, or saying, that carries meaning, but is not quite as blunt.  It would give His followers time to process what He was saying, and a memory of when He said it.  Its full meaning would become clear later, while the timing of what He said would carry more weight because of when He said it.  Note that John is recording all these words of communion with Christ between the time of the Last Supper and the time of His final betrayal in the Garden they were likely already within.  Jesus now tells them in verse 16 … “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”  With the benefit of hindsight, we know Christ was referring to His impending death, when in just a little while they would not see Him.  Then after His resurrection they would seem him again.  Then He would go to His Father.  One might also surmise He meant that His time with them on earth was to be short, but it would only be a little while of separation before they would spend eternity with Him in Heaven with His Father.  But the use of this phrasing was by intent, to offer them and us something to ponder.

In verses 17 to 19, the disciples try to determine what He means, but cannot and need Him to help them out a bit more.  So Jesus elects to use the analogy of a pregnancy.  Labor is hard, difficult, painful, but what it results in, is so joyful, that the memory of the pain quickly fades for the joy of what has been born.  Our separation from Christ is hard, difficult, and painful.  Our process for salvation may appear that way to us as well at first, as we cling to the notions of accomplishing it ourselves.  But what is born within us brings us great joy.  The things the world rejoices in, we will find, cause us sorrow.  But our sorrow will be short lived, as what God does for us, in transforming us, bears a result that makes us forget the pain we once endured from the world.  In verse 22, Jesus affirms once again, that the final results of will happen to us, and for us, will bring a joy that can never be taken from us again.

But communion was not over yet …