“Dual Residence”


BIBLE READING: John 13-17                                               

            In John 16.20, Jesus said to His Disciples, “Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy”.  We already know specifically the context about what Jesus is telling His disciples.  He knows that by being placed on the cross, the world will rejoice because they will not understand what is truly happening.  Yet, for the eleven (the Twelve, minus Judas), they will be in mourning due to the death of their friend, their Rabbi, their Master.  However, the sorrow that they will experience will be very short lived because of the resurrection that will take place in a matter of days.  Although Jesus is being very specific to the context of what is about to happen, I believe these words offer hope to us today as well.  As residents of this physical world, we have to deal with many negative stimuli; sickness, pain, rejection, depression, death, anxiety and I could go on and on. Yet for the believer of Jesus, we have a dual residency. Yes, we are physical residents of this world, forced to live by its rules, but we also are spiritual residents of a world that we cannot fully understand while in this life.  So, rejoice…because it doesn’t matter what heartache and sorrow we have to face in this life, because even if it lasts a lifetime, it will still be short lived in comparison to eternity.   In eternity, for the believer…sorrow, depression, sickness, dying and anxiety do not exist.

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