Saying Goodbye--John 13.1

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (13:1, ESV)

I hate goodbyes. We spent the week of Christmas in Chicago with my wife’s family. Her sister has kids that are the same age as mine. Landon (9) played 24-7 with his cousin. The night before we left, Landon cried because he didn’t want to leave. In fact, the next morning, he didn’t want to get in the car and come back home to Auburn. He was desperately against leaving. He said he was going to miss his cousin and it ripped his heart out to leave. He asked why we can’t live in Chicago. He exclaimed, “Why did we have to move to Auburn, why can’t we live here!”

It broke my heart. It’s hard to watch others when they are broken hearted. I remember when I was younger, leaving friends when I moved. I remember missing my high school friends when I went off to college and I remember my college friends when I graduated and moved to Atlanta. Goodbyes are tough. But as believers, we know that no goodbye is permanent. No goodbye is forever, it is merely a temporary absence.

Thinking on this section of John 13-17, Jesus’ final gathering with his closest friends: Jesus was God with skin on; fully human and fully God. And if he is God, which he is, then he aligns with the character of God: being a relational God. Jesus is relational. If this time before the crucifixion was the end; if death is the end of all, like many non-believers hold to, then it seems Jesus would be more panicked, more remorse, more saddened to depart from this life; from his closest friends--and even his family. If this was goodbye forever, then Jesus would have been more reluctant to leave. He would have fought a harder fight. He may have run from the cross rather than towards it. Jesus might have let Peter continue to swing away with his sword when they came in the night to arrest him.

Jesus knew, though, that death was not the end. He knows of another kingdom, one that is everlasting and has no end. Paul wrote, “Can anything separate us from the love of Jesus? Can death? No! Not at all! Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus.”