Sunday's lection is part of Jesus's Farewell Discourse in the Gospel of John. Several times in the narrative Jesus tells his friends that the Advocate, the Helper, the Holy Spirit will come; that they will not be alone; that, eventually, their grief will turn into joy.
But they don't seem to hear the promise. 
This is why, on Easter evening when Jesus appears before them, they were hiding behind shut doors in fear. He breathes on them the Holy Spirit and they receive what he promised them.
This is how most of us are. We love to talk of rainbows after the storm; of life after death; of joy after grief. But when storms destroy our homes and our crops; when people we care for die senseless deaths; when grief sucks hope from our hearts, we start drowning in our fears.
Until Jesus appears--often as a stranger--and reminds us of a woman giving birth. How her pain, which oftentimes seems like forever, eventually turns to joy when her child is born.
He does not say that the pain will go away. What he promises is that we will not be alone. Through the storms, through the deaths, through the grief...And through the joy.
Take heart.
Right now, a baby is being born; communities are rebuilding; young people worldwide are rising up against fascist regimes; and Palestinians, with their allies, continue fighting for their rights and what's right.
*I took these two pictures in Bethlehem, Palestine. One shows what the Israeli Defense Forces throw regularly at Palestinians, including children. The other one shows what Palestinian children throw back. So, #GalGadot, stop saying that your country is at war. Palestine has no army, no navy, and no air force.
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