John 16:16-22

John 16:16-22 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Jesus continues teaching and preparing his beloved disciples, predicting his eminent departure and death followed by his joyful return. He has spoken of these events on numerous occasions, yet the disciples fail to understand his words or to comprehend his meaning. They view Jesus as Messiah sent from God, anointed with great power to heal the lame, give sight to blind eyes, control nature itself by calming stormy seas, even raise the dead. How could this same Jesus, the Christ, who says He knows the Father and does all in the name of his Father, face such an ignoble end and confess susceptibility to death at the hands of mere men? The disciples reveal mental and spiritual confusion because they are thinking on earthly things, not on heavenly things. Their minds have not been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit; therefore, they talk among themselves, not wanting to question him: What does he mean. . . What does he mean. . .? Jesus, knows they do not understand, always knew they did not understand throughout his ministry. His frustration comes forth immediately after the miracles of feeding the five thousand and the four thousand when He meets a group of Pharisees who demand: Give us a miraculous sign from heaven to prove yourself. He sighs in deep anguish at such unbelief, refuses to give another sign, and gets back in the boat, warning the disciples: Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. Yet they are so clueless and unaware of what just happened, they think He refers to the fact they have no bread to eat in the boat. Jesus cries out what He must felt so often on the road to the cross as He obeys his Father's will that all might live and ever die: Why are you so worried about having no food? Won’t you ever learn or understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear? Don’t you remember anything at all? What about the five thousand men I fed with five loaves of bread? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward? Twelve,” they said. And when I fed the four thousand with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up? Seven,” they said. Don’t you understand even yet?” he asked them. (See Mark 8:11-21 NLT)

Jesus never lost sight of the goal set before him that He would drink the cup fully for the sins of all; yet his heart was now toward his disciples who would follow after him, taking the gospel message to the ends of the earth. By drinking the cup prepared for him, He would deliver the kingdom of God to all people for all time by bridging the terrible gulf that separated God from his creation. Through Christ's death on the cross, his shed blood and subsequent resurrection, God would birth a new people forever called the Redeemed, the Ransomed adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God, co-heirs with his Only Begotten Son. This newborn generation IN CHRIST, known as members of God's family, bought by the precious blood of Jesus, would possess eternal life with the Father. As a result, just as Christ listened to the Father and yielded to the Holy Spirit, so would the newly born in Christ after the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. Realizing they were purchased through the death of Christ on a rugged cross, the newly born children of God would grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord; they would understand how greatly the Father loved them and be ready to go out as the army of the Lord with the same fervor as the early church when they faced persecution and hardship, accepting the Spirit's call regardless of life's circumstances. When Paul and Barnabas faced rejection and turned to the Gentile world, the Lord said, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. (Acts 13:47) Believing that, they made religious history. Later after extreme hardship upon hardship, Paul could say, Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58

Jesus knows his disciples will weep and mourn on the dark ominous day of his death; their disconsolate hearts will find no joy in his earthly demise. Even as He tries to explain events ahead of time, without the indwelling Holy Spirit, their natural minds cannot fully comprehend what is to come--his glorious resurrection from the dead with joy unspeakable and full of glory when their hearts and minds will open by the Spirit to a new kingdom of light, and they will see the birthing of sons and daughters to live forevermore with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. No longer will the sins of mankind require the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats to offer temporary sacrifices to placate the wrath of God. Because of Christ's work on the cross, all who call upon the name of Jesus will enter into the family of God and find acceptance by a holy and loving God. The blood of bulls and goats could not do this: Christ's blood alone cleanses and cleanses again. Therefore, his holiness becomes our holiness, his perfection becomes our perfection. No longer aliens or enemies of God, in Christ we belong to God, forever His children: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6) Nothing and no one can take away our joy, for we are even now at home with the Father, sitting in heavenly places because God lifted us up into the highest places of honor with Christ when He raised him from the grave and won the victory over death. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7) Brothers and sisters, God is for YOU; never against you; never turns his back on you. You are not alone in the universe. Jesus says, I will see you again and you will rejoice! Amen! Hallelujah!