The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service

 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

- John 16:1-15

In our current readings, Jesus and the disciples are at the Last Supper, the final Passover supper of Jesus' earthly life.  He is giving to them what is known as the Final Discourse before He goes to His Passion.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said,  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.  If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'  But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."  Jesus warns the disciples of what is to come after His Crucifixion.  They will be persecuted, as was He.  Particularly notable is His warning that the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.   When He was with them, they were protected, but now those who have not known the Father nor [Him] will seek to destroy them as well.

"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart."  My study comments that sorrow here means "extreme grief leading to despondency or despair," which it says is a sinful passion.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom, who writes, "Great is the tyranny of despondency."  This sin, it adds, is constantly referred to in the writings of the Desert Fathers.  When the world persecutes the believer or when God seems to be absent, Christians are called to fight against this despondency, taking comfort from the presence of the Holy Spirit -- which Christ goes on to explain.

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."    The Helper, of course, is the Holy Spirit.  The Greek word is Paraclete/Παράκλητος.  My study bible says that through the illumination brought by the Holy Spirit, the world will be convicted; that is, proven wrong.  Jesus says it will be convicted concerning, first of all, its sin -- the ultimate of which is denying Christ.  It will be convicted also of righteousness -- which it failed to accept from Christ with faith and thanksgiving.  And finally, of judgment.  My study bible says that all who reject Christ will receive the same penalty that Satan, the ruler of this world, has already received (see Matthew 25:41).

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."  The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of truth.  Collectively, among all that the Church is -- past, present, and future, all the communion of saints and the presence of God's kingdom that dwells in those who love God -- that living Church is the guardian of all truth.

Jesus leaves the disciples with this striking warning about what is to come for them, and not just Him:  that "the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."  If we can imagine what that means, and take it to its logical understanding on our terms:  that the time is coming when those who believe they are doing good -- absolute good -- are those who will be persecuting those who love the Church.  What could be more profound than that?  Indeed, it is highly paradoxical that those who believe they are serving God will be killing those who love God.  This speaks of delusion, the highest capacities of the one who "loves and makes a lie" and "who was a murderer from the beginning."  What this means is that we should not be deceived into believing that logic or rationality or even decency will always be persuasive, or that evidence -- clearly compiled and given -- will always win for the just and the righteous.  We are meant to understand that the deceiver can deceive a whole population, a community, even those who believe that they love God.  It also implies that there is as far more profound truth than rests on the surface of things as the world presents life to us.  Everything is keyed here for Jesus to be welcomed:  He has been greeted as the Messiah as He entered into Jerusalem on Holy Monday, in the Triumphal Entry (see this reading).  He has raised the dead, with many witnesses from Jerusalem present, friends of the prominent family of Lazarus from Bethany.  No sin can be found against Christ.  And yet, with manipulation, with stirring up from authorities who cannot accept His presence and His own authority, there will be malice brought to fruition in His death.  Even among the authorities and the leading people of the Counsel, there are those who believe in Christ.  (Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus will openly provide for His burial.)  We are told that "even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (12:42-43).   What we take with us is the pressure of the worldly:  of the manipulation and material power, of persuasion and propaganda (to use a modern word), of the power to stir emotion against a scapegoat -- of deflection and a desperate will to hold to power and what it can do.  We are all vulnerable to this kind of persuasion, power, and pressure.  We are vulnerable through our blindness to our own envy, or wrath.  Such pressure also includes the deep hold of our need for community, and the fear of separation, such as among those rulers who feared being put out of the synagogue.  All of these things may be used against us to defy our own love of God, the word that God plants in us, the work of the Spirit living among us.  What we should look to is our own example of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who defied all that the "worldly" assembled against Him and against His mission of truth for us.  We look to the Spirit of truth to show us the way, through our own deceptions and pressures and hard times, and as He foretold, we endure to the end in His love.