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

 

 "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 

 

We are currently reading through Christ's Farewell Discourse, given at the Last Supper.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to the disciples, "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."  Christ makes clear the persecution that is to come, just as He taught them (in yesterday's reading, above), that "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."  Let us note the double emphasis on knowing the Father, and recognizing the Father in Christ and His teachings.

"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 Bible explains that sorrow here means "extreme grief leading to despondency or despair," which is, in fact, a sinful passion.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom, who writes, "Great is the tyranny of despondency."  This sin is constantly referred to in the writings of the Desert Fathers.  When the world persecutes the believer or when God seems to be absent, it notes, Christians are called to fight against this despondency, taking comfort from the presence of the Holy Spirit, a theme which Christ expands in the verses that follow.

"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 is, of course, the Holy Spirit.  This word in Greek is Παράκλητος/Parakletos).  My study Bible explains that this title also means "Comforter," "Counselor," and "Advocate."  It is literally indicated to mean "One who comes [to one's side] when called."   This is specifically indicated within a time of trial such as in a courtroom, as one who can make the right judgment call, and give evidence that stands up in trial.  At the time of the writings in the New Testament, it was the word used for "attorney."  On these verses, my study Bible comments that through the illumination brought by the Holy Spirit, the world will be convicted; in other words, proven wrong.  It will be convicted concerning first, its sin, the ultimate of which is denying Christ.  Second, righteousness, which my study Bible says the world failed to accept from Christ with faith and thanksgiving.  And finally, judgment, for 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."  My study Bible tells us that, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and because this Spirit abides in the Church, the Church is the guardian of all truth.  

My study Bible comments regarding despair or despondency that it is considered in the tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers to be a sinful passion.  We have to orient ourselves to what this means for us in order to understand it.  The passions are those things that lead to deteriorating condition in both our spiritual and bodily life, which would include the emotions.  Despondency or despair leads us to a decreasing perspective on life, and to be blind to God's goodness, and gratitude.  In psychological terms, we can see the devastation that comes when this takes over and colors all of life for us.  My study Bible quotes St. John Chrysostom, who writes, "Great is the tyranny of despondency."  And this is precisely the way that we should think of it, in saintly terms, as a kind of tyranny that is destructive to us.  If we consider that the "evil one" wishes to afflict those who suffer with despondency, in order to destroy life (the source of which is God, and particularly the Holy Spirit, who is called "life-creating"), then we understand that it is important to do battle against it, not to allow it to "take over" all of our lives in the tyrannical fashion that Jesus describes when He says, that "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34).  In a modern context, we are called to compassion for those who suffer from such affliction.  But within the Christian context particularly of the Last Supper and Christ's discourse to us, we are called to wage war against such despondency, to take heart.  Christ Himself frames this deep sorrow of the disciples on these terms.  He has just told them the worst news imaginable, and at this time when He has just been welcomed into Jerusalem as King and Messiah (see John 12:12-15).  Clearly, from the dialogues recorded in the Gospels when they were on their way to Jerusalem, many of the disciples also held this expectation, and of a worldly kingdom to come.  But Jesus prepares them now for what is ahead; first He is going away from them, and second they are to be prepared for hatred and persecution.  How can we imagine their despair and despondency?  How griefstruck must they have been?  I doubt that we could even imagine it.  But Jesus' response to their sorrow is to encourage them with the word that "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."  Jesus prepares them for what they will lose, but also supports them in telling them what they will gain.  This is an important formula for our lives, particularly as faithful Christians, for we may take our own understanding and consolation in the communion of prayer and of the Church, finding the sustenance that remains when we experience losses in our lives.  For the Holy Spirit remains present to us, and in the communion of faithful, and the infinite creativity of God that the Spirit brings to the world in the energies of grace.  In modern psychology there are important contemporary studies of the effects of gratitude precisely in situations of despair, grief, depression.  In the very act of seeking out things for which one may be grateful lies a great key to turning around the tyranny of despondency.   The studies emphasize the self-initiated search for things for which to be grateful as key to changing despair and depression.  In other words, we are not simply at the mercy of our feelings or disposition; it is the act of seeking out elements for which to be grateful that does battle against despondency.  This formula is quite clear here in Jesus Christ's Farewell Discourse, for this is precisely what Jesus does and presents to the disciples, in this formula that "because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart," but nonetheless, "it is to your great advantage" because the Holy Spirit will be sent, the Spirit of truth, through whom Christ is always with us.  This is the great good news of the gospel, for we are not at the mercy of our passions, the things that drag us down and enslave us with a kind of tyranny we can feel, and even Christ Himself felt in His humanity (John 12:27).  For Christ it was the great communion with His Father that triumphed over all the suffering of His humanity, and for us, He teaches about the coming of the Holy Spirit, our Helper, the Spirit of truth, who offers Christ to us at all times, counsel, succor, and the light of Christ's path through all things.  In this, let us take heart, for it is Resurrection that comes after Crucifixion.  But it is within this seeming paradox that our faith is complete.  As His followers, we are called to fight the destructive things that oppress, including our own feelings of devastation and despair, and to look with faith to Resurrection as a reality we embrace, and the Spirit of truth who will bring us the spiritual light to which we need to cling, and which illumines the darkness.  Nobody said it would be easy; this is why we are "disciples," those who are learners and develop a discipline.  But we are assured that to remain in His love, we follow His commandments, and this indeed leads us to a greater understanding of and growth in that love, for such action expands what we know and who we are -- just like taking the initiative to find gratitude, to count our blessings, even when we don't feel like doing so.   Since the ancient times of Christianity's birth, our faith was understood to call us to a kind of contest, an arena in which we battle (Ephesians 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:12).  The difficulties and obstacles, even the hatred from the world, are not diminished in the Gospels.   Let us note that we're not presented with a naive attitude of blinded cheerfulness, but with a fully formed adult understanding of struggle, and also of the gifts of Christ of peace and joy.   From the statistics we can see on pharmaceutical sales, psychological studies, even current studies on young populations and the internet, we see that we have an overabundance of despair, depression, and anxiety.  All of this can be understood as experience of a kind of terrible spiritual tyranny, even for non-believers.   But we remember who we are when we take up the proper spiritual arms for battle against such oppression, and remember who we are, and the mission and struggle to which He calls us.  We have a Helper to which we turn.