These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world

 

 "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."  Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"  They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'?  We do not know what he is saying."  

 

Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'?  Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.  A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.  And in that day you will ask Me nothing.  Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.  Until now you have asked nothing in My name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 

"These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.  In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and I have believed that I came forth from God.  I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.  Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."  His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!  Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You.  By this we believe that You came forth from God."  Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone, because the Father is with Me.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

 

- John 16:16–33 

 

Beginning with Monday's reading and commentary, we have been reading through Jesus' Farewell Discourse to the apostles, which He spoke at the Last Supper just prior to His arrest.  Yesterday we read that Jesus said to them, "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 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."

 

  "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."  Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"  They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'?  We do not know what he is saying."  My study Bible tells us that the first little while refers to Christ's arrest, death, and burial.  The second is His time in the tomb until Christ's Resurrection.  

Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'?  Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.  A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.  And in that day you will ask Me nothing.  Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.  Until now you have asked nothing in My name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."  My study Bible indicates that when Jesus speaks of a woman who no longer remembers her birth pangs, it does not imply that the faithful are to forget the Passion and Cross of Christ, any more than a woman forgets her labor.  But what is true is that we see those sufferings in light of the victory of the Resurrection, and this victory transfigures our perception of sufferings.  Christ's victory, my study Bible says, allows us to rejoice in anguish because of the infinitely greater good that comes from it (Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 3:10).  

"These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father."  My study Bible notes that the time when Christ would speak plainly about the Father was during the forty days which followed the Resurrection (Acts 1:3).   

"In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and I have believed that I came forth from God.  I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.  Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."  His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!  Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You.  By this we believe that You came forth from God."  Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone, because the Father is with Me.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  My study Bible tells us that we know prayer is offered in the name of God the Father, for Christ taught us to pray that way (Matthew 6:9), and He Himself prayed to the Father (John 11:41; 12:28; 17:1).  In Christ, it notes, we have direct access to the Father, and so therefore we pray in the name of the Son as well (John 14:13-14).  After Pentecost, my study Bible continues, we learn that the Holy Spirit Himself "makes intercession for us" (Romans 8:26), and we are instructed to pray always "in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18).  Orthodox Christians pray continually and with confidence to all three Persons of the Trinity, "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

 

 Jesus says to the disciples, "A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you."  This brilliant image, of a woman in pain and travail from labor, serves us as perhaps the best way of understanding the power and impact of the Cross, death, and Resurrection.  A dear friend who is a priest once counseled me when I was speaking to him of a very painful problem.  I told him without thinking, "I feel like I'm being crucified."  He responded to tell me that it's good I said I was being crucified, "because after Crucifixion comes Resurrection."  He was so right, and it was possibly the best words of counseling I have ever received in my life, because it utterly shifted my focus to my faith and the promise of our faith.  Even though Jesus had prophesied all that was going to happen, including His rising on the third day, the events of the Resurrection and the entire history of the Church that has followed could be foreseen explicitly by no one.  We don't know what Resurrection will look like.  We don't know that all our desires will be fulfilled, that we won't lose what is precious to us.  But we always know there will be a resurrection in all kinds of forms in our own lives when we suffer a loss or distress, because Christ's Resurrection promises this to us through our faith.  We live His life by abiding in Him, and therefore His Resurrection also abides in us and is at work in us.  Of this reality, we must not doubt, should never lose faith or heart.  If we can but accept the possibilities of God, there is always the potential for every circumstance -- any circumstance -- to be transfigured, made into something else, through our faith.  There is always a Resurrection.  Perhaps many followers of Christ would have said that they would have preferred Jesus to remain in the flesh -- and we know Jesus' response to St. Peter when he rebuked Jesus regarding the Crucifixion ("Get behind Me, Satan!"; see Matthew 16:22-23).  But God has the bigger, more important, eternal perspective and vision, and we just don't know all the promises of Resurrection looks like, both in our world and its history, and in the microcosm of our own lives as faithful.  But let us take faith in this, that living His commandments (loving Christ, as He has taught), abiding in Him, means that we also may suffer tribulation and difficulty.  However, it also guarantees us Resurrection, in one form or another, and to this we cling.  In this, our suffering is transfigured, for we have faith and we have hope and we also have knowledge of this truth.  My study Bible cites St. Paul above, from the Letter to the Romans:  "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:3-5).  These realizations, this recognition of what even is possible to acquire through suffering, give us a transfigured life, and a sense of what it is to experience a resurrection after crucifixion, in any form.  We have hope, as St. Paul says, as a gift of the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  On this we can count.  Let us depend on that hope, and persevere to abide in His love through all things.  Finally, we have Jesus' last words to them:  "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."