¹⁷ Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. ²² So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³ On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” John 16:16-24

Here Jesus is looking beyond the present to the new age to come – and so Jesus uses a concept deeply rooted in Jewish thought. The Jews believed that all time was divided into two ages–the present age and the age to come. The present age was bad and completely under condemnation; the age to come was the golden age of G-d. In between the two ages, there exists the Day of the Lord; and the Day of the Lord was to be a terrible day, when the world would be shattered before the golden age would dawn. Jesus knew the scriptures and these pictures were in his mind and memory. And now he was saying to his disciples: “I am leaving you; but I am coming back; the day will come when my reign will begin and my kingdom will come.” Then he went on to outline the life of the Christian who endures to the end – and in that life, their sorrow would turn to joy. There may be a time when it looks as if to be a Christian brings nothing but sorrow, and to be of the world brings nothing but joy. But the day will come when the roles will be reversed. The world’s careless joy will turn to sorrow; and the Christian’s apparent sorrow will turn to joy. The Christian must always remember this – when we feel as if we are persecuted for our faith, we must endure, because this not the end – one day, our sorrow will turn to joy.

Pastor Dave