16 "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." 17 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 again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?" 18 They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is saying."
I haven’t counted how many times in the last few chapters Jesus has said he is going to the Father. It must have been a bunch. The point being that the disciples still don’t understand the gravity of what is going to happen to Jesus. But we must be honest. We would not have understood either.
Jesus is going to die. They won’t see Jesus while he is in the tomb. Then they will see him after his resurrection. Somewhere between his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus will go to be with the Father. I know, most of us associate this with his ascension. But the truth of the matter is that once Jesus has a glorified body, he can be in heaven or on the earth at will. There is no longer a reason for him to be physical separated from the Father as he was before his death. However we must not forget that his divine nature was always with the Father and the Holy Spirit because the divine Trinity cannot be separated.
The disciples zero in on this “little while.” They don’t understand any of it but the this seems to be the most confusing point to them. Every time Jesus had told them of his impending death, they didn’t get it. They had come to believe Jesus is the Messiah, but they never embraced the concept of a suffering Messiah. Somewhere in their thinking, they may still believe that Jesus was going to somehow establish his kingdom on earth, and it would be soon. Now, Jesus’ “little while” doesn’t compute.
We are the same when it comes to doctrines that we’ve been taught. In the last eighty years or so, the majority of the church has been taught the doctrine of pretribulation rapture where all Christians will be rescued from the coming seven years of tribulation before Jesus’ return. This has been taught so much that when we find passages that suggest this might not be the way it will happen, it doesn’t compute. We ask what that means but we don’t accept the answer because it doesn’t fit on the current theological bandwagon. We reject it even if it is answered by previous theologies of the eschatology. Whenever we come to difficult passages in the Bible, we should always examine our preconceived bias that would resolve the difficulty simply because that’s what we’ve always been taught.
For example, consider the parable of the tares.
But he said, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matt 13:29-30 NKJV).
The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:39-43 NKJV).
Jesus clearly explains that those who are evil will be taken out of the world first. Yet our pretribulation theology says that Christians will be taken out in the rapture first. I realize there are more passages that apparently support both views. I have not inserted this to make any definitive proof that pretribulation rapture theology is flawed, but to point out that we are like the disciples who didn’t understand what Jesus was saying because they had their conquering Messiah in view. What if we are wrong? How would we live differently if we had to prepare to go through the tribulation?
19 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'?”
How did Jesus know that they wanted to ask him about this “A little while”? Before we jump on the conclusion that Jesus in his humanity was also omniscient, we must understand that this could have been as simple as him overhearing their muttering to each other. While Jesus had been given information that was beyond his knowledge in other situations, there is no need to see this as one. We need to understand that the human characteristics of Jesus preclude him being omniscient. While his divine nature must be omniscient because he is God, this is not an attribute that can be given to a human being. Whenever Jesus exhibits omniscience, the specific knowledge must have been given to him at that time. Regardless of how Jesus came to this knowledge, he caught the disciples and wanted to clarify his statement.
If we see others confused by what we’ve said, we should follow Jesus’ example. We don’t have the ability to read others’ minds. Good communication is always better than letting people guess what you mean. It would solve a lot of problems in interpersonal relationships.
20 “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. 21 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. 22 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.”
In the same way that prophets of the Old Testament were given knowledge of the future, Jesus is given the knowledge of what his disciples are going to do when he is crucified. Because the disciples will still not understand why Jesus must be crucified, they will go into deep mourning.
But the world will rejoice. The world will be the Pharisees and Sadducees who will have orchestrated Jesus’ death. They will believe that they have finally gotten rid of the one person that has threatened their status quo. It reminds me of the world’s reaction to the death of the two witnesses in Revelation 11:10, “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth” (ESV). People who have been stopped or hindered in their sinful behavior or desires always rejoice when anyone who has opposed them is removed whether by death or legal action. It is no wonder that abortion advocates react so vehemently when abortions are outlawed.
Our misery and sorrow last only a short time just as the disciples’ mourning lasted only three days. The pain that we encounter is temporary when we face trials or setbacks in our life. Jesus promise to the disciples is where we can take heart. Just as they saw Jesus again after three days, so we will see him when we go to be with him, or he returns. This joy is something no one can take from us.
23 "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. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
In that day must be after Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension to the Father. After the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us, we will all be adopted sons of the Father. This means we don’t have to go to Jesus to talk with the Father. Jesus has already explained that the Father is in him, and he is in the Father. Since this is true, then what is the difference between asking the Father directly or asking Jesus? Sometimes prayer and how we are to pray just gets too confusing. For instance, we can look back at John 15:7 and find Jesus tell us to ask him for everything.
It is easy to miss what Jesus is saying when we apply these words to prayer. When we do, we are taking the verses out of context and end up twisting ourselves up in theological knots trying to explain how we can or cannot get anything from the Father when we pray in Jesus’ name.
Context is always the first element we should look at when trying to decipher a difficult passage. These statements by Jesus are in the context of asking questions of Jesus. They are not in the context of asking for physical provisions or other things, even miracles of moving mountains. The disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what he meant. They didn’t understand him. Now, Jesus is speaking of the future when the Holy Spirit will remind them of what Jesus has said. He is adding to this that when they are stumped, they should ask the Father. Jesus will not be physically present to answer their questions and that is when they need to ask the Father. James was not present for this conversation, but he must have learned about it from the disciples as he writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5 ESV).
The lesson is quite simple. Ask the Father for wisdom when studying God’s Word. Don’t develop your theology on a passage without examining the context.
25 "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. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."
All that Jesus has been telling them is figurative. Does that mean what he has been saying about “a little while” is figurative and that praying in his name is also figurative? Which parts are figurative, and which are not? Also, when does Jesus speak plainly about the Father? He is obviously talking about some time in the future. Previously we identified that day in the future as after his resurrection. Jesus spent many days talking to the disciples after his death and resurrection. I can only conclude that this is when he told them more about the Father and didn’t use figurative language.
29 His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 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."
They didn’t get it. We often read the Bible and try to understand what is being said by using a “literal” approach. This is when a word means only what it means. A feather is a feather and can mean nothing else. In this case, “In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge” (Ps 57:1 ESV) would necessitate God having physical wings without understanding that the passage is poetry and not meant to be literal. Just as Jesus used the word sleep for death when talking about Lazarus, we must look at the context to understand the meaning of words. The disciples heard Jesus say that he would speak to them without figurative language in the future. Whatever Jesus had told them figuratively, they now believe is not figurative.
Then they leap to the conclusion that Jesus knows all things. I just talked about Jesus not being omniscient. But the disciples think it is because he just answered their questions even though they didn’t ask. Following this logic, it would be right of them to believe he came from God. But they don’t know anything about how the divine nature and human nature of Jesus interact with each other.
31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 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."
Jesus does know a lot whether it is revealed to his human nature by the divine nature or it is just his sinless human nature that has no flawed logic and acute perception of what is going on. I believe it is the latter in this case. Jesus doesn’t for a minute believe that their faith is solid enough to get them through the upcoming trial of his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. He even warns them again that they will scatter and abandon him.
The Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. He knows that though they all desert him, the Father will not. At least not until that dreadful moment when all our sins are placed on Jesus and the Father cannot look upon sin.
Again, Jesus reminds the disciples that all he has been telling them is to prepare them for the trials that they will encounter in the world. They will remember this and then they will have peace. We can all have peace because Jesus has overcome the world. He has lived a righteous life in the face of every kind of trial and tribulation that can be thrown at him. In doing this, his ability to overcome will be given to the disciples and to us because we will gain his righteousness when he takes our sins.
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