John: Take Heart!

John 16:16-33

I have experienced four births. I was right there with my wife, Lori, handing her ice chips, helping her with her breathing, and coaching her through the whole process. I was exhausted! I’ve read that Jewish men used to pray every day, “Thank God that you didn’t make me a woman.” They say it’s because the Jewish men believed they were superior. But honestly, I think they were thinking about the birthing process! 

But Lori did it. She pushed through all the pain and, by God’s grace, delivered four healthy babies. Even after all the labor and physical exhaustion, she was always overjoyed when they placed our newborn in her arms. 

In today’s passage, Jesus compares his journey through the cross and into the Father’s arms to the process of birth and the joy on the other side. Let’s walk through these verses. 

For those listening to Jesus just hours before the cross, there seemed to be mixed messages. Jesus told them he was going away and that they couldn’t follow him. He said he would send a “Helper.” Who was this Helper, and how would that work? Then Jesus stated, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 

On this side of the cross, we recognize that Jesus was speaking about his death, burial, and resurrection. However, when the disciples heard these words, they were genuinely confused.

John 16:17-18 
So some of his disciples said to one another, “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 am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 

Jesus addressed their consternation and explained that tough times were ahead, which would cause his followers to “weep and lament” while the world celebrated. However, their weeping and lamenting would soon turn into joy (John 16:20). 

Jesus likened the following days for the disciples to a woman giving birth. When it's time for the baby to be delivered into the world, there's the dread of pain. But once the baby is born, the mother “no longer remembers the anguish” (John 16:21). Jesus said, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take joy from you” (John 16:22). 

When the cross, resurrection, and ascension were finished, the disciples would experience complete joy (John 16:23-24). Jesus said:

John 16:25-28
I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but 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 will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.

I love the disciple’s response. It makes me laugh out loud. They said, “Finally!! Finally, you are making sense. Please drop all those metaphors and similes and just speak in plain Aramaic.” That’s a paraphrase. Here are their exact words:

John 16:29-30
Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.

The disciples were so elated that Jesus was speaking plainly…and Jesus continues to do so. He tells the disciples three things:

• Things are about to become extremely tough. All the disciples will scatter and look for safety. They will leave Jesus because the work of the cross was meant only for him. Only the One who was fully God and fully man could undertake this divinely appointed task.
  
  
• Jesus assured them that the Father would be with him. The Father was with his Son every step of the way, except during that powerful and mysterious moment when the Father poured out the wrath of sin on Jesus. From the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). Jesus bore the full weight of God’s righteous anger toward sin as he became our sin-bearer (2 Cor. 5:21).
  
  Here’s how a group of scholars explains what happened on the cross when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God….”

In those awful moments, as evil men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to Jesus, our Lord expressed His feelings of abandonment. God placed the sins of the world on His Son, and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of being unconscious of His Father’s presence. It was at this time that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).[1]

• Jesus reminded his disciples that he wanted them to find peace despite all the events that would happen. Things would appear frightening and chaotic. They would see Jesus die a brutal death. For a while, their hope that he was the Messiah would fade. But even in the chaos around the cross, when he was beaten, mocked, and crucified, he wanted his disciples to have peace.
  
  Jesus wraps up with this promise: In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on John 16:16-33.  Focus on the Spirit’s convicting work in your life. Are you responding?

Talking to God:  Am I experiencing the peace of Jesus in the middle of life’s trials—or am I looking for peace in something else?

Have Questions?
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Know Jesus more intimately.
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