John 16:1-33
Disciples' Grief Will Turn to Joy
1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
17 At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Matthew 26:36-46
Garden of Gethsemane
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
The emotions that make us sad, we often try to keep out of our lives...Jesus talks about a wide range of emotions that His Disciples will face as He approaches His death on the cross...But they do not understand Him...Jesus tells His Disciples, “In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me.”...At this, some of His Disciples said to one another, “What does He mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me,’ and ‘Because I AM going to the Father’?”...They kept asking, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’?...We don’t understand what He is saying.”...
The Disciples did not understand quite what He was saying, but they knew something was about to happen...Jesus is preparing His Disciples for a full range of different emotions and feelings they would be facing...And many, if not all, of His Disciples will be sad in the next few days...And as Jesus explains about this wide range of emotions they would be facing in the near future, I suspect that the Disciples knew that grief and sadness are a part of life...But when sadness is upon us, it is a little different, because it is very personal...They knew that life is bittersweet and that they would have troubles in life, just like everyone has problems...Jesus even reminds them that in this world they would have troubles...
Jesus was giving His Disciples an insightful look into the wide range of emotions that they were going to experience in the next few days...He is also giving insight on the wide range of emotions that He would experience the night before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, to His trial, to His flogging, to His being hung and the great suffering on the cross, to His death on the cross, and then to His resurrection...Emotions are a part of life...
It appears as we read about Jesus throughout the gospels, there is not a single person in this world that can escape from suffering and grief...For both Jesus and for us, there is a role in our lives for sorrow and for joy...Suffering, grief, and sadness seems to be a part of living and our lives...And even though we try to dismiss suffering, grief, and sadness through avoidance, aversion, distraction, and in other ways -no matter how hard we try to keep these things from our being in our lives, they are simply a part of it...And I have found that by trying to avoid, avert and distract sadness and grief and sorrow, that that is a recipe for anxiety and unhappiness...
It takes great courage to face grief, sadness, and sorrow head on...And Jesus did it with courage and in a great forgiving way...Feeling the complete and full range of human emotion and completely experiencing those emotions may make the Ideal Self...The tension that exists between joy and sorrow may show us and teach us what it is to be human and to feel human, when we acknowledge and experience it...