part 8 of “The Last Night With Jesus”
The night is coming to a close. Jesus knows the events to come and they are close. Jesus has one final thing to say to His disciples as the conversation and the night is coming to an end. Jesus does say a few more things to His disciples after this moment, but these are the final words of His last teaching to them. This final part of the conversation starts like this:
“‘In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again.’ Some of the disciples asked each other, ‘What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.’” - John 16:16-18 NLT
The disciples were confused. This season of life they were entering didn’t make any sense to them and the way Jesus was talking wasn’t helping. Jesus had said a lot of things to them throughout the night and they were trying to make sense of all of that. They were also trying to make sense of what Jesus meant by saying He was going away and because of that trying to figure out how they were going to do life with Jesus being there with them. They were all around confused, scared, and just plain didn’t understand.
I am sure that we have all been there before. I am sure that we have been in a season of life where we didn’t understand what was going on. We didn’t understand why we were dealing with what we were dealing with. We didn’t understand why we were in the situation we were in. Maybe right now you are in a season of life that is confusing and you don’t understand. It is a rough place to be.
I know that last year when I was let go from my job. I was shocked, confused, scared, and just plain didn’t understand. I hadn’t done anything wrong, which was later proven, and that caused even more confusion in my soul. I just didn’t understand. So I just started asking God a question. “God, why am I in this season? What is here for me to learn?” I quickly began to see what God wanted me to see. God started to provide for me and my family. God started to show me that He was there for me and that I didn’t need to worry. Every time it seemed like a catastrophe was going to strike, God came through in a different way! It was truly amazing to watch.
But back to the disciples. They were still in the place where they didn’t understand and they were confused. So Jesus answers them:
“Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, ‘Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.’” - John 16:19-24 NLT
Jesus tells them that things were going to get worse for Himself and them. Jesus tells them that they will grieve over what happens and that they will leave Him by Himself - alone - but that He is never alone because the Father is always with Him (John 16:32). Jesus tells them that even in the midst of all of this sorrow and pain, they will still experience wonderful joy.
This had to be hard for them to understand. Just like it was hard for me to understand how losing my job could be a good thing. But soon, as I watched God work, I soon started to experience joy in the job loss. This is what Jesus was telling His disciples in this moment. He was telling them that they were going to experience sorrow. But then God was going to work (Jesus’ resurrection) and they would experience great joy!
I am not making light of anything that you might be facing right now in your life. I know there are so many different things that plague life. There are many different situations and circumstances that cause pain and sorrow in our life. But there is one thing that I do know - Jesus promises to turn it into joy.
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33 NLT
Jesus tells us that there is peace in Him. Joy in Him. Love in Him. He’s never going to leave us alone even when people scatter and leave us alone (John 16:32). We are never truly alone. Jesus is always with us. He said that He would not abandon us, but come to us (John 14:18). He will come to us in our moments of need and He will come to us physically one day.
These are the promises that Jesus made to His disciples and us today. This is what Jesus was teaching His disciples that last night He had with them. He was telling them He would always be with them and that they would see Him again. And they got to see Him again! He makes the same promises to us. We are not alone. He is with us always. And we will see Him again!
But until then, we need to take heart and let Jesus turn our sorrows into joy - because Jesus has conquered this world!
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