Wednesday in the Word...John 16:16-24...from grief and lament to joy

Just a stock photo, free from the internet to use, so I don't know this mother or child but it represents the illustration that Jesus uses in our passage of Scripture today.  I guess it might have been good to do a "before and after" picture, before the birth and after the birth, but those "before" pictures are usually not what the mother wants you to see.  They do show the full reality of this situation.  There is pain before the joy.  Jesus tells His disciples that there will be some pain coming up.  They will grieve while others are rejoicing but hold on, joy is coming.  I think this could be said to us as Christians today.  We live in a world of pain.  We grieve at times while the world is rejoicing in their sin.  But...hold on Christian for a time is coming when you will have your joy complete!

Today's Wednesday in the Word covers John chapter 16 and verses 16 through 24, which read,

v.16 - "A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me."

Knowing the rest of the story, we know what Jesus is talking about here.  Jesus will soon go to a cross and die there.  He will be placed in a tomb and His disciples would see Him no longer but...3 days later Jesus would rise from the grave.  His disciples would see Him again.  It is pretty straightforward to us looking back and also reading the words of Jesus saying these things multiple times to His disciples.  They heard the words about His upcoming suffering, death and resurrection but in the height of what was going on, it wasn't registering and sometimes even resisted by them.

v.17, 18 - Some of His disciples then said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling 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'?"  So they were saying, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about."

We have the clear picture that the disciples are clueless to what Jesus is talking about.  They are speaking to one another about what this means rather than asking Jesus Himself.  Many times we do the same thing by talking to others, which can be helpful at times especially brothers and sisters in Christ, but not first taking the time to talk to God first.  Maybe our Christian brothers and sisters will ask us, "Have you talked to God about it?  Have you searched His Word for the answer?"   

v.19, 20 - Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, "Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?  Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy."

Jesus steps into their thoughts and conversations with more information.  He shows His ability to read their minds, know their hearts and comfort their upcoming steps.  When Jesus says, "I say to you" it is a precursor of an authoritative statement said by Jesus with the weight of the Trinity.  Jesus says His disciples will weep while the world is rejoicing.  The world will be excited that Jesus is gone and done away with.  Jesus' disciples will grieve but... and it is another big "but" of the Bible, their grief will be turned into joy.  Their grief will not last forever and it won't just go away but it will do a 180 in their response.  This must have caught the disciples' attention so Jesus goes into another illustration to explain it.

v.21, 22 - "Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.  Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you."

I have seen this example played out 4 times first hand.  My wife, carrying each child and then comes the time for the baby to be born and what pain is endured for a time.  But...once the baby is born and placed in her arms, the pain is forgotten and all focus in on the newborn.  Her pain and been replaced with overwhelming joy.  

Just as the mother goes through some pain before the arrival of her baby and then experiences great joy at the baby's coming so too will Jesus' disciples.  They will go through some pain when He is taken from them but then comes the joy when He rises from the grave.  This joy is in Jesus who will never be taken away from those who are saved.  Jesus is the "better baby" because Jesus is the baby who has done for us what no other baby could do.

v.23, 24 - "In that day you will not question Me about anything.  Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.  Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full."

Jesus has been speaking to the 11 disciples about the Holy Spirit coming to them.  There would be a day when Jesus would be taken away.  There would be another day when He rises from the dead.  There would be another day when He ascends into heaven.  Even on that day, the disciples were still asking questions.  But there would be another day when the Holy Spirit that Jesus had been talking about would come, the Day of Pentecost.  On that day, they didn't ask any questions about what was happening.  On that day, everything was clear and Peter preached that powerful sermon to the crowd connecting everything that had happened to Jesus as the Messiah and the One who would be coming again.

On that day, the disciples would ask anything in Jesus' name and it would happen.  It would prove that what they were saying was with the power and authority of Jesus.  It would be a witness to those gathered that what the disciples was saying about the risen Lord was true and could be trusted.  It is good at this point to also look at what the disciples did ask Jesus for.  Their requests where for salvation of souls and bolder proclamation of the gospel.  Their requests were not to be taken from persecution but to stand amongst it and keep proclaiming.  Their requests were always in relationship to the furtherance of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Many times today, these types of prayers and requests are tagged onto the end of our prayers for more temporal situations.  These are the types of requests that make our joy full and complete.  I might be physically healed by God but that will not make my joy complete.  Joy complete comes from sharing with another about the One who died and rose again and that one responded like you did to see Jesus go from a just a man to your Lord and Savior.  These are the things that are eternal and what we need to bring before God boldly in our prayers in the name of Jesus.  Up to this point, the disciples have not prayed this way.  Their focus has been inward instead of upward and outward.  

Do some evaluating of your own prayers.  Do you get from the temporal to the eternal?  Do you get from inward to outward and upward?  Do you pray about situations that would bring eternal joy?

Adam