John 16.12-22 12“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
16”A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? 20Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. 22So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Thoughts: How do you prepare someone for bad news? Do you sugar coat it and try to make things seem better than they are? Do you just give them the truth having it hit like the sting of a band-aid that is ripped off the skin, or do you fall somewhere in between. I think sometimes we forget what John is giving us in these chapters of his Gospel. Jesus is about to die. His relationship with his disciples will never be the same and he has so much he wants to tell them. So many things, so little time! Here he tries to make sure that they are prepared for the grief and anguish to come, but also here the promise that 'no one will take your joy from you." That is an amazing word of Gospel. NO ONE! How wonderful is that!
Questions: The more I think about this last line, the more I'm pondering having it read at my funeral. "So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and on one will take your joy from you." That is just so powerful! What lesson would you want read at your funeral?
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