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. 23On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. (John 16:16-24, NRSV)
A little while longer. What does that mean?
Jesus knows the disciples are wondering about that and so explains it to them and makes it so much clearer, am I right?
But if we ask for things in Jesus’ name our joy will be complete. This is good news, because at least when we don’t understand what is happening we will be filled with joy.
Even in the midst of pain, we will have joy, because Jesus says that our pain will turn to joy.
So trust in the joy and know that even not understanding what is happening is ok, because we are in good company.
Jesus will always be there and in Him we will have joy.
aSacredRebel 