John 16

16 ¹"I have told you all this so that you will not fall away. ²They will expel you from synagogues; but the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he offers a service to God. ³They will do this because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴But I've told you this so that when their hour comes, you'll remember I told you. I didn't tell you this from the start, because I was with you.

⁵"But now I'm going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶Instead, because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷I tell you the truth: my going is for your good. If I don't go, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, won't come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰concerning righteousness, because I am going to my Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He won't speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is coming. ¹⁴He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and tell it to you. ¹⁵All my Father has is mine; that's why I said he takes from what is mine and will tell you.

¹⁶"Soon you'll no longer see me; then soon again you'll see me."

Your Grief Will Turn to Joy

¹⁷So some of his disciples asked each other, "What does he mean: 'In a little while you will not see me, and then in a little while you will see me,' and, 'Because I am going to the Father'?" ¹⁸So they kept saying, "What does he mean, 'a little while'? We don't know what he's talking about."

¹⁹Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you asking each other what I meant by saying, 'In a little while you will not see me, and then a little while you will see me'?

²⁰"Truly, truly, I tell you: you will weep and mourn, but the world rejoices. You'll grieve, but your grief will become joy. ²¹A woman in labor has pain because her hour has come; but once she gives birth, she forgets the anguish, because she is joyful that a person has been born into the world. ²²So you also have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

²³In that day you will ask me nothing. Truly, truly, I tell you: whatever you ask my Father in my name, he will give you. ²⁴Until now you've asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so your joy may be complete.

²⁵I've told you these things in figures. The hour is coming when I'll no longer speak in figures, but tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶That day you'll ask in my name, and I'm not telling you I'll ask my Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you've loved me and believed I came from our Father. ^a a v27 Jesus tells the disciples the Father himself loves them — not at a distance, not through Jesus as reluctant middleman. Their love for Jesus and faith in his coming from the Father has placed them inside the Father's own affection. ²⁸I came from my Father and entered the world; again, I leave the world, going to my Father."

²⁹His disciples said, "Now you are speaking plainly and not using any figure of speech! ³⁰Now we know you know everything and need no one to ask you questions; so we believe you came from our Father."

³¹Jesus replied, "Do you now believe?

³²"See, the hour is coming—has come—when you'll be scattered, each to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I'm not alone; my Father is with me. ³³I've told you this so you may have peace in me. In the world you'll face trouble, but take heart—I've overcome the world."