Hey, everybody. Welcome back.
Hope you're doing well as we start the week together and as we continue
through the Gospel of John together, we're in the 16th chapter, the 16th verse.
Today Jesus continues a discourse he's having with the disciples.
I'll read through maybe about verse 24.
So then we'll come back and talk it through a little while,
and you will no longer see me.
And again a little while, and you will see me.
Then some of the disciples said to one another, what does he mean
by saying to us, A little while you will no longer see me, and again
a little while, and you will see me.
And because I'm going to the father,
they said, what does he mean by this little while?
We do not know what he's talking about,
Jesus knew this that they wanted to ask him.
And so he said to them, are you discussing among yourself
what it means that I said, A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again
a little while, and you will see me.
I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice.
You will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.
When 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.
So you have pain now, but I will see you again.
Your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you on that day.
You will ask nothing of me.
I tell you the truth, if you ask anything
of the father in my name, he will give it to you.
Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name.
Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
Scattered throughout
this section, this discourse that Jesus is having
is this deep theme
that hangs over it of the cross and the separation.
And in some ways,
the Gospel of John stands out in making in
giving us this extended conversation with Jesus and the disciples,
John almost makes the cross as much about
Jesus leaving as the actual event itself.
And I and I would argue, Michael, you could push back on this, that Matthew,
Mark and Luke tend to be cross focused, but
John is so committed to Jesus going to the cross, he he almost in
some ways looks past it as to what the experience will be like for them.
And he seems to highlight that in a particular way.
And I think Jesus words here are very interesting.
You know, my
my favorite line here is the disciples say we do not know what he's talking about,
which if you've tried to follow Jesus at some point,
I think inevitably we all find Jesus confusing and hear Jesus then.
And this is the way Mark or John teaches.
We've seen it before.
We've
mentioned it before, but here the misunderstanding.
And Jesus tells you, you know, you're coming into a hard season.
This undergirds what he's been saying.
You will weep and the world will rejoice.
Remember, the faith in the world and the Gospel of John are in conflict.
You will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.
And in this, I think, Michael John encapsulates
what is to be the disciples experi
orients both those who are written in the story and those
who are reading the story at at the end of a difficult time
with the world, that there will be a struggle there.
Jesus has been saying that consistently.
But the promise then on the other side of that joy will reemerge.
And I think that there's a bit of a departure from the text itself
here towards a larger, overarching, interpretive kind of move.
So bear with me for just a second here.
But I do think it's important to lay the framework for this,
because not only does I think John frame the cross differently
within the story of Jesus, not not in any way
in opposition to the other gospels, but I think
and you can push back on this, Clint, if I'm going too far.
But I think that for John, the glory of Christ is the center of
the story, that Jesus is glorified from the very first pages of the book.
Jesus doesn't have to pass tests.
Jesus doesn't have to undergo turmoil or struggle.
Jesus from day one is the glory of God.
And so the cross as the center of the story
just doesn't land the same in this book.
Because ultimately John also knows
and freely talks about the resurrection of Jesus.
And ultimately John's going to end the story
with this incredible relational encounter with the glorified Christ.
I think the glory of who Jesus is
is such an important aspect of portraying Jesus as Savior
in this particular gospel, not in opposition to the others,
and not in any way devaluing the meaning of the cross, but the cross represents
another way in which Jesus's glory can be seen in the midst of his story.
And I do think if you are willing to follow me there,
then when we come to this story, the idea here
that Jesus is going to both be missed by the disciples,
that he is teaching his life, that the fact that he's going
to be leaving them,
that this is going to be confusing to them, it naturally follows, right?
Because the glory of Christ is such that it is beyond
even these initial disciples ability to understand it.
And so
you have that reality just at play here, that at the end of the day,
the glory of Christ is beyond their ability to comprehend.
But then that also plays deeply into the latter part of this text,
I think, where Jesus goes into this idea of the the pain, the sorrow,
the anguish that goes along with losing him and his glory and all of that.
Of course there will come joy, but I think we, as Christians,
thousands of years later, we might miss the kind of visceral, emotional response
that the earliest generation of Christians knew in their everyday existence
that the Jesus who died, that Jesus who was glorified, and resurrection
and ascension, that Jesus wasn't back yet, and there's this expectation
he should be back.
He should be here.
Why isn't he here?
And and so this sorrow and this anguish, this isn't symbolic
or metaphor for the disciples who received this book.
This was a part of their faith experience in a visceral, physical way.
I think we experience it at certain points in our own lives, maybe moments of grief
or moments of great darkness or struggle or doubt, whatever that is.
But but this was a thing that they could relate to and understand.
And so here Jesus's turn to speak about how there would even come joy,
I think, is a really powerful sort of message that reminds us that
the glorified Christ is the one crucified, but he's also the one resurrected.
He's also the one who has said he's also the one who will return.
He's also the one who sent that advocate.
We were just talking about in the last study, so that there's
a broad sense here that Saint John is laying out in Jesus's teaching.
And I think if we're attuned to it,
there's there's some deep meaning for us even today in it.
I think there's really beautiful imagery here, this idea of childbirth,
that the pain is real and that the pain that the disciples undergo
and that the pain that everyone who follows Jesus after them, all of whom
do so in the physical absence of Jesus,
all of whom do so without the body of Jesus.
Here we all follow
under the need and under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
None of us this side of that conversation
get to see Christ physically.
And so the pain of that separation is real,
and the pain of the struggle and the pain with the world and the persecution.
And yet it points to a joy
that is even greater a day that there will be clarity,
a day that there will be completion and wholeness
and fullness, reconciliation.
And so I appreciate this is, I think, a wonderful illustration in that
it doesn't deny the struggle of faith
while simultaneously upholding the promise of faith.
And I think that any realistic approach to faith that can keep those two things
in conversation, not denying that pain is real and that struggle hurts,
but also not minimizing hope of something better.
I think it is difficult in our human life sometimes to keep those two things
attached to one another, and I very much appreciate
how Jesus, through John's
reporting here, is able to do that for the disciples.
And and for those of us who come and read it later.
And there's an amazing turn in the text, and I'm sure you caught it, but it comes
here as of late in like verse 23, on that day
you will ask nothing of me.
That is an incredible statement in the Gospel of John,
because by this point, you know how frequently Jesus is being asked questions.
I mean, it just happened at the very beginning of this text.
See, you know, these questions of Jesus at the end.
Jesus says, you're not going to have anything to ask.
There's not going to be anything that you don't understand.
There's not going to be any matter of life or faith that hasn't come together.
I think Clint, the finality of Jesus's
teaching here is striking because what Jesus is saying
is at the end of all things, all things will be made clear again.
And in fact, this idea, if I tell you, if you ask
anything of the father in my name, he will give it to you.
That is so often taken out of context to be if you ask
for the ice cream cone you want today, God's going to give it to you.
In the Gospel of John, this is an unbelievably deep spiritual
teaching about the revelation of what Jesus is showing us is God's intention
and will for the entire cosmos, for the world, for everything as we know
it, and all of the things that we don't know that that it's going
to be clear that we will see in that day everything as it is
because of the grace of Jesus Christ, because all things will be made right.
Because in the end,
everything will be redeemed in the largest sense to use the faith.
More than that, I think this is an amazing gift to us,
because theologians often talk about the Kingdom of God
as being that thing that is already and the thing that's not yet.
And I think what this combines in a powerful way is the reality
of our already, which is grieving and anguished and painful and difficult
and then not yet, which is that we understand and anything that we ask is
given, and that in the presence of God, we suddenly see it all as it actually is.
There is no more need for question, because the answer is finally, given
that that's the kind of hope and promise that Jesus is offering here.
And I do think that Christians who let either one of those two realities
collapse, they're missing part of the good news that they're missing
the good news for our current moment, and the good news
that our current moment does not define God's re creative ability,
that the glory of Christ is much greater than what we can see right now.
And that is a thing that we can put our hope in and that, I think,
can carry us through even when the present time may be difficult.
Time we've joked about it might call I think it, or if people join us
regularly, they'll know that you probably have
a little more affinity for the Gospel of John than I do.
Yeah, and I think I don't think of John as
a text
or a part of the New Testament that wrings the joy
Bell a lot.
I think there might be other places the book of Philippians, for instance,
even even Romans.
I think there might be other places where you would center your search for joy.
But I again, I, I appreciate here
that, John, not only uses it, that, you know,
your anguish will become joy,
that that not only does John include a note of joy here,
but he does so, contrasting it with some of the depths of our struggle
and our experience of of pain and suffering or of persecution.
And this is a deep, I think, scripturally speaking,
those are the deepest words of joy.
Not not the kind of joy that is immune from struggle,
but the kind of joy that lives within it and in spite of it.
And there's a beautiful phrase here near the end,
no one will be able to take your joy from you.
I will
see you again, your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will be able to take your joy from you.
That that idea of joy being
ultimately the permanent state of being for believers
and our attempt to try and live into that in the here
and now as much as we can to pursue
rejoicing again, not a rejoicing that says everything has to be perfect,
and then I can have joy, a kind of rejoicing
that says, in spite of the struggles of my life
and the world around me, I find joy in Jesus Christ.
And nothing can take that from me.
That's a beautiful proclamation.
It's a powerful word, and I think John again
gives us a great, testimony in that regard here.
And that's. Really good.
And the promise of responsiveness is really unbelievable to the idea.
If you ask, he will give it to you.
And until now, you've not asked for anything in my name.
Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete
by the idea of complete joy is unbelievable.
I can you imagine joy that is so full
as to be described as being complete.
And the idea, the way that we find that joy
is not by collecting another thing, getting another pay raise,
living in a better house, taking a better job
by having a more picture perfect family,
whatever we might strive for that we think whether we've decided
this consciously or subconsciously, that that thing will complete our joy.
Jesus. Here he shows the way, right?
He reveals the truth that ultimately, the only way that we receive is by asking.
It's not by acquiring or action or agency.
It's rather by the invitation, the opening of self
that the approaching of God and that in that
surrendering of self and coming to God and asking simply,
then we are given the promise that we will receive that joy.
Joy that is so full as to be complete.
And I think you're right, Clint, that the Gospel of John is so interested
in providing for us the basis of our belief.
We don't get these moments in which we have
teachings that are so open and honest about the human
response, with joy, with freedom, with love.
I mean, Jesus talks a lot about love, but there's a lot of commitment and action
underneath it here.
The idea this is just simple, beautiful, though deep and unbelievably meaningful.
But it's not a complicated idea that when we come to God
and God responds to us, we discover joy.
I mean, that's an amazing gift that Jesus promises in the teaching.
And and just mind you, it starts with pain, suffering and anguish.
And it's going to move on. And we're going to talk more
and more about the loss of Jesus and Jesus being gone.
This is embedded inside difficulty, so don't misread this
to think that it's some kind of pie in the sky.
Everything's perfect.
No, this is joy that lasts even in the most difficult
place of God forsaken or the loss of Jesus.
There's hope even in those places.
Yeah, we've talked a lot about love in this gospel.
Now we get to hear something about joy.
Tomorrow the theme will be peace.
And so as Jesus expresses these foundational ideas of the faith,
and not to not to be full on word nerd here, Michael.
But I believe if I remember
my Greek a little, which is a question mark.
But the word complete here, it is not just about an amount as in in,
you know, the full amount, but it has the idea of finished,
your joy will be finished.
What Jesus is saying, right?
That there will be nothing left to add to it.
It it will be enough.
It will be all you need.
It will be finished, complete
in that sense of done and permanent. And
again, what a beautiful promise for all of us.
And this will be where we conclude here today.
It's just to say at the end note the very,
very strange ground that Joy travels through.
And I think that what Jesus does with his disciples
is he names openly and clearly, though they clearly don't understand it.
He says to them, there is going to be anguish in suffering,
but that suffering produces something like the woman who, after she holds her
baby, she can see the joy of a human being coming into the world.
In the same way, there will come a day where the believer will understand that
all of these things that have been real and difficult and painful
lead us into a new season,
a new chapter in which something new has been born.
And that saying Jesus says might be the fulfilled completeness of joy.
And that's as much as it is a hopeful promise.
It is also Jesus is teaching what it looks like
when we who see in part, what it will be like when we see in full.
And I think that's a great gift in the gospel.
Yeah, it's a wonderful challenge. I, I
wish, hope and pray
that Christians would be more often identified for their joy
than for all of the other reasons we sometimes get identified
if if we were all better at being joy filled Christians,
Christianity would probably be better off.
I only well said it would be very, well advised for us to try to do.
Yeah.
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Thanks, everybody.