John 16:16-19

“A little while, and you will no longer behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” Some of His disciples therefore said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling us, `A little while, and you will not behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, `because I go to the Father'?" And so they were saying, "What is this that He says, `A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about." 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 behold Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?

 

Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for the near future. He tells them, “A little while, and you will no longer behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”

 

But the disciples are understandably confused. Looking back across two thousand years of church history and through the teachings of the New Testament that these disciples would later write once they understood, we see clearly. But the disciples at that point had not experienced the history Jesus was predicting. They felt that Jesus was speaking somewhat vaguely. In fact, he admits that He has spoken figuratively (and therefore less-than-clearly) in John 16:25. They didn’t understand what Jesus meant by this peek-a-boo prediction. And they didn’t understand why He was tying these predictions to a journey to the Father.

 

Jesus knew that His disciples were confused. He knew that they had questions. And while it is good for disciples to ask their questions, Jesus did not wait for them to ask a question. He spoke to them.

 

Father, thank You first of all that Jesus teaches the truth even when we disciples do not understand. Thank You that Your teachings are always trustworthy. Help me and other disciples when we are confused by Your teachings. Your ways are above us, and we are limited. We are not wise like You are wise, we do not know like You know, and we do not reason the way that You reason. Even worse, our sinful minds tend to distort the truth. Please bear with us in our confusion, and teach us to trust You and ask You for clarification when we do not understand Your teachings. Thank You that Jesus did not wait for the disciples to voice their confusion. Thank You that He spoke to them first – that You are a God who does not leave Your people alone in their confusion. Thank You for loving us and patiently continuing to teach us. Thank You for showing us that You understand our weaknesses, and that You care for us anyways.