Yet a Little While  John 16:16-22

[16] A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
[17] Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
[18] They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
[19] Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
[20] Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
[21] A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
[22] And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

    The night before our Savior died, He spoke one of the longest sermons in the Bible, outside the sermon on the mount, just to get his disciples to grasp the fact that He had to die.  The situation on Thursday evening was sad.  Jesus had just celebrated the Last Supper, Judas had left the room, and now He was alone with the remaining eleven.  Outside of some pious women like Mary and Martha and a few choice friends like Lazarus, all that still stuck with Him, despite the sarcasm and enmity of the leaders in the synagogue, was this little handful of followers.  Jesus had repeatedly told them that He had to die, but they had refused to accept this simply because they didn’t see the need for it.  Their hearts were focused on His person and not on what He came to do.  They had grown so close to the Savior that the idea of His death was unthinkable.

    When Jesus, in His sermon, came to the words of this text, “a little while and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father,” the disciples were confused and said among themselves, “What is this ‘little while’?”  “We don’t know what He is talking about.”  They had no idea that it would begin within the hour and would end with the resurrection.  Once the moments in the upper room were over, He and His small group made their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.  There they saw one of their own, one with whom they had spent the last 3 years, sell their Lord for 30 pieces of silver.  There they saw Jesus, their beloved Leader, subjected to the most humiliating death.  They saw hated in the eyes of Jesus’ enemies more vicious than anything they had ever seen before.  In fact, they were so frightened that most of them ran away and hid.  The “little while” had begun and it was sad.

    The moments following the crucifixion were perhaps sadder than the crucifixion itself.  Their dear Leader was gone.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit the disciples stayed with Jesus for the past three years, but now where was He?  What would happen to this promise of eternal life?  What would happen to any of the promises on which they had pinned their hopes?  Somehow, they had hoped that Jesus miraculously would come off the cross.  They had seen many miracles before.  However, when it ended in death, their hearts sank and their spirit was crushed.

    To understand their feelings, we should remember that these men were Jews; they had been born into the Jewish faith, they had been circumcised, something like our baptism, and they attended church in the synagogue.  When Jesus came on the scene, they left their church, and joined Him, only to find that the religion He preached, repentance and remission of sins, wasn’t at all popular.  Although their Leader repeatedly declared, He was the Messiah that had been prophesied in the Old Testament, people didn’t want to hear about it.  Church leaders, whom they had once trusted, now hated them.  People, with whom they had worshipped in the synagogue, now avoided them.  When Jesus, their new pastor, told them, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” Matthew 10:37, they left their parents and relatives, and gave up everything to follow Him.  When Jesus, their pastor, explained all the wonderful things that He, as the Good Shepherd, would do for His sheep, they trusted Him.  But now He was gone; they had lost their Shepherd.  You can see why they were discouraged and full of doubts.  Was it a mistake to follow Jesus?  What did the future hold for them?

    That Thursday night Jesus knew exactly how discouraged and sad they would become when He died   What a wonderful thing that Jesus could read their hearts.  The text tells us that Jesus knew “they were desirous to ask Him,” and so He said, “Do you enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while and he shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?”  With the tender heart of a good shepherd, Jesus knew the bitter moments that His disciples soon would face, moments in which they would weep, lament, and be sorrowful, while the world would laugh for spite.  “Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.”  Jesus was preparing His disciples for the darkest moments of their lives.  He wanted them to know in advance that their sorrow would not last long, that it would only be ”for a little while,” three days to be exact, and then they would have real joy, a joy and peace of heart that the world could not begin to understand.  To make this clear Jesus used the picture of a woman giving birth to a child.  Carrying a child is not pleasant for a mother, especially the last few months.  The moment of delivery is always painful, but it is only for a short time.  As soon as the child is born, Jesus says, “she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”

    After the crucifixion, the disciples were all alone.  I don’t think anyone likes to be alone.  We may have lost a loved one and we are alone.  We may have lost a dear friend and we are alone.  We may find ourselves alone in the house, or alone in our chair and even a blaring television can’t take our loneliness away.  Who can’t understand the discouragement and doubt in the hearts of the disciples when they thought they were all alone!  When we are by ourselves, it is so easy to get depressed and to worry about so many things, and forget that “the little while is over.”  Jesus is alive to replace our fears with trust and our sorrows with a joy that no one can take away.  You see, all the joys of the world are external and people can lose them as fast as they get them.  Their joys have to do with getting and spending, with their homes and their cars and their prestige among men, with lusts and pleasures.  Once these things are gone, so is their joy and even government can’t restore it.

    The joy that Jesus gives you and me is much deeper than that because it is a matter of our hearts.  The substance of our joy is the forgiveness of our sins and the blessing of a clean conscience.  When we are blessed with this world’s goods, when things go well, we have every right thankfully to rejoice in the goodness of our Lord.  When things don’t go well, we meet trouble and adversities, we can face life with a joyful spirit because our Good Shepherd knows our concerns and will keep us in His care.  We can break forth into song because we know that He is at God’s right hand to stand behind every promise He has ever made.

     What a joyful thing it is to be child of God.  Though the world and our flesh would like to rob of our inner joy by substituting the superficial joys of this life, the world can never give us a lasting joy.  Only Jesus gives you and me the optimism and confidence to face each new day with a joyful heart because we have the greater promise of eternal joy in heaven.