1. I remember one of the first sermons I ever preached as I was preparing to begin pastoral ministry. I was a student and I was filling in for the pastor of a small church in northeastern Indiana the Sunday before Christmas in 1973. I had picked my text from Matthew’s genealogy, leading to the birth of Christ. I was talking about the curse of Jeconiah and how Jesus avoided the curse, yet had a rightful claim to the throne of David. I called it “How the Devil Stole Christmas – Almost!” At the time I thought it was clever. As I was preaching, the people looked at me like I was speaking in a foreign language. I thought I was clear. I had studied the text. A couple of times I actually stopped and said, “Are you with me?” They smiled. I don’t think they had a clue. Karen was with me. We were not yet married. I don’t think she got it either! (Interestingly several months later they hired me and I ended up spending 10 years of my life with those dear people. I don’t think they remembered that I was the same guy who spoke to them on that Christmas Sunday morning).

2. The point is, sometimes we just don’t get it. A teacher or preacher may make multiple efforts to help us, and we may even say, “O, now I see.” But we really don’t. That was the situation for the disciples in John 16. They are making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is dark and they are in the dark and Jesus is saying, “In a little while and you will see me no longer, and again a little while, and you will see me.” And they are looking at Him and asking inside, “What are you talking about?” Add to this bewilderment their earlier confusion with the foot-washing, Judas leaving, the teaching about bearing fruit and going to the Father and the talk about the world hating them and the disciples running away and someone betraying Jesus and Peter denying Jesus and on and on…Is it any wonder they said (v. 18), “What does he mean…we don’t know what he is talking about.”

3. Believe it or not, their confusion and fear and sorrow would be transformed into joy and Jesus explains how that was going to happen in these next few verses.

I. JOY AND RESURRECTION

A. The explanation of Jesus’ death and resurrection

1. The veiled accounting of Jesus’ trials, death and burial and their deep sorrow.

   1. It is true that the disciples will be brought into a rich and deep intimacy with Jesus (as explained in the vine and branches), but first will come the cross. The disciples will be brought into greater understanding and even further revelation about the Lord and His plan and purpose (with the promise of the coming of the comforter), but first the cross. It is true that they will find peace in the midst of the hatred by the world, but first the cross. So Jesus reminds them, in a little while you will see me no longer. (Some think this little while is the period of time between Jesus’ death and His promised return in power and great glory as King, which has not yet happened, but that does not seem to fit the context here).

   2. Jesus tells His disciples that during this “little while” the world would rejoice and the disciples would be sorrowful, but then their sorrow would be turned to joy. The sorrow and weeping of the disciples can only fit during the time between the death and resurrection of Jesus. When we follow the Gospel accounts, the sorrow and utter despair are clearly present after Jesus’ death. They are seen huddled in the upper room, paralyzed by fear and despondency.

   3. I suggest that Jesus veiled His statements for a purpose. He was not giving them a detailed plan with dates and times as to His return in resurrection and then the coming of the Holy Spirit and then His coming in power and great glory. He said enough so that after the cross they would know that He knew what He was talking about, and that would result in giving Him glory. It would also move them to take a closer look at what He had said (as that was brought to memory by the Spirit). And that is what they did and much of that has been written down for us in the remainder of the NT. “A little while and you will see me no longer…” (a veiled account of Jesus’ death)

2. The veiled accounting of Jesus’ resurrection and their great joy

a. To this point the disciples are still in confusion. The threat of Jesus’ departure has not yet become a reality, but it appears imminent. When it does, Jesus predicts great sorrow on their part. He says they will weep and lament. They will be devastated. They will be overwhelmed by grief. But something will happen that will immediately change all of that.

b. “Your sorrow will turn into joy.” Jesus does not directly answer their question but He does address their need. He does not say that they will have no sorrow. He does not promise to alleviate their grief. He does promise them that what they immediately feel will be changed and turned into something quite good and unexpected. When the resurrection takes place, the disciples’ despair will turn into a deep and abiding joy, and that joy will be enhanced by the despair that preceded it. “Again, a little while and you will see me.” Jesus gives an illustration to explain.

B. The illustration of transformation

1. The pains of childbirth transformed into joy.

   1. In the past I have attempted to make this point and have been challenged by moms who tell me that when their children were born, they did not forget the pain, and I did not know what I was talking about! Let me try again and see if I can get it right this time. I will let the text itself do the talking.

   2. Listen to what Jesus says: “When a woman is giving birth she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”

   3. Without getting myself into more trouble, here is the basic point: Now was the time for grief, but Jesus would see them again and they would rejoice and no one would be able to take that joy away. Like the woman birthing a child, the very thing that generated the grief also generated the joy. For the disciples, the cross that would so grieve them now would prove to be their joy. It was not just a movement from grief to joy, but grief transformed into joy.

2. The pains of separation transformed into joy

a. The disciplines and trials of life, though often extraordinarily painful, when we look back, are the very things that generated great spiritual growth and lasting joy.

2. In fact, the cross that was to cause such suffering to them as they watched Jesus die would be the very thing in which they would glory, in the weeks and months and years that were before them – for that sorrow was literally their salvation and their hope and their eternity!

3. The first part of verse 23 says that in the day of His resurrection they will ask nothing of Jesus. The verb Jesus uses means, “to ask a question” rather than, to ask “for something.” In other words, the resurrection will answer the questions they now have about what is going on, and they will have no more need to ask. The bewilderment now will be transformed into a confident assurance and hope wrapped up in pure joy!

II. JOY AND INTERCESSION

1. Intercession through the Son

1. Verse 23 makes a new point. This is accented by the formula, “truly, truly, I say to you.” Jesus makes known the fact that after the resurrection, something new happens in relation to the disciples’ prayers.

2. Up until now, the disciples had not yet asked the Father for anything in Jesus’ name. O they prayed, but not in Jesus’ name. (This verb for, “ask”, unlike the earlier verb, is to, “ask for something”). Access to the Father is through the Son and His role as mediator is inseparably connected to the cross. For the Father to answer, and for the disciples to receive joy, are connected to the fact that Christ must die on the cross. The future of their effectiveness in prayer depended on Jesus and that would start with His work on the cross.

3. “In my name” has been mentioned before (14:13-14 and 15:7 ff.). That includes all that He is and all that He has done. Prior to the cross this would not have been possible to “pray in His name.” After His death, it would be possible and it would happen regularly in the lives of these disciples.

B. Intercession to the Father

1. Intercession to the Father in the name of the Son would yield the result, “Whatever you ask … he will give it to you.” This is an incredible statement! Granted, it is conditioned by, “in my name”, referring obviously to Jesus (which is more than a formula or mantra) but still it is incredible! Surely the Father’s unbounded love and amazing grace in the promise of answered prayer adds to our joy.

2. This is further reinforced, “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Much modern prayer, even by serious Christian people, is useless and ineffective because the people involved approach God thinking he is obliged to grant their requests because of something they have themselves done for him (Boice). That is not true that God is obliged because of what we have done.. What is true is not what we have done for Him, but what He has done for us! When we come on the merit of Jesus (and that is the only way we can approach the Father) praying in His name, we receive from the Father not only the answer to our request but the fullness of joy as well!

3. Again, we need to understand that our status before God rests exclusively upon the cross work of Christ. Because of that sacrifice, we have free access to the Father. The Father loves us. That is the wonderful truth we must learn. He loved us enough to send his Son and now with the Son’s cross work a fact of history, and our offense to Deity’s holiness removed by the Lamb of God, the Father loves us because we have loved Jesus. Therefore, the joy gained by living this side of Calvary is unmistakably bound up with the sheer delight of a personal knowledge of the Father’s love (Carson, p. 164). That truth certainly affected John. See 1 John 3:1 ff.)!

4. Joy must result in the relationship we have with the Father through the Son. If that is not the case, then we surely have a serious spiritual ailment (or we are still dead in our sins)! Our joy is found in the truth of the Gospel as it was applied to our hearts by the work of Christ on the cross, by the application of that work in us by the Holy Spirit and by the entire plan and purpose of it all, determined before the world began by the Father in a grand demonstration of His great love. How could we not be filled with joy?

Conclusion

1. There you have it. Terrible sorrow is turned to abundant joy! What a transformation!

2. Such a difference was recorded in the time between “in a little while.” “In a little while and you will see me no longer and in a little while you will see me.” The very thing that brought such crushing sorrow, a few days later brought inexpressible joy. The cross that “took Jesus from them” was the same cross that brought Jesus to them! The awfulness of His sacrifice gave way to the joy of His great love.

3. So it is with us. The sorrows, the troubles, and the burdens of life are all transformed by the cross, for those who are in Christ Jesus. That was the promise to the disciples. I believe it is also a valid promise for us.