JOHN CHAPTER 16: 16-23.
THESE words of the Lord, when He says, "A little while, and ye shall
no more see me: and again a little while, and ye shall see me; because
I go to the Father," were so obscure to the disciples, before what He thus
says was actually fulfilled, that they inquired among themselves what it
was that He said, and had to confess themselves utterly ignorant. For the
Gospel proceeds, "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? They said therefore, What is this that He saith, A little while?
we know not what He saith." This is what moved them, that He said, "A little
while, and ye shall not see me: and again a little while, and ye shall
see me." For in what precedes, because He had not said, "A little while,"
but only, "I go to the Father and ye shall see me no more,"(1) He appeared
to them to have spoken, as it were, quite plainly, and they had no inquiry
among themselves, regarding it. But now, what was then obscure to them,
and was shortly afterwards revealed, is already perfectly manifest to us:
for after a little while He suffered, and they saw Him not; again, after
a little while He rose, and they saw Him. But how the words are to be taken
that He used, "Ye shall no more see me," inasmuch as by the word "more"(2)
He wished it to be understood that they would not see Him afterwards, we
have explained at the passage where He said, The Holy Spirit "shall convince
of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more;"
(3) meaning thereby, that they would never afterwards see Christ in His
present state of subjection to death.
"Now Jesus knew," as the evangelist proceeds to say, "that they were
desirous to ask Him, and said unto them, 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. 5erily 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:" which may be understood in this
way, that the disciples were thrown into sorrow over the death of the Lord,
and straightway were filled with joy at His resurrection; but the world,
whereby are signified the enemies that slew Christ, were, of course, in
a state of rapture over the murder of Christ, at the very time when the
disciples were filled with sorrow. For by the name of the world the wickedness
of this world may be understood; in other words, those who are the friends
of this world. As the Apostle James says in his epistle, "Whosoever will
be a friend of this world, is become the enemy of God;"(4) for the effect
of that enmity to God was, that not even His Only-begotten was spared.
And then He goes on to say, "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. 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." Nor does
the metaphor here employed seem difficult to understand; for its key is
at hand in the exposition given by Himself of its meaning. For the pangs
of parturition are compared to sorrow, and the birth itself to joy; which
is usually all the greater when it is not a girl but a boy that is born.
But when He said, "Your joy no man taketh from you," for their joy was
Jesus Himself, there is implied what was said by the apostle, "Christ,
being raised from the dead, dieth no more; and death shall have no more
dominion over Him."(1)
4. Hitherto in this section of the Gospel, whereon we are discoursing
to-day, the tenor of everything has been, I may say, of easy understanding:
a much closer attention is needful in connection with the words that follow.
For what does He mean by the words, "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing"?
The verb to ask, used here, means not only to beg of, but also to question;
and the Greek Gospel, of which this is a translation, has a word that may
also be understood in both senses, so that by it the ambiguity is not removed;(2)
and even though it were so, every difficulty would not thereby disappear.
For we read that the Lord Christ, after He rose again, was both questioned
and petitioned. He was asked by the disciples, on the eve of His ascension
into heaven, when He would be manifested, and when the kingdom of Israel
would come;(3) and even when already in heaven, He was petitioned [asked]
by St. Stephen to receive his spirit.(4) And who dare either think or say
that Christ ought not to be asked, sitting as He does in heaven, and yet
was asked while He abode on earth? or that He ought not to be asked in
His state of immortality, although it was men's duty to ask Him while still
in His state of subjection to death? Nay, beloved, let us ask Him to untie
with His own hands the knot of our present inquiry, by so shining into
our hearts that we may perceive what He saith.
5. For I think that His words, "But I will see you again, and your heart
shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you," are not to be referred
to the time of His resurrection, and when He showed them His flesh to be
looked at and handled;(5) but rather to that of which He had already said,
"He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and
will manifest myself to him."(6) For He had already risen, He had already
shown Himself to them in the flesh, and He was already sitting at the right
hand of the Father, when that same Apostle John, whose Gospel this is,
says in his epistle, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall be manifested,
we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."(7) That vision belongs
not to this life, but to the future; and is not temporal, but eternal.
"And this is life eternal," in the words of Him who is that life, "that
they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent."(8) Of this vision and knowledge the apostle says, "Now we see through
a glass, in a riddle; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then
shall I know even as also I am known."(9) At present the Church is in travail
with the longing for this fruit of all her labor, but then she shall bring
to the birth in its actual contemplation; now she travails in birth with
groaning, then shall she bring forth in joy; now she travails in birth
through her prayers, then shall she bring forth in her praises. Thus, too,
is it a male child; since to such fruit in the contemplation are all the
duties of her present conduct to be referred. For He alone is free; because
He is desired on His own account, and not in reference to aught besides.
Such conduct is in His service; for whatever is done in a good spirit has
a reference to Him, because it is done on His behalf; while He, on the
other hand, is got and held in possession on His own account, and not on
that of aught besides. And there, accordingly, we find the only end that
is satisfying to ourselves. He will therefore be eternal; for no end can
satisfy us, save that which is found in Him who is endless. With this was
Philip inspired, when he said, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
And in that showing the Son gave promise also of His own presence, when
He said, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me?"(10) Of that, therefore, which alone sufficeth us, we are very appropriately
informed, "Your joy no man taketh from you."
6. On this point, also, in reference to what has been said above, I
think we may get a still better understanding of the words, "A little while,
and ye shall no more see me: and again a little while, and ye shall see
me." For the whole of that space over which the present dispensation extends,
is but a little while; and hence this same evangelist says in his epistle,
"It is the last hour."(11) For in this sense also He added, "Because I
go to the Father," which is to be referred to the preceding clause, where
He saith, "A little while, and ye shall no more see me;" and not to the
subsequent, where He saith, "And again a little while, and ye shall see
me." For by His going to the Father, He was to bring it about that they
should not see Him. And on this account, therefore, His words did not mean
that He was about to die, and to be withdrawn from their view till His
resurrection; but that He was about to go to the Father, which He did after
His resurrection, and when, after holding intercourse with them for forty
days, He ascended into heaven.(1) He therefore addressed the words, "A
little while, and ye shall no more see me," to those who saw Him at the
time in bodily form; because He was about to go to the Father, and never
thereafter to be seen in that mortal state wherein they now beheld Him
when so addressing them. But the words that He added, "And again a little
while, and ye shall see me," He gave as a promise to the Church universal:
just as to it, also, He gave the other promise, "Lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the world."(2) The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise: a little while, and we shall see Him, where we shall have no more
any requests to make, any questions to put; for nothing shall remain to
be desired, nothing lie hid to be inquired about. This little while appears
long to us, because it is still in continuance; when it is over, we shall
then feel what a little while it was. Let not, then, our joy be like that
of the world, whereof it is said, "But the world shall rejoice;" and yet
let not our sorrow in travailing in birth with such a desire be unmingled
with joy; but, as the apostle says, be "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation;"(3)
for even the woman in travail, to whom we are compared, has herself more
joy over the offspring that is soon to be, than sorrow over her present
pains. But let us here close our present discourse, for the words that
follow contain a very trying question, and must not be unduly curtailed,
so that they may, if the Lord will, obtain a more befitting explanation.
