Coming Hardship (1-4)

Jesus told His disciples all of this just before the storm of His arrest because they were going to face the same opposition in future days after Jesus' Resurrection. They were going to be thrown out and become misfits in what had been their cultural homes, such as their synagogues. A day was even coming when their communities would consider killing a follower of Jesus a noble act, blessed of God (1-2). All the harsh, power-driven, unloving treatment would happen because people who assumed they knew and loved God did not at all. Jesus became the world's hinge-point for the love of God. When people rejected Jesus, they rejected God also. Jesus was coaching His disciples to face the first storm of His execution so when their storms met the shore, they would not be surprised and would know how to endure them (3).

Jesus had waited until this moment to detail all the opposition to His disciples because He was with them. To tell them earlier would have tilted and consumed every discussion toward hardship. While He and they were going to face hardship, those hardships were still not the center of their lives; the Father, the One He had sent, and the new creation relationship were at the core of Jesus' mission. Jesus, in a superb way, kept the disciples focused on the essential (4).

The Work of the Holy Spirit (5-15) 

Jesus had been plainly announcing that He was going to the Father who sent Him. Jesus then made an observation meant to challenge the disciples' preoccupation with their own problems. They were so consumed with themselves that no one was asking where Jesus was going. Thomas came close in making the statement, “We do not know where you are going.” Yet, none was asking the question they should all have been asking (5). Instead, they were so full of sorrow that they had no room in their longings to keep asking what was important. This was the very reason Jesus had waited until the last minute to explain His departure (6).

Jesus then announced that it was to their advantage that He go away. If Jesus were not to go away to die for the sins of the world, the Holy Spirit would not come as a “Counselor,” or Advocate. “Counselor” translates the Greek word paraklētos and means, “One who pleads a case or a cause for another.” Thus, apart from Jesus' death and Resurrection, the Holy Spirit would never have come to Earth as the “Counselor” to plead the cause in our hearts regarding our forgiveness and standing in Christ as fully belonging to Him. The Holy Spirit would be here, obviously, but would not have been sent to be planted in their and our hearts as the One pleading with and against every thought—we belong to God because of Christ (7).

Jesus told the disciples that when the Holy Spirit came, He would do something He had never done before. The word “convict” in Greek means to expose the truth. Jesus was sending the Holy Spirit to expose the world to three essential truths.

1. Sin

   The source of all sin is not specific behavior but the lack of placing allegiant faith in Christ. From the moment Jesus died on the cross, all sin was wrapped up into one act, the rejection of allegiance to Christ. All other sin was a product of rejection of God in the Person of Jesus Christ.  

2. Righteousness

   Because righteousness was not an act people did any longer, righteousness was a Person, Jesus. Jesus died on the cross because men found Him to be a wicked trouble-maker. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was vindicated from all human accusation. He became and is the righteousness of God in this world (2 Corinthians 5:21). There is no other righteousness apart from Jesus. Humanity's best works are nothing but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The Holy Spirit came to expose Jesus as the One who became the righteousness of God for us so we could be made righteous in Him (1 Corinthians 1:30). Apart from the Holy Spirit, the world would only know righteousness to depend on personal merit and behavior. The Holy Spirit reveals, however, that all righteousness is based on a relationship in and with Christ.

3. Judgment

   This occurred at the cross where the Father judged, condemned, and defeated satan. Satan was cast out (John 12:31), disarmed (Colossians 2:15), and his power of death destroyed (Hebrews 2:14). While he yet prowls around as someone who has teeth and power, he has been doomed and rendered crushable (Romans 16:20) by Jesus and all His followers. The Holy Spirit exposed to the world who was judged at the cross and what that all meant (8-11); He revealed the truth to those whose hearts asked the question, “Where did Jesus go?”

Not only was the Holy Spirit going to expose the truth concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, but He was also going to guide the disciples into other truths. He would not act apart from the Father and Son; He would speak what He heard them saying. Like Jesus with His Father, the Holy Spirit would constantly bring attention to Jesus. Jesus, not men or women, would be the Star, the central focus of the Holy Spirit. He would take what belonged to Jesus and give it to Jesus' disciples. Of course, whatever Jesus had was given Him by the Father, so the disciples were going to receive everything the Father had always planned to give them. Yes, the Holy Spirit would always reveal where Jesus had gone, to His Father.

Jesus told His disciples that He was going to bring to remembrance things He had said so they would not forget them. The Holy Spirit did just that, and the disciples wrote the Gospels. 

Jesus then told them that some things He had not shared with them, but the Holy Spirit would teach them what Jesus had not yet gotten to. The Holy Spirit did just that, and the Apostles wrote the Epistles (12-15).

Concerning Sorrows (16-24)

Jesus then shifted back to the immediate to warn them of what was coming upon them that very night. 

In just a matter of hours, they were going to see Him no longer. Then they would, in a short time, see Him again (16).

The disciples were confused and talking among themselves regarding what the statement might mean. Jesus stepped in and told them clearly that He was going to His Father (17).

Then the disciples tripped over the phrase “a little while.” They were lost and confused. They could not factor Jesus' words into a plausible outcome. Jesus, aware of what they were discussing but not asking Him about, injected Himself into their discussion (18-19).

Jesus introduced the subject with one of His “truly, truly” statements, meaning “listen intently.”

The world was about to throw a party, and their party was going to be the cause for the disciples to experience deep grief and sorrow. They were to remember, however, that their sorrow was going to boomerang into a huge celebration (20).

Jesus knew that the passage of time and the Holy Spirit’s revealing truth would make sense of the next three days, but for now, Jesus was explaining what was going on behind the scenes, so later they would more fully comprehend. 

The world was about to go into a sort of anguish because a new creation was about to be born. The Firstborn of the new creation was Jesus. When birth pangs come on a woman, she might be in great sorrow, but the sorrow and pain are short-lived. Once the baby is born, the joy of the newborn washes out the anguish of childbirth (21).

This was exactly what was happening to the disciples. They were, in a sense, a part of giving birth to the first of God's new creation. To give birth to the first of God's new creation, Jesus was going to have to die, but He would return as the Firstborn of God’s new creation. The moment the disciples saw Him, they would be filled with a joy none could take away (22).

The new creation of Jesus would indeed bring about a change in relationship. They would no longer ask Him things body to body, but they would talk to the Father and ask in Jesus’ name. They would ask in Jesus' name through the Holy Spirit and be given what their faith allegiant prayers requested. Jesus had used another one of His “truly, truly” statements here, again meaning “pay attention” (23).

This entire way to talk to Jesus they had not experienced before, but they were about to. They were going to ask in His name, ask in His presence, ask knowing He was with them, and ask for the things He had been given by the Father. Whatever they asked for, they would receive (24).

Overcoming (25-33)

Jesus worked through so many figures of speech throughout His ministry. I often laugh when people talk about how simple Jesus spoke, how clear He made everything. It is often imagined that everyone could understand all He said because He used simple-to-understand word pictures. Even when Jesus was using those simple stories, those figures of speech, they were often leaving more questions than answers in the minds of the hearers. To imagine understanding God an easy effort is naive. We are finite; He is infinite. The comprehension of God requires the help of God’s revelation so even the simplest of stories and metaphors can be comprehended. To turn Jesus' teaching into a series of principles to live by makes us feel good that we understand something, but Jesus taught people to follow His Father, not rules. To get rules to live by is easy. To understand how to follow the Father in the midst of a storm requires divine intervention.

Yes, the understanding level is simple, but only when the Holy Spirit is helping with the revealing. This is why the Holy Spirit was so necessary to the disciples and still is to us. 

Jesus here tells His disciples that the figures of speech were about to come to an end because His figure of speech had been aimed at the event about to unfold: His death. 

After Jesus' death and Resurrection, Jesus' figures of speech began to make sense. Plucking out eyes, a seed falling into the ground, hating family members, and a host of other figures would begin to make plain sense in the light of His death and Resurrection. Plain talk would be available to Jesus because the figurative language would have been revealed by the Holy Spirit as Jesus rose from the dead (25).

Then Jesus did something mind-blowing. He told His disciples that through His name, they would have personal access to the Father. 

Go to an important person's office, and their importance will be defined by how many people you must go through to get to that highly important person. Go to the Father and you just announce, “I'm here with Jesus,” and you have immediate access (26).

Jesus told His disciples that they were loved by the Father because they loved His Son and gave His Son their allegiant faith as a Son whom the Father sent (27).

Jesus then, without a figure of speech, told His disciples plainly what was about to happen. He had come from the Father, and it was now time to return to the Father (28).

The disciples appreciated the candor; they appreciated Jesus no longer using some metaphor to explain the future. The disciples then announced their complete confidence in Jesus' ability to hear from the Father and their undying allegiance to Him (29-30).

Jesus responded to their commitment of allegiance. It was a kind of question, “So, you have given Me your complete and undying allegiance at last, have you?” (31)

Jesus then told them to look very carefully, for their allegiance may not have been as solid as they imagined. The moment had come for them to scatter. Each would retreat to his own place of personal safety and leave Jesus very much alone to face His storm (Matthew 26:56).

Jesus then told them that while their allegiance of faith, love, and loyalty was greatly marred, so marred that they would forsake Him, He would not be alone. The Father would get Him through (32).

All these words Jesus had been speaking were to give them peace. They were going to live in two places at the same time: in Christ and in the world. The world was going to be full of storms, but in Christ they could have peace—so much peace that they could live on in courage of heart, knowing Jesus would eventually overcome the world and put a stop to all the storms, once and for all (33).