John 16:16-18 16A little while and you will see me no longer; and again a little while and you will see me.” 17Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18Then they were saying, “What is this which he said, ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is saying.”
Jesus gives a clear hint in verse 16 of what would soon take place. The references to the future are clearly historical and refer to when he would be absent and in the grave and then rise on the third day. The details about this absence and return are vague in this verse, which obviously confused some of the disciples. This verse serves as a transition from the topic of the coming Holy Spirit and sets up for Jesus’ teaching about his death and resurrection. According to the traditions recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus had already told his disciples about his coming death and resurrection, but before these events, they were still confused and had not put the pieces together into a clear picture.
The disciples voice their confusion in a two-part question where they quote the words of Jesus. At least they get the historical order correct: death, resurrection, and ascension. Their questions suggest they were thinking from a human perspective, which usually gets people in trouble. They needed to look at God’s plan of redemption, which Jesus had clearly taught about and they had accepted. In one way, they were not ready to hear all that Jesus had to say to them (verse 12). The details would overwhelm and discourage them even more. It is not always good to know the future but rather to face it and allow our faith to grow through the inevitable trials.
The disciples would soon experience the key moment of all of history when the Messiah would die for the sins of the world and rise victorious over the greatest enemies of humanity: sin and death. We may be like the disciples in our confusion about the deeper meaning of all that happened during the following days in the biblical record. Faith grows through experience. The Holy Spirit would later help them understand and live out their resurrection faith. Their theology would grow and eventually be recorded in the rest of the New Testament. Faith will lead to understanding, just as understanding must have faith as its foundation.
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