John 16:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“But if You are going away, how shall we see You?” Therefore they say: “We do not know what He is saying.”

They knew that He had to go away. But they did not know that after a little while He would come to them again. For this reason Christ reproaches them for not understanding what had been said.

The Lord saw that the disciples, weighed down by sorrow, had not fully understood His words. Therefore He offers them a very clear teaching about His death, so that, becoming accustomed to the words and the events, they might endure it courageously.

Christ, however, anticipates their intention to ask a question. Again, very opportunely, He shows that, as God, He knows hearts.

What still moves in the mind and lies hidden in the depth of the heart, He knows as though it had already been spoken by the tongue.

Indeed, what could be hidden from Him before whom all things are laid bare (Heb 4:13)? Therefore He says to one of the saints: "Who is this who hides counsel from Me, who holds words in his heart and thinks that he is hidden from Me?" (Job 38:2).

Thus He strives in every way for their benefit, and makes every occasion that presents itself a teacher of firm and undoubting faith.

Jesus, perceiving, as the Evangelist continues, that they wished to ask Him, said to them: "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will no longer see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'? Truly, truly, I say to you: you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy."

This may be understood in this way. The disciples were sorrowful over the Lord's death and at once rejoiced at His Resurrection. The world, by which name His enemies are designated, by whom Christ was delivered to death, then rejoiced in Christ's murder while His disciples remained in sorrow.

The perplexity of the disciples, who tried to grasp the meaning of His words from their sensory point of view, gave occasion for this to be unfolded more fully.

He compared their present sorrow with the pains of a woman that precede birth. After this passing sorrow, a new spiritual birth will be revealed in them.

Now they are seized by sorrow, but He will see them again, and they will be filled with joy. Their joy will be imperishable.

Then they will no longer need His sensory presence in order to ask Him to explain something obscure to them, as they now need to question Him.

For then the Father Himself will give them all that they ask in the name of Jesus Christ. That is, He will give it no longer personally through someone else, but inwardly through the revelation of God.

Before this activity of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is revealed, the disciples face a separation painful to the heart from their beloved Teacher. This separation, however, will not last long. Christ will soon come to them again.

To the disciples' perplexed reflections about what the Lord's words meant, concerning His soon departure from them and coming to them, He answered that their inner state during separation from Jesus Christ would be as difficult as that of a woman giving birth.

For the world, however, this time would be a time of joy. Yet like a woman who has given birth, the disciples will be filled with unceasing joy when, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they see Jesus Christ with a pure, faithful spiritual eye, "because I go to the Father."

Noticing that the perplexed Apostles wanted to ask for an explanation of what had just been said to them, Jesus asked them: “Are you asking one another what My words mean: ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?

“I tell you this: days are approaching when you will weep and lament, while the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but know that after this sorrow joy will come for you.”

"Perceiving" means within Himself, by the power of His omniscience; cf. Jn 6 and the note.

"They wished to ask Him." Perhaps, because of the rebuke recently spoken to them by the Lord, that none of them was asking Him (Jn 16:5), they resolved to present their perplexity for the Teacher's resolution.

But He anticipated their question and gave an answer. Yet, as with a similar perplexity of one disciple, He did not give a direct answer.

He left the disciples to understand the meaning of His words from the course of the whole discourse (Jn 16:14 and following). So now, too, He does not at first answer directly their perplexity concerning His departure.

But the Apostles, despite Christ’s repeated explanations of the nature, meaning, and significance of His departure to the Father, did not understand these words of the Savior.

They wished to express their perplexity to Christ, thereby showing how difficult it was even for them to grasp the mystery of mankind’s salvation through the death on the Cross of the Only-begotten Son of God.

Then the Lord Jesus Christ, without waiting for their question, explained more fully His words concerning His death and Resurrection.

The Savior saw the hearts of His disciples without their words. Long before this, the Evangelist had observed that Jesus had no need for anyone to tell Him what lay in a man’s heart. He saw everything (Jn 2:25).

"Do you inquire among yourselves about this?" After all that the Lord had already revealed to the disciples, it would seem that there should have been no doubt or perplexity in their minds about "what death He was to die" (Jn 11:51), or about the Lord's ascent to the Father.

But the sorrow of this thought was so strong that the Lord's disciples feared to understand Him. With troubled mind and heart, they tried to push away from themselves the thought that horrified them, that the Lord was leaving them.

Therefore the Lord's speech, while not concealing the future from them, is wholly directed toward comforting them with joyful hope.