John 16:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Before, they addressed many questions to Him. Thus Peter said, "Where are You going?" (Jn 13:36). Thomas said, "We do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" (Jn 14:5). Philip said, "Show us Your Father" (Jn 14:8). But now, when they heard that they would be put out of the synagogues, that they would be hated, and that whoever killed them would think he offered service to God (Jn 16:2), they so lost heart that they were seized with silence and no longer said anything to Him.

But now, going to My Father and leaving you, I forewarn you of this so that you may make yourselves secure. "And none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'" For because of sorrow you have been troubled and thrown into confusion. Your hearts are shaken by the expectation of calamities.

When He goes to the Father, He usefully and at the proper time reveals to them the inevitable coming of what will await them. If even among ourselves there is concern not to mistake the proper time for something, how much more must this be fitting for God? Thus the time for silence was at the beginning, when the necessity of giving them instruction about the future had not yet come. But when He was going to the Father, the time to speak had come. Was the Savior, then, removed from the disciples when He returned to the Father, while remaining with them by the operation, power, and grace of the Spirit? How, or in what manner? For He does not deceive when He says: "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20).

Earlier, when they asked where He was going, He answered that He was going where they could not come (Jn 13:33). Now He promises to depart in such a way that no one will ask where He is going. For a cloud received Him when He was departing from them. As He went into heaven, they did not ask with words, but followed Him with their eyes (Acts 1:9-11). Our Lord understood what His words would produce in their hearts. They did not yet have within themselves the consolation that the Holy Spirit was to give them. Therefore they feared losing the outward presence of Christ. Now, when from His own words they could no longer doubt that they would be left without Him, their human feelings were darkened by the loss of the visible object. But He knew that this would be for their good.

Seeing that the disciples were so struck by sorrow that they could say nothing and answer His questions, Jesus Christ rebukes their silent grief. Saying: "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'" It is true that Peter had asked Jesus Christ: "Lord, where are You going?" (Jn 13:36). But when Peter said, "Where are You going?" he was then asking about the place. Here the words "Where are You going?" mean: what are You doing? This is how grieving loved ones usually question a man who is rushing toward death. In the same way the disciples should have asked Jesus Christ: "Where are You going?" That is: what are You doing, leaving us? It can also be explained otherwise. Since Jesus Christ did not answer Peter's question about where He was going, they should have asked Him again.

It is as though He said plainly: By My Ascension I shall return to Him who appointed Me to become incarnate. So great and evident will the glory of this Ascension be that none of you will need to ask where I am going. For you will all see that I am going to heaven. And it is good that, after saying, "But now I go away to Him who sent Me," He added: "And none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'" Earlier, when He openly testified to His Passion and said: "Where I am going, you cannot come" (Jn 13:33), Peter asked Him: "Lord, where are You going?" (Jn 13:36). He received the answer: "Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward" (Jn 13:36).

United to one another by love, they must wage a common struggle against the world estranged from the Kingdom of God. He foretells the persecutions awaiting them. Ahead of them lies their struggle with all that exists on earth, a struggle Christianity must begin and carry on. But in this struggle He promised them the help of the Holy Spirit. Everything needed for the spread of the Church of God He will accomplish through them. The Lord briefly sums up His action in the world in this: the Holy Spirit will bring the world to awareness of its sins and reveal in this the cause of its unbelief. Then He will compel the world to acknowledge that Jesus did not die as a sinner for His own sins. He died as the Holy One, and as the Holy One He ascended to His Father in heaven.

The disciples stood inconsolable around the Lord not only because of the Savior's prediction of the afflictions awaiting them. They were troubled chiefly by the thought of separation from Him, and specifically by their failure to understand the Lord's words about His departure to the Father. This unclear understanding of what awaited them and the Lord in the nearest future should have made them turn to their Teacher for new explanations, beyond 13:36 and 14:5. Yet their sorrow was too great, and their thought was crushed by this heavy feeling. Therefore Jesus Christ, probably after some silence, again turns to their consolation. He consoles them by reminding them that His relation to the Father contains a source of blessings for them (7:39).

But I am going away, and with My departure human malice will direct all its strength against you, My disciples, whom I command to go into the world and continue My work. Yes, I am going to Him who sent Me. Although none of you now asks Me, "Where are You going?" I see how your heart has become sorrowful.

This discourse of the Lord about the world's hatred for Him and His followers, and about the afflictions and sufferings awaiting them (Jn 15:18 and following), filled the disciples' hearts with grief and sorrow, despite His consoling promises. They were not yet firm and had not yet been perfected to the degree they reached by receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Lord's departure from them, despite the promises of His new coming to them, was understood by them chiefly from the viewpoint of separation from Him. It continued to trouble them, even after His repeated words: "Do not be troubled." Therefore the Lord again directs their attention to the great fruits of His departure from them.

Christ's words about the persecutions awaiting the apostles after His departure to the Father filled their hearts with sorrow. To console and encourage them, Christ explains that He must go to the Father. That is, He must pass through the way of the Cross, sufferings, and death. Only by virtue of the redeeming merits of Christ the Savior is the appearing of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, in the world possible. With the all-powerful help of the Holy Spirit, the malice and persecutions of the world will not be fearful to the apostles. They will conquer the world and bring it to obedience and faith in Christ the Savior. Describing the activity of the Holy Spirit in relation to the unbelieving world, Christ says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (v. 8).

How weak men are, and how inexhaustible is heavenly love in its readiness to help us in our infirmity! When the Savior told His disciples where He was going (Jn 14:5), He directly declared that He was leaving them (Jn 16:4), though not without heavenly help. Yet the disciples were so filled with sorrow over separation from the Teacher that, in mute silence, they gave free rein to their grief (Jn 16:5-6). The loving Teacher had strengthened the hearts of His disciples against the attacks of the malicious world. Then He offers various consolations to ease their sorrow over separation from Him. He explains in detail the appearing and actions of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (Jn 16:5-16). He shows the joy they will later have when they see Him again (Jn 16:17-22).

"No one asks" and "sorrow has filled your heart." Chrysostom indicates that the disciples remained silent from grief and fear. Earlier (Jn 13:36; 14:5-8) they still dared to turn to Him with questions. "Where are You going?" "How can we know the way?" "Show us the Father." But now they were wholly cast down in spirit. Grief took hold of the disciples especially because the Lord said that He was going to "Him who sent Him." They knew and believed that the Sender is God Almighty. They clearly understood that the Lord was speaking of His death. The Lord fixes their attention on the fact that, in fear and grief, they no longer ask Him Himself where He is going and why. He Himself now reveals to them that knowledge of where He is going will bring them consolation, strength, and joy.