John 16:16-33
These verses end the discussion Jesus had with His disciples. By this stage in the evening, the disciples are still puzzled by what Jesus has told them. Particularly puzzling is Jesus’ statement that shortly the disciples would not see Him anymore and then they would see Him. They did not understand this, and I can understand that. I think that we would have been equally puzzled had we been there. What Jesus was about to do was unprecedented. Never before had someone offered up their life to die, only to return from the dead after three days. So Jesus spoke plainly to them. He spent a lot of time explaining his meaning. One example is seen in v21-22 where Jesus likens what he disciples are about to go through. He describes a woman in labour who experiences the pain of the labour because her time has not yet come. When the time comes and the baby is born she forgets her pain for the joy of holding her baby. So it would be with the disciples. After He spoke, the disciples understand. I wonder if a large part of that understanding was due to the fact that Jesus spoke to them on a more equal footing and they responded to that by taking more responsibility for thinking about what He said and understanding it.
At this point Jesus had prepared the disciples as much as He would for what was to come. It is a great testament to Jesus love that He gave so much time preparing the disciples for what was to come when He knew He had to face such a terrible ordeal.
Before I end the discussion on these verses, I want to spend a little time on verse 33. I love this verse, it is a great comfort and reassurance. In Jesus we have peace, but in the world we have trouble. We are to be encouraged in the knowledge that Jesus has overcome the world. In times of trouble, the best thing to do is cling to Jesus and His

John 16:5-15
In these verses Jesus spoke further about going away. He acknowledged the disciples felt grief but also told them He had to go away so that they disciples could receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, He told them, convicts the world of guilt of sin, righteousness and judgement. Jesus stopped teaching the disciples here. He told them they had as much information as they could bear. But the Holy Spirit would teach them. Just as Jesus proclaimed He spoke what God told Him, so the Holy Spirit will speak what Jesus tells Him.
It is so wonderful to know that the Holy Spirit is available for all of us to learn and grow. It is such a proof of how wonderful our Father in Heaven is. Not only did He send Jesus to die for us, but He then sent the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, righteousness and judgement. We never have to live our lives on our own. These verses are the proof of that.

John 15:18-16:4
Now that Jesus is going, He warns the disciples of persecution to come. The world hates Him and He wants His disciples to know that it will hate His disciples. He reminded them that they do not belong to the world. This warning is for all who were to come. That means us, and all who have come since Jesus came to earth, and are yet to come. We also must expect persecution and hatred because Jesus was persecuted and hated. We also do not belong to this world. We need to accept that there will be those who listen to us and those who will not listen. Jesus reminded His disciples, and through the words John wrote, us, that He would send the Holy Spirit who, as well as being a counsellor, is also the Spirit of Truth who will testify about Him to us. Jesus warned His disciples so that they would not be led astray. We are also to remember these words. We will always have assistance, but we must face what the world does to us.

I am having a brief holiday over the weekend so will not be posting a blog on the weekend. Will be back next Wednesday.

xxx

Nan

John 15:9-17
The disciples must have been aware of the importance of Jesus’ words spoken up to this point. If they were not, the words contained in these verses would have revealed that importance to them. He reiterated the important teaching that the disciples were to remain in His love and obey His commands. Now He added that they must love each other. This is developed into the statement that the greatest love a man can have is to lay down his life for a friend. Now Jesus is calling us friends! He who is God is calling us friends! Wow. That is amazing. Now Jesus is telling His disciples then and now (that means us!) that we are not servants but friends because a servant does not know his master’s business. So that means we are not only friends, but now we are to know our master’s business! Note that in order to know what Jesus is doing we must become His friends. That is so awe-inspiring. What is more amazing is that Jesus chose His friends, they didn’t choose Him. This means that we are in the position of being Jesus friends because He chose us. If that doesn’t make you feel special then what will?
All this teaching is wrapped up in the command to love each other. We must love Jesus and God and each other. I attended a talk by Dr Caroline Leaf recently. She is a Christian and a Neuroscientist. She told us that research has found our brains are made for love and all the positive emotions that accompany that. When I see John 15:17, I think of that. This is how God made us. We are made to Love. We are not made to hate, or be negative, or bitter. We are made to Love.