Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
John 16:16-24
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
So much of the teaching that occurs within John’s Gospel is found during the time in which Jesus and the disciples are gathered for the Passover meal, which we usually think of as the Last Supper. There is a depth of information that Jesus wants his disciples to learn during these last hours, and it is important for us to understand something about this meal. During the Passover Seder, tradition holds that the patriarch of the family would teach those gathered in what is now called a Haggadah, a ritual of storytelling about the history of the people of Israel and their future.
As Jesus is sharing the words of this week’s Scripture with his disciples, he is teaching them the history of the Israelite people. He is reframing the future as one that has always been centered on the idea of the restoration of Israel, into a future when “your grief will turn to joy.” For so many of us, we read the words of the Gospel with the knowledge that, like the radio host, Paul Harvey, we already know the rest of the story. We know that later that night, Jesus would be arrested, that the next day he would be crucified, and most importantly, that on Easter Sunday, he would rise again. We know all of those details, while the disciples did not, which changes our perspective.
But we also need to remember that what happened in this scene, in these final hours that Jesus had with his disciples, points to the places where we each weep and mourn, even as Jesus stands beside us and whispers, “Your grief will turn to joy.” While the big picture of this message is that Jesus’ resurrection will wipe away the grief of the disciples and will bring us back into the fullness of a right relationship with God, there is also the smaller picture (on a cosmic scale) of each of our lives. We will all know grief at some point or another as we must say goodbye to someone we love. We will all experience losses, whether great or small. But just as what is about to happen in this moment of Jesus’ life offers us freedom from sin, so too does it offer us the knowledge that our deaths and those of ones we love are not the end.
I always hear in Jesus’ words here an echo of what Paul would write a few decades later in his letter to the Romans, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin (Romans 6:5-7).” And it is that knowledge that we all so often need to remember so that our joy will be complete.
For Reflection
- When has there been a time in your life when you have felt a sense of loss, even as those around you have rejoiced?
- How does knowing “the rest of the story” impact how you read Scripture?
Prayer
Lord God, you take our tears of loss and turn them into rejoicing. You seek us in the moments when we feel as though we are lost and alone, to guide us back to your goodness, to the knowledge of your presence. Help us in the moments when our eyes are clouded by grief to remember that you are with us, to hold fast to the knowledge of the resurrection through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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Devotionals