“These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you openly of the Father. On that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”
John 16:25-33
His disciples said, “Behold, now You are speaking openly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Introduction
In these final words Jesus spoke to His disciples before praying for them and leaving to be betrayed and handed over to destruction, the Lord issued plain teaching to His followers. He has ceased from teaching from parables and metaphor, opting to be as clear as possible with them. This struck them as unusual as they respond, “Behold, now You are speaking openly and are not using a figure of speech.”
When I am attempting to explain something but my listeners do not seem to “get it,” I will often change my approach to that explanation. Maybe I switch from plain speech to metaphor or I go the other way around. Knowing Jesus made a noticeable change in the way He communicated to the disciples should give us a moment of pause. What He says here is both important and something they ought to have known already.
No need for an intermediary
The ministry of Jesus can be described as one of reconciliation. In His advent, He condescended to men, living in our midst as one of us, ultimately dying as one of us. And in His resurrection and ascension, He shattered the stranglehold sin and death had on the world. Because of His work and ministry, mankind has been reconciled to God, and sin is entirely forgiven for all who believe.
Because of this reconciliation that has taken place, and because He tore down the barrier that separated God from man (Matthew 27:51), we have direct access to God in a manner that had been closed since the days in Eden. Even still, God accepted prayer from His people in those days (Psalm 34:17; 2 Kings 20:5). But the people still required an intermediary to approach. Without undergoing ritual cleanliness, they were barred from participating in festivals or any other part of religious life. They were cut off and separated from the people of God until that was corrected.
But those who are in Jesus are blessed to experience cleanliness by His blood (1 John 1:7). We are always in a state where we can approach God with a good conscience because He has accomplished that. So when we pray, we are to ask in His name, but that prayer is to be made to the Father. Because we are washed clean by His blood, we have no need for an intercessor: Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), and that mediation was made complete when He conquered death.
My grandfather, a devout Catholic his entire life, recounted an experience where this truth became very real to him:
Another, somewhat humorous situation occurred, during the Sunday Mass. I was praying for something real hard, something I really wanted and was having a hard time expressing myself. So I asked our Blessed Mother to help me and to intercede with Jesus for me. Quite clearly and just as caustically as my own mother would have said it, she said “Ask Him
yourself. He is right here.”
Spoken plainly for peace
“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.”
He plainly and openly spoke of the coming persecution they would face for His sake, calling it “peace.” It does not sound like a peaceful thing, though, to be scattered and lose the One you have been following and learning from for three years. The disciples were convinced Jesus is the Messiah (Matthew 16:16), yet this idea that they would be scattered and He would be taken from them does not fit with the concept of a conquering Messiah.
That is because the kind of conquering He was to do had a grander and more widespread impact than even they could imagine. The world may persecute you, tempt you, and beat you down, “but take courage; I have overcome the world.” He defeated our greatest enemy, dealing the decisive blow on the cross at Calvary. Nothing this world can throw at you has any hope of destroying the joy and peace that is found in Christ, because in Christ we are kept safe for eternity’s sake. In Christ we are made whole and able to glorify the Father.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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