I have told you this so that you may not fall away. 2 They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. 3 They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. 4 I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you. “I did not tell you this from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: 9 sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. 12 “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. 13 But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.' 16 “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ [of which he speaks]? We do not know what he means.”
Jesus told his disciples that the world’s response to his presence is hatred and since they are his disciples the world will hate them also (Jn. 15:18-19). Jesus is about to leave his disciples and they understand where he is going because they do not question him. He warns them about future persecutions that will lead to death for some of them and tells them that their persecutors will believe they are doing what is righteous based on their understanding of the Mosaic Law. Jesus reminded them that those who persecute him and his disciples do not know God and therefore will not know him. He did not tell them before about what would happen to them because he was with them to protect them. However, now that he has told them he will be departing they are filled with grief. (vv. 1-6).
Jesus explains that if he does not leave, the Holy Spirit will not come to them. The Spirit of Truth will convict the world of sin, justice, and judgment. From the world’s perspective, Jesus was guilty and therefore it was just in its treatment of Jesus and could not be condemned because it was guiltless. Those who refuse to believe will be convicted of the sin of unbelief by the Spirit of Truth, the Paraclete (Jn. 8:21) but Jesus, in his righteousness, will be returning to sit at the Father’s right hand. The disciples will no longer physically see him, but he will live in them (Jn. 14:19). The ruler of this world has already been condemned because of the false judgments he has inspired the unbelievers to make. The coming Paraclete will guide the disciples in the truth of the Gospel which is that Jesus spoke the word of God and is the revelation of God. The Paraclete will guide them as instructed by the Father and will explain to them what the Father has given to Jesus. The disciples were puzzled by verse 16. Some theologians, including Augustine and Aquinas, interpret the first ‘little while’ as the crucifixion and burial of Jesus and the second ‘little while’ as his resurrection.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe. We give you the glory due your name and we are grateful for the gifts showered upon us by the Paraclete. May your righteous Son live in us as he lives in You and may we be brought to eternal salvation by the power of your word and the sacrifice of your Son. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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