John 15:26 -16:18 Confusion about the days after Christ
Jesus is looking ahead and the disciples aren’t up to where he was, let alone where he’s going. Jesus points to the future, when he will not be present, but the Advocate (Spirit) will be. This looking ahead, this preparation, is intended to comfort the disciples, yet it doesn’t. If anything, it makes them (us?) more agitated and concerned.
Jesus tries to persuade them, and us, and I think we all would rather have Jesus with us. Jesus says that we just aren’t ready to hear what he has to say. Jesus will come and go – how have we experienced that? How do we deal with the sense of the absence of Jesus? Is the Spirit an adequate replacement? How do we handle what Jesus says that we don’t understand? What helps us understand better?
