John 16:12–22

¹²“I have much more to say to you. It is more than you can handle right now. ¹³But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears. And he will tell you what is still going to happen.

¹⁴“He will bring me glory by receiving something from me and showing it to you. ¹⁵Everything that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Holy Spirit will receive something from me and show it to you.

¹⁶“In a little while, you will no longer see me. Then after a little while, you will see me.”

The Disciples’ Sadness Will Turn Into Joy

¹⁷Some of his disciples spoke to one another. They said, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while, you will no longer see me. Then after a little while, you will see me’? And what does he mean by saying, ‘I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about those things. So he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant? Didn’t you understand when I said, ‘In a little while, you will no longer see me. Then after a little while, you will see me’? ²⁰What I’m about to tell you is true. You will cry and be full of sorrow while the world is full of joy. You will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy.

²¹“A woman giving birth to a baby has pain. This is because her time to give birth has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the pain. She forgets because she is so happy that a baby has been born into the world.

²²“That’s the way it is with you. Now it’s your time to be sad. But I will see you again. Then you will be full of joy. And no one will take your joy away.