The Work of the Spirit
1I have told you this to keep you from falling away. 2They will expel you from the synagogue. In fact, the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. 3They will do such things because they have known neither the Father nor me. 4But I have told you this so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things at first, because I was with you. 5Now I am going to the one who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6Instead, because I have told you this, grief has filled your heart. 7But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away. If I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: 9about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11and about judgment, because the ruler of this world already stands judged. 12I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak what he hears, and he will announce to you the things to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and announce it to you. 15Everything the Father has is mine. That is why I said he takes what is mine and will announce it to you.
Sorrow Will Turn to Joy
16A little while, and you will see me no longer; then a little while again, and you will see me.” 17Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by telling us, ‘A little while and you will not see me; then a little while again and you will see me,’ and, ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18So they kept asking, “What is this ‘little while’ he speaks of? We don’t know what he is talking about.” 19Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I meant when I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me; then a little while again and you will see me’? 20Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy. 21When a woman is giving birth she is in anguish, because her hour has come. But once the child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering, for joy that a human being has come into the world. 22So it is with you: now is your time of grief. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23On that day you will ask me nothing. Very truly I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 24Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 25I have said these things to you in figures. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26On that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will petition the Father on your behalf, 27for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” 29His disciples said, “There — now you are speaking plainly, without any figure of speech. 30Now we can see that you know everything, and that no one even needs to question you. This is why we believe you came from God.” 31Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? 32Look, the hour is coming — it has already come — when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33I have told you this so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart: I have overcome the world.”
