Hard Questions
John 16:1-15
16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes, you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate(Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Jesus was telling about the testifying mission that His disciples should do, and about the fact of His being about to leave them. Because Jesus said these things to them, they were filled with grief. At this moment, it's interesting that Jesus was telling them, "None of you asks me, "Where are you going?"" Questions help something unsure, a sure thing, like death.
However, Jesus' disciples were not asking any questions of Him, just feeling sad or being disappointed at Jesus leaving them and their being forsaken from Jews, etc. They were not interested in the place of Jesus' going and the reasons why He had to leave, rather into the reality of them without Him, who played the role of their leader, a good teacher, and a great prophet, etc. But they must have not known about Jesus' identity and the position in Heaven.
Therefore, Jesus was explaining about His leaving for good and about the sin, righteousness, and judgment, including the trinity: the Father God, and the Spirit and His own position and the role in there. They couldn't understand His every word, so Jesus said that I had more to talk to you, more than you could bear. But when the Holy Spirit comes, He would guide you into all the truth. The reason they couldn't ask any questions was that I guess that they had no idea about the spiritual things, including the Heaven.
Likewise, we rarely ask questions of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in life, rather these kinds of questions are considered as a taboo, about which we shouldn't say in a daily conversation. Even Christians seldom talk about these topics, including death. I think it's because it's hard or awkward to talk. Also, I think it's because they do not care it much, or they don't know it at all, or they care for much more earthly things than these questions in life, and so on.
Yet, we'd better start to ask questions about Heavenly things including Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit, and death as well, because these questions could lead us into the truth and life, which are the most significant thing in life, more than living a day.
