5 Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come. 8 When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment. 9 He will prove to them that sin is not believing in me. 10 He will prove to them that being right with God comes from my going to the Father and not being seen anymore. 11 And the Helper will prove to them that judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged.
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but they are too much for you now. 13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come. 14 The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me, because he will take what I have to say and tell it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take what I have to say and tell it to you.
Read John 16:5-15 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
On the last night Jesus spent with the disciples prior to His arrest and crucifixion, John’s gospel shares a conversation Jesus shared with the remaining disciples (Judas Iscariot was with the Jewish leaders assembling a mob). In this conversation, Jesus shares a statement that makes the disciples sad, and while Jesus acknowledges their sadness, He tells them that what will happen will ultimately be better than what they wished would happen.
During this conversation, Jesus told the disciples, “Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come.” (v. 5-7)
The two statements that jump out in my mind as I read Jesus’ words are, “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away”, and “If I do not go away, the Helper will not come” (the first and last phrases of verse 7).
While the disciples are sad at Jesus announcing His departure, He tells them that it is better for them if He leaves. While this sounds backwards, Jesus follows up by explaining that if He didn’t go away, the Helper would not come to them.
This prompts me to ask, “Why would the Holy Spirit not come to Jesus’ followers if Jesus was still around?” If God could do anything, and His is truly “everywhere” (i.e. omnipresent), then why would Jesus imply that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come to Jesus’ followers if Jesus were present?
The answer is amazingly simple. When we read lists and descriptions about what the Holy Spirit does, we learn that everything the Holy Spirit does leads and points people to Jesus. The Holy Spirit’s role is to draw people into a relationship with Jesus. This also means that the Holy Spirit won’t do anything that doesn’t support this objective.
With this in mind, while reading the gospels, it becomes clear that while Jesus is present, Jesus is the only One who is empowered to perform miracles. With Jesus present, the Holy Spirit moved exclusively through Him because that is who He wants us to pay attention to. The disciples never perform miracles while Jesus is present. However, part way through His ministry, Jesus sends pairs of followers out on a mission trip to nearby cities, and they return with stories of how they were able to cast demons out of people and heal others using Jesus’ name. These miracles were possible because the Holy Spirit came to them while Jesus was not present with them.
This means that when Jesus says, “it is better for you that I go away” because “if I do not go away, the Helper will not come”, Jesus is reminding these followers, and all of us followers living 2000 years ago that the Holy Spirit leads people to Jesus. If we want the Holy Spirit working within us and through us, we simply need to focus on Jesus, move towards Him, and help others do the same.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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