It was the end of his life on Earth. He knew it. He had deliberately come to Jerusalem in order to encounter the Jewish leaders in the heart of the teaching center of Judaism. Jesus knew they wouldn't tolerate him any longer, brand him as a heretic, and kill him. The time in Jerusalem had gone exactly as he had thought it would (or exactly as was planned).
But, his Twelve didn't know this was the end of his life on Earth. He had to make certain that they understood the unfolding events to the fullest extent possible. In John 16, Jesus begins by telling the Twelve about events that would happen after he left, such as being ostracized from synagogues, and being martyred. The purpose was to reveal ahead of time some events so that they would not lose their faith.
He also had a second purpose. Jesus needed to let them know about someone else - someone who would follow him. His end was the beginning of the time when another would come to stand beside each of them. In all their endeavors, they would come to count on this third person to be by their sides. The Twelve had to be introduced. And this was the time.
Verse 7
ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω ὑμῖν, συμφέρει ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω. ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἀπέλθω, ὁ παράκλητος οὐκ ἐλεύσεται πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἐὰν δὲ πορευθῶ, πέμψω αὐτὸν πρὸς ὑμᾶς
(Truthfully, it is better for you that I leave this world. If I don't leave, the one who will stand beside you and help you cannot come to you. If I leave, I can send him to you.)
Jesus answered what the obvious questions would have been if he had stopped talking. The questions on the table would have been, "When he comes, what exactly will he say or do? How will he help us?" But the Twelve didn't have a chance to ask; Jesus knew they needed to know because they lived in a world at large that didn't have a clue what was happening in Judea, nor did they care, and because they lived in a land where people of their own kind would represent God differently than the way Jesus had represented him. Both groups of people had "worldly notions."
Verse 8
Καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐκεῖνος ἐλέγξει τὸν κόσμον περὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ περὶ κρίσεως
(When he comes, he will refute worldly notions about failure and guilt, about decent living, and about sitting in judgment of others.)
That probably was enough information to answer the obvious question the Twelve would have had. But, Jesus took it a step farther. He gave the reasons for his answer. The Greek word μέν is a word used to show that what followed would be connected to the statement that went before it, usually by way of explanation. The Greek word δέ following the clause with μέν created a series of parallel phrases that explain. In this case there were two additional parallel phrases. This rhetorical formula was perfect for Jesus to succinctly clarify his answer.
Verse 9
περὶ ἁμαρτίας μέν, ὅτι οὐ πιστεύουσιν εἰς ἐμέ
(He will verify what I said about failure and guilt by showing what happens when people don't believe me.)
Verse 10
περὶ δικαιοσύνης δέ, ὅτι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὑπάγω καὶ οὐκέτι θεωρεῖτέ με
(He will verify what I said about decent living by showing that I did go back to the father after you didn't see me anymore.)
Verse 11
περὶ δὲ κρίσεως, ὅτι ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου κέκριται
(And he will verify what I have said about sitting in judgment by showing that the ruler of this world has been tried and condemned.)
When a person works with an artist, all the artist needs is the idea, then we can appreciate the idea through the artist's representation of this idea. People can do this for themselves with the website fotosearch.com by typing in a word in the search bar and then scrolling through the 25,000 photos of the idea. If I type in summer, I am returned thousands of images of summer, all different, all representations of the season. In such a way, a linguist can take the words on the surface of an utterance and peer into the mind of a person as to the meanings being represented by words.
One can hear some deafening sounds coming from the words being used here. The three ideas of failure and guilt, decent living, and sitting in judgment are what the Jews specialized in when it came to representing their law. They had a narrow view of creating their system of justice for not living what they considered to be a decent life, ostracism and negative critique being a part of it. The world beyond the Jews was no better. Their idea of justice, might makes right, made for a harsh and brutal society. I am deafened by the ideas of bound, break out, and freedom. The Jews seem to have set themselves up for failure since they expected human beings to miraculously perform to the letter of their law, which was layered with traditions and well-intended rabbis' applications. Honor, too, was in the world at large, but it was a table set for family members and strong men mostly. Others were just miserable failures. I can't help but hear the idea that those outside the ring of honor could not be helped and never would amount to much in life. And, the idea of judgment came in many forms, but one of the most prevalent was the prestige games of trying to be better than or keep up with the Joneses. Most people couldn't be better, allowing the ones who were, to condescend to them and judge them as worthless.
Jesus had taught about all three of those ideas. Now he was turning his teaching over to someone else, someone who couldn't come until he departed. The Twelve had to know so that they could tell others. There is another person coming after Jesus leaves. He will refute the deafening noises of the worldly notions about decent living, failure and guilt, and judgment. He will verify what Jesus had taught. He will stand beside them to help them break free of ostracism, low self esteem, and low caste in society.
The Twelve were faithful to tell Christians who followed their generation, and they to the generation after them, and they.... Even today, one of the main differences between my world view and many of the acquaintances I have, is my honor, contentment, and guilt-free mode of operation because of the verification of the appropriateness of Jesus' teachings against their belief of ostracism, prestige, and condemnation of others. I am free of their view, not bound by it in any way. People, of course, can't see Jesus anymore, but they see me and the reflection of the one that stands beside me helping me break out. Yes, that's right.
[The beginning song is Does anybody hear her by Casting Crowns, the second song is Broken Girl by Matthew West, the ending song is Grace Wins by Matthew West]
[Introductory artwork retrieved from http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP859/k8597169/]
[The Greek text used is the Nestle Aland 28th edition]
[Translations from Greek are my own.]
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