John 16:16-33 "A Time to Learn"

There is a light bulb in my office which occasionally waits to turn on until a few minutes after the others. I get a good chuckle out of it when I am having a meeting in my office and the light clicks on just as I am sharing a thought or idea. I would like to think that the light is timed perfectly to great ideas- a literal light bulb moment. What that doesn't explain is why it always comes on when someone else is talking...

Anyway, this is a light bulb moment for the disciples. The passage seems to end with the disciples finally "getting" Jesus. So far, they have stuck around because it seems right and they know Jesus is unique; now they are sticking with Jesus because they know what Christ is talking about. It seems a little odd that their light bulb moment is following an analogy to childbirth- an experience none of the 12 could relate to. But if God can talk through a donkey, I'll believe that a group of men can say "Oh, I get it, it's like childbirth!"

More to the point, there is something here that I can really connect to. Jesus doesn't sound any different than He did in chapter 15 or chapter 5. His words aren't changing. He's talking about love, revealing the Father, the world, peace, and other topics that have been covered. But the disciples are changing- the Spirit is starting to work.

In Deuteronomy 29, Moses tells the people of Israel that they weren't ready to hear what God wanted them to hear and that God would give them minds to understand. The same principle seems to be at work here in John.

Sometimes I think that I'm supposed to have it all figured out right now. I look to pastors who have been doing the pastor thing for decades and think "Why didn't I think of that?" There's a nagging voice in the back of my head that tells me "Every time you make a mistake, it's just proof that you are ________________." John 16 and Deuteronomy 29 speak against that voice- reminding me that for Christians, there is only learning and growth. Jesus went to the cross to deliver me from that voice and into a new creation.