DARK SAYINGS

Jesus returns to His familiar refrain in the upper room discourse - "these things I have spoken to you." The repeated phrase (ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν) marks the sections of His teachings (14:25; 15:11; 16:1,4,6,25,33), and John does not use the phrase elsewhere in his gospel (Morris, John, p. 656). Jesus is looking back in this section specifically to His instructions about His departure to the Father (16:16) which had confused the disciples (16:17) leading Jesus to talk about a woman experiencing childbirth (16:21) as an example of grief turned to joy.

Jesus says that He has been speaking in "figurative language" (παροιμιαις) and promises to speak later in plain language (παρρησια). John uses the word for figurative language (παροιμιαις) to mean "dark sayings" where "lofty ideas are concealed" (BAGD, p. 629). The word is sometimes synonymous with a proverb or even a parable. The LXX uses παροιμια for the title of the Book of Proverbs (Prov. 1:1). It comes from two words παρα and οιμος meaning "beside the path" to indicate a wise saying alongside a truth (NIDNTT 2:756-757).

John, however, uses παροιμια more in the sense of a dark saying or riddle (John 10:6, 16:25,33) in a similar manner to the word "mystery" (μυστηριον) in the other gospel writers. The contrast with speaking plainly (παρρησια) leads to this conclusion since proverbs were normally quite clear in meaning unlike riddles or dark sayings. Jesus has been talking about leaving them; His coming sacrifice for them; the hatred of the world, and His going to the Father. He has talked about suffering grief and loss. Surely these are dark sayings for the disciples to hear!

In what sense are these dark sayings? They are dark sayings not because Jesus was intentionally concealing information from them or because they were intellectually incomprehensible words. They were dark sayings because the teachings were emotionally unacceptable. The disciples were not ready to embrace His teachings. The darkness was in them not in Jesus (NIDNTT 2:758).

When will they understand? Jesus predicts that He will speak plainly in the future. The disciples think they understand and tell Him so (16:29), but they do not yet grasp His dark sayings. Jesus speaks plainly in His post-resurrection appearances, but it is not until after Pentecoast and the coming of the Holy Spirit that the disciples truly grasp the dark sayings of Jesus (Bernard, John, 2:519). Jesus said as much when He taught that the Holy Spirit would take His words from the Father and "disclose" them to the disciples (16:13-15).

We, too, experience the dark sayings of Jesus when we struggle emotionally to understand and accept our loss, our grief, and our suffering in this life. The deep waters threaten to overwhelm us even though we have the rest of Scripture to bolster our faith. We still need the Holy Spirit as our "Special Friend" to disclose Jesus' dark sayings to us because of the darkness that sometimes shrouds our minds.

Thank you Holy Spirit for being our teacher during the dark times of our lives

TWO KINDS OF ASKING

There are two kinds of asking in our relationship with God. We can ask a question or we can ask for a favor. We can seek information from God or we can make a request for God to do something for us. Both kinds of asking are seen in John 16:23. "In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you."

The first asking means to ask a question. The verb is ερωτησετε. The word was used to describe conversation, and it generally meant to ask a question of someone in a dialogue between two people in close relationship with each other (NIDNTT, 2:856-857). The implication of the word was to seek information.

Jesus is not referring to prayer in this clause. He refers back to John 16:19 where the disciples were asking questions about His teaching. The "Me" (εμε) is emphatic in form and position as is the double negative (ουκ - ουδεν). The disciples would soon experience a change in their relationship with Jesus. He would no longer be present for them to ask questions.

The second asking means to make a request. This is the language of prayer. It is the new medium of communication for the disciples. The clause is introduced by "truly, truly" (αμην, αμην) which generally starts a new thought. The verb is αιτησητε which means to ask for or even demand something from someone (BAGD, p. 25). Whenever the disciples make requests to God the verb αιτεω is commonly used. Whenever Jesus asks God anything, the verb ερωταω is used. The verb αιτεω refers to a suppliant making a request of a superior while ερωταω refers to a person in a relationship of general equality (NIDNTT, 2:857). Prayer, of course, is the language of a suppliant.

A textual problem occurs with placing the phrase "in My Name" (εν τω ονοματι μου) in the sentence. Does it modify the asking or the giving? Do we ask in Jesus name or does the Father give in Jesus name? Some manuscripts place it after the giving so there are those who argue that God's answers to our prayers are in Jesus name making them more certain (Morris, John, p. 708).

The stronger manuscript evidence is for the asking to be in Jesus name. The evidence is more diversified across the geographical spectrum for this reading (Metzger, Textual Commentary, p. 248) making it the stronger reading. This reading also fits better in context because the next verse (16:24) clearly associates "in My name" with asking. We are to direct our requests to the Father in the name of Jesus. This is the normal order of prayer for us.

We have a new relationship with God on the basis of the cross. We now have direct access to the Father. The Old Testament believer did not have this experience. It is new because of the mediatorial work of Jesus. The veil between us and God has been torn down. Even for the disciples prior to the death of Christ, prayer to the Father had been hindered by the presence of the Son. Now they went directly to the Father because the Son's mission was to connect them (and us) with the Father.

Jesus has been accepted so we are accepted in Him. The intimacy of prayer characterizes our relationship with the Father through Jesus.