Do You Get It?

2 June 2025   John 16:29-33

“You will be scattered, every man to his own home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”  John 16:32​

English translations don’t always capture how sharp Jesus’ words were sometimes. We like to think that Jesus’ Farewell Discourse was soft and cerebral, oozing tenderness and affection for his disciples. But Jesus appears to have gotten tired of having to repeat himself so often. He told them time after time that He was leaving, that He would be handed over to evil men who would treat Him cruelly before killing Him. He told them time after time about the Holy Spirit, the assurance that the future of all the faithful is to be in the life of God as Jesus is in the life of God, and the life of God is in Jesus (cf. John 14:20). But time after time they didn’t get it.

So, when they claimed a little jauntily that they finally did get it, Jesus wasn’t convinced. He said that soon they would be “scattered.” The Greek verb is skorpizo which means “to be reduced to powder.” It is derived from the word meaning “scorpion,” and suggests fleeing as instantly as seeing a scorpion in your bed. Jesus said each man would flee “to his home,” but the Greek text does not use the word “home.” It uses instead the pronoun ta idia, “to his own things.” It is the root of the Greek word idiotes, “idiot,” referring to people who are so self-consumed that they can’t comprehend anything that takes them out of their personal comfort zone. So, when the disciples claim, “Oh now we get it, now we believe,” Jesus says to them in effect, “Is that so? You guys have about as much staying power as a handful of talcum powder in a stiff wind. Not long now, and you’re going to crawl into yourselves so far, so fast that some of you will deny you ever knew me.”

“You will all fall away,” Jesus predicted, “and you will leave me alone.” But even in his impatience and frustration Jesus did not forget his love for his disciples, and so He taught them again one last time, “But I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” (16:32). “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me, and that is the very place where I am inviting you, a place where you never need to fear even the most awful things the world can do. The world is going to treat you very rough over the next couple of days, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (16:33).

The disciples were not going to even begin to get their heads around this forat least another two months, not till after Pentecost and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And it was going to take years more after that, as the disciples, and then their followers, and their followers’ followers would think it through, talk it through, and write it down. Because of all that, however, the Church, has had the gift of the Spirit for centuries. We disciples today have had the gift of the Spirit since our baptism and confirmation, which means in some cases for many decades. We have always known that Jesus is only ever one prayer away. We know that because we have never been without the Bible. The disciples never had that – the New Testament didn’t reach its final form until the disciples had been dead for years, and even then it wasn’t like there was a copy in every house. But we have never been without it. We know that because we have never been without the Sacraments. The disciples had to think all of them through, discerning them one at a time. But we have never been without them. So, we can say with greater confidence than the disciples ever had not that we have to pray, but we get to pray; not that we have to read the Biblebut we get to read the Bible; not that we have to go to Mass but we get to go to Mass.

Jesus spoke sharply to his disciples so that they would think it through, write it down, and remember, and remember not just for their own sakes, but also for ours.