I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. (John 16:22 ESV, emphasis added)

In John 16, Jesus spends many of his words warning his disciples of hardships to come. In verse 22, he speaks of their sorrow when he must leave them for a little while, but he also offers comfort.

I noticed something peculiar about the way Jesus phrased this comfort -- the words in bold.

When I think of a lover leaving his beloved for a short while, I hear him telling his darling something along the lines of, "You're sad now, but you will see me again, and you will rejoice." It would be a bit odd if he were to say, "You're sad now, but I will see you again, and you will rejoice."

After all, what would his vision of his beloved have to do with her joy?

But it seems to me that this is the wrong way of looking at this. Instead, I'll conjecture that when Jesus says "but I will see you again," he is betraying his humility and humanness in a wonderfully subtle yet moving way. The emphasis in his comfort is that he will see his disciples again, not that they will see him.

When the lover assures his beloved that she will see him again, the emphasis, the weight is placed on him -- on his face being seen.

However, when the lover assures his beloved that he will see her again, the emphasis, the weight is placed on her -- on her face being seen.

Jesus is fully justified in placing the emphasis on himself and himself alone, yet he doesn't. His emphasis was, is and will always be on us, his beloved, together with him.