16:5
“Now I am going to Him who sent me. None of you asks ‘Where are you going?’”. It might be thought that in chapter 14 Thomas and Philip had been asking about where Jesus was going, but that misses the point. The disciples were focused on what was happening now, they had a largely earthly perspective. Something far greater was about to happen, something far more important, and something that would have profound effects here on earth. In Col 3:2 Paul urges us to set our minds on things above. What happens in heaven matters, and it matters here on earth. Our life is hidden in Christ, our destiny depends upon Him and the Father.
16:6,7
The disciples were filled with grief. Now we haven’t had any specific mention of this, but we need to remember that the gospels give a condensed account of what happened. The disciples were upset because Jesus was going away, they were giving no thought to what was going to replace their “loss”. In fact it was for their good. Why was it for their good? Because the Holy Spirit, the Advocate would come to them. and He could only come to them if Jesus returned to the Father. The Holy Spirit would work changes within their very being. We are actually better off now than when Jesus was on earth because we can now receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when we receive the Holy Spirit we receive God Himself and we can know God.
There is also a general principle here. We often think things are going against us, or even that God is working against us, when in fact He is working for us. Instead of focusing on the loss we need to focus on the gain.
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