"Jesus said to his disciples: 'I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.'"
—John 16:12–15
In today’s gospel we are nearing the Crucifixion and Resurrection, the effects of which will be one of humanity’s greatest transformations. From the past, rooted in God’s laws and commandments, secure in knowing God as the Father, we’ve come into the present, engaged with the Son, taking in miracles and learning new ways of being.
And now Jesus is telling us about a move into the future, with a new level of organization which transcends all that has come before.
This is not an easy move to make, or even to understand. It is a shift from an external world to interiority—so profound that Jesus says, “I have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now.” Isn’t this a tender thing to say? He is already bearing it for us. If we can’t bear it now, it implies a hope that we will bear it yet. Donald Winnicott, a pediatrician and psychoanalyst, said the definition of a parent is a person who always keeps in mind a vision of what the child may become. A time is coming when The Holy Spirit—linking Father and Son and past and future—will be guiding us.
On Mother’s Day, our daughter was telling us about the youngest of our grandchildren, Asa, who lately was refusing to get into his car seat. He’d slip out and crawl into the front, tooting the horn. This was happening in very public spaces and she was able to laugh at her own helplessness in the face of a willful two year-old.
What a loving mother she had become, herself so much like Asa at that age. We could see her transformation—and we could also envision Asa one day: a man, perhaps a father himself with his own child asserting his individuality—and our daughter, now the grandparent, looking on, marveling.
How impossible that we won’t be there to see it!
But the Gospel’s message reassures us. Even though Jesus leaves earthly life, He is not leaving us behind. Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit will continue on, providing for us, helping us to understand His truth. The Holy Spirit is like eros, or love: it creates new unities. In our earthly and spiritual lives, God’s love gives us an ever-widening spiral of individuation and unification.
We just have to laugh humbly at our attempts to control, love generously, trust completely—and sometimes toot the horn!
Jack Miller and Margaret Woodruff are members of the C21 Center's Pray It Forward community. They wrote the above reflection for Wednesday, May 13, 2026. It is shared with their permission.
Learn more about Pray It Forward here.