John 16:12

16:12 “I have many more things to say to you, ¹  but you cannot bear ²  them now.

John 7:33

7:33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you for only a little while longer, ³  and then ⁴  I am going to the one who sent me.

John 11:30

11:30 (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.)

John 14:19

14:19 In a little while ⁵  the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too.

John 4:35

4:35 Don’t you say, ⁶  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ⁷  and see that the fields are already white ⁸  for harvest!

John 13:33

13:33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ⁹  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ¹⁰  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ¹¹  now I tell you the same. ¹² 

John 20:1

The Resurrection

20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, ¹³  while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene ¹⁴  came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. ¹⁵ 

John 12:35

12:35 Jesus replied, ¹⁶  “The light is with you for a little while longer. ¹⁷  Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. ¹⁸  The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

[16:12]  ¹ sn In what sense does Jesus have many more things to say to the disciples? Does this imply the continuation of revelation after his departure? This is probably the case, especially in light of v. 13 and following, which describe the work of the Holy Spirit in guiding the disciples into all truth. Thus Jesus was saying that he would continue to speak (to the twelve, at least) after his return to the Father. He would do this through the Holy Spirit whom he was going to send. It is possible that an audience broader than the twelve is addressed, and in the Johannine tradition there is evidence that later other Christians (or perhaps, professed Christians) claimed to be recipients of revelation through the Spirit-Paraclete (1 John 4:1-6).

[16:12]  ² tn Or (perhaps) “you cannot accept.”

[7:33]  ³ tn Grk “Yet a little I am with you.”

[7:33]  ⁴ tn The word “then” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[14:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “Yet a little while, and.”

[4:35]  ⁷ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.

[4:35]  ⁸ tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.

[4:35]  ⁹ tn That is, “ripe.”

[13:33]  ⁹ tn Or “You will seek me.”

[13:33]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem in general, or to the Jewish religious leaders in particular, who had sent servants to attempt to arrest Jesus on that occasion (John 7:33-35). The last option is the one adopted in the translation above.

[13:33]  ¹¹ sn See John 7:33-34.

[13:33]  ¹² tn The words “the same” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[20:1]  ¹¹ sn The first day of the week would be early Sunday morning. The Sabbath (and in this year the Passover) would have lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. Sunday would thus mark the first day of the following week.

[20:1]  ¹² sn John does not mention that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by any of the other women who had been among Jesus’ followers. The synoptic accounts all mention other women who accompanied her (although Mary Magdalene is always mentioned first). Why John does not mention the other women is not clear, but Mary probably becomes the focus of the author’s attention because it was she who came and found Peter and the beloved disciple and informed them of the empty tomb (20:2). Mary’s use of the plural in v. 2 indicates there were others present, in indirect agreement with the synoptic accounts.

[20:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “from the tomb.”

[12:35]  ¹³ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[12:35]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”

[12:35]  ¹⁵ sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.