John 16:5

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) But now I go my way to him that sent me.—(Comp. John 13:1; John 14:12.) The work of His apostleship on earth was drawing to its close, and He was about to return to the Father from whom He had received it. This was to Him matter of joy, and if they had really loved Him would have been so to them. They would have thought of the future before Him, as He was then thinking, in the fulness of His love, of the future before them.

And none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?—Peter had asked this very question (John 13:36), and Thomas had implied it (John 14:5), but what the words here mean is, “None of you are out of love for Me asking about the place whither I am going. Your thoughts are not with Me. It is to you as nothing that I am returning to Him that sent Me.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-6 Our Lord Jesus, by giving his disciples notice of trouble, designed that the terror might not be a surprise to them. It is possible for those who are real enemies to God's service, to pretend zeal for it. This does not lessen the sin of the persecutors; villanies will never be changed by putting the name of God to them. As Jesus in his sufferings, so his followers in theirs, should look to the fulfilling of Scripture. He did not tell them sooner, because he was with them to teach, guide, and comfort them; they needed not then this promise of the Holy Spirit's presence. It will silence us to ask, Whence troubles come? It will satisfy us to ask, Whither go they? for we know they work for good. It is the common fault and folly of melancholy Christians to look only on the dark side of the cloud, and to turn a deaf ear to the voice of joy and gladness. That which filled the disciples' hearts with sorrow, was too great affection for this present life. Nothing more hinders our joy in God, than the love of the world, and the sorrow of the world which comes from it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now I go my way - Now I am about to die and leave you, and it is proper to announce all these things to you.

None of you asketh me ... - They gave themselves up to grief instead of inquiring why he was about to leave them. Had they made the inquiry, he was ready to answer them and to comfort them. When we are afflicted we should not yield ourselves to excessive grief. We should inquire why it is that God thus tries us; and we should never doubt that if we come to him, and spread out our sorrows before him, he will give us consolation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. But now I go my way to him that sent me—While He was with them, the world's hatred was directed chiefly against Himself; but His departure would bring it down upon them as His representatives.

and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?—They had done so in a sort (Joh 13:36; 14:5); but He wished more intelligent and eager inquiry on the subject.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Though I did not tell you this from the beginning, for many wise reasons; yet I now tell you, that I must die, but shall rise again from the dead, and go to my Father who sent me into the world to finish that work which I now have done, and so am returning from whence I came. And though indeed some of you have cursorily asked me whither I go, (as Peter John 13:36), yet none of you seems to understand, or so seriously as you ought to inquire, whither I go, or so much to be busied in the thoughts of that.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But now I go my way to him that sent me,.... These words seem to belong to John 16:4, and to contain a reason why Christ spoke of the trials and afflictions of his disciples now, because he was going away from them to his Father; when as they would be at the head of his affairs in this world, so they would the more become the butt of the rage of men:

and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou? Peter indeed asked the question, John 13:36; but his meaning was, what part of the country he was going to? what private and inaccessible place he was about to betake himself to? he had no notion of his going out of the world, or to heaven to his Father, and therefore inquired nothing about it; and when Christ had suggested to his disciples, that he was going to his Father's house, to prepare mansions for them, they did not seem to understand him, John 14:2. Nor did they ask what he meant by his Father's house, or what those mansions were he was going to prepare; and what the glory was he was going to possess for himself and them; they ask neither about the place he was going to, nor the way to it, nor the happiness to be enjoyed there.

Geneva Study Bible

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 16:5-6. Now, however, this my μεθʼ ὑμᾶν εἶναι is past! Now I go away to Him who has sent me, and in what a mood of mind are you at the prospect of this my impending departure! None of you asks me: whither dost Thou go away? but because I have spoken this to you, namely, that after my departure such sufferings shall befall you, grief has filled your heart, so that you have become quite dumb from sorrow, and blunted to the higher interest which lies in my going home to Him who sent me. According to De Wette and Lücke, there is said to be a want of exactness in the entire presentation, resting on the fact that John 16:6 does not stand before καὶ οὐδείς. The incorrectness of this assumption, in itself quite unnecessary, lies in this, that the first proposition of John 16:5 is thus completed: “But now at my departure I could not keep silence concerning it,” by which the 6th verse is anticipated. According to Kuinoel and Olshausen, a full point should be placed after πέμψ. με, and a pause is to be assumed, in which Jesus in vain awaited a question, so that He continued subsequently with an interrogation: “Nullusne vestrum me amplius interrogat, quo abiturus sim?” But the assumption of pauses (others, including De Wette, make the pause after John 16:5) is, when the correlation of the conjunctions is so definitely progressive, unwarranted.

The fact that already in John 13:36 the question had been put by Peter ποῦ ὑπάγεις (comp. the question of Thomas, John 14:5), does not stand in contradiction with the present passage; but Jesus censures simply the degree of distress, which they had now reached, in which none among them fixed his eye on the goal of the departing One, and could come to a question for more definite information respecting it.

ἡ λύπη] simply, in abstracto: sadness.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 16:5. νῦν δὲ, “but now,” in contrast to ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὑπάγω, “I go away,” in contrast to μεθʼ ὑμῶν ἤμην, πρὸς … με, “to Him that sent me,” as one who has discharged the duty committed to Him. καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν … ὑπάγεις, “and no one of you asks me, Where are you going?” They were so absorbed in the thought of His departure and its consequences of bereavement to themselves that they had failed to ascertain clearly where He was going. ἀλλʼ ὅτι … καρδίαν. The consequence of their absorption in one aspect of the crisis which He had been explaining to them was that grief had filled their heart to the exclusion of every other feeling. Cf John 14:28.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. I go my way to] Or, I go away unto; the notion is that of withdrawal (see on John 16:7). Hitherto He has been with them to protect them and to be the main object of attack: soon they will have to bear the brunt without Him. This is all that they feel at present,—how His departure affects themselves, not how it affects Him. And yet this latter point is all important even as regards themselves, for He is going in order to send the Paraclete.

none of you asketh] As far as words go S. Peter had asked this very question (John 13:36) and S. Thomas had suggested it (John 14:5); but altogether in a different spirit from what is meant here. They were looking only at their own loss instead of at His gain.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 16:5. [Νῦν δὲ, but now) Now at the proper season, saith He, the fact is declared to you.—V. g.]—οὐδεὶς) None of you now proceeds to ask Me, whereas ye ought to do so especially. They had often asked questions on many subjects: and on this very subject in ch. John 13:36. But their question had more reference in their thoughts to His departure, than to the place, whither the Lord was going. Afterwards they ceased to ask the question. Therefore the Lord here teaches them even to ask, which if they had done of their own accord, it would have very much pleased Him.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 5, 6. - Now - at this very moment - I go away to him that sent me. I have completed his work, and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? This seems at variance with Peter's inquiry, "Whither goest thou?" (John 13:36), and with Thomas's question (John 14:5), "We know not whither thou goest," etc.? yet they are only opposed in appearance. Peter's question had obviously turned the whole matter back upon himself, and the way in which the Lord's departure affected his own duties and position; and the same may be said of Thomas. They had both lost sight of the "whither" in the pain and anguish of the departure. Our Lord had great difficulty in inducing them to realize the blessedness that would befall themselves from his own exaltation, and even now, after all that he had said about this great power and glory which awaited him, he added, Because I have spoken these things to you - since all along you are taking the dark side, and looking on the anguish of my departure and desolateness of your own condition, instead of the grandeur of the new kingdom and dispensation of which you will be witnesses and organs - sorrow hath filled your heart; the one heart which I throughout have been seeking to comfort. You are not looking on the end of my departure, or on the fullness of my glory, or on the addition to your own blessedness, but on your own loss, disappointment, and chagrin. John 16:5