Why this question, “Where are you going”? Why did the Lord miss hearing this question from His disciples? He had repeatedly announced to them that He would soon die, then rise again and go to the Father. He had also announced to them what they could expect as His followers from their unbelieving fellow men, namely rejection, hatred, persecution, very much in the same way as He experienced.

In view of this loss—that He would leave—and in view of their situation, they were sad; perhaps there was some self-pity involved, as there is with us too at times.

They should have looked further, beyond themselves and the earth. The Lord would have liked to tell them more about what was in store for Him: the glory after the suffering. They should have been more interested in where He was going shortly.

How often or how rarely do we ask, “Lord, where have You actually gone? Where are You now?” We know His life on earth as an example for us, and we remember His suffering and death on Golgotha. Christ says to us that as a “grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,” and as the Man glorified by God the Father, He would bring forth “much fruit” (Jn. 12:23–24). We humans gave Him a crown of thorns, but God crowned Him with honor and glory. We hung Him on a cross between two thieves, but God placed Him at His right side. We said, “Away with this Man!” but God welcomed Him.

Moreover, we also benefit greatly from His going to the Father. From there the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit, and He now intercedes for us as High Priest.

Should we not share His joy, that of the now glorified Christ, with ever increasing and greater interest?