Jesus' words did not fit together for them. How could they stop seeing Him, then see Him again, if He was going to the Father? They had heard Him speak of going to the Father earlier in the same discourse too (John 16:10). Gill says that perhaps some understood more than others, "or they might all be ignorant of it," and that, overwhelmed with sorrow, "they understood very little." They wanted to ask Jesus Himself (John 16:19), but for now they ask one another.

Jesus knew they wanted to ask Him and raised the question Himself (John 16:19). He did not give them a timetable. Instead He told them what the "little while" would be like: "ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:20). He compared it to a woman in labor whose anguish gives way to joy (John 16:21), and promised, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22).

Barnes explains the two "little whiles." The first was His death: "His death would occur in a short time. It took place the next day." "Ye shall not see me" meant that "he would be concealed from their view in the tomb." The second was the resurrection: "After three days he would rise again and appear to their view." The phrase "Because I go to the Father" echoes what Jesus had said about the Spirit's work (John 16:10).

The saying that puzzled them holds the whole story of the coming days: His death, His rising, and His return to the Father. The disciples could not see it yet, but Jesus did not leave them in the dark. He answered the question they had not yet brought to Him (John 16:19).

Matthew Henry writes, "Believers have joy or sorrow, according to their sight of Christ, and the tokens of his presence." Within days their sorrow did turn: "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD" (John 20:20).