Verily, verily, I say to you, that ye shall weep and lament, ye, but the world shall rejoice; and ye will be grieved, but your grief shall be turned to joy.
The Lord has just told the disciples about "a little while," and they cannot work out what He means. He does not explain the words. He tells them what they will feel, and what the world will feel at the same hour.
His answer comes in picture language, not in plain speech.
So the Lord, aware of their two difficulties, first deals with the one about the "little while," though He is still speaking in figures… Sorrow now, but joy afterwards.
The same event splits the room in two.
The little while during which they will not see Him will be a time of overwhelming grief for the disciples. They will weep and lament for one dead, whose grave was the end of all their hopes on earth. The world, though, would rejoice. It thought it had triumphed over One whose presence exposed the evil of its deeds.
Their loss ran deeper than grief for a friend.
They had hung their hearts and their fortunes on Him; they had been drawn by His grace; they owned Him as the Son of God. Whatever they looked for and expected, they expected with Him. They were bankrupt, broken-hearted, dispirited. Their Lord, who was their joy, their hope, their everything, was gone!
Their sorrow does not just stop. It turns into joy. The picture the Lord uses next — a woman in labour — carries more than the idea that bad times pass.
The pain of childbirth serves as an illustration. It sets out not only the idea of joy following sorrow, but also of new life springing up. Now their sorrow was just a reflection of His sorrow. His own was so deep, and of such a kind, that Isaiah 53:11 calls it "the anguish of his soul." The previous verse predicts, "he shall see his offspring," clearly in resurrection and in glory.
Notice whose sorrow He talks about here.
How wonderful that the Lord speaks here of the sorrow of His disciples, and not at all of His own. His own sorrow was in fact infinitely deeper than theirs. Knowing all that lay before Him, He occupied Himself in tender grace with them in their sorrow. This is pure, unaffected love.
John records the day it came true.
Here we have the prediction. In chapter 20:20 we read of its fulfilment.
The resurrection began that fulfilment, but did not exhaust it.
The point in the "little while" is that the Lord is not going to be lost. As soon as God accomplishes His purposes He will come again… It came true as far as it went when He rose again, and His disciples did rejoice greatly then. But it was not limited to that… The world was delighted to be rid of Him. Yet He comes up again, and His disciples see Him and rejoice. We have not entered fully into either case. Christ is gone in one sense, and yet we have seen Him, so that we are always rejoicing. The complete fulfilment will not come until Christ returns.
The split in this verse did not end that night.
The world, which last saw Jesus on the cross, still rejoices in His absence. It wants Him no more today than when He was on earth. But once the "little while" is over, the joy of His own will be complete — a joy that no one will be able to take from us.
Another writer takes the promise as a rule for every sorrow.
God sweetens outward pain with inward peace. "Your sorrow will turn into joy" (John 16:20). God's rod has honey at the end of it.
- Little while — The disciples could not put their confusion into words. The Lord answered by telling them how the coming hours would feel.
- Two camps — The same cross brings weeping to His own and rejoicing to the world. The world thought it had beaten the One who showed up its evil.
- Turned — The childbirth picture points to more than sorrow passing. New life arrives. Their grief was a faint reflection of the far deeper anguish of His soul.
- Love first — Facing the cross Himself, He spoke of their grief and not of His own.
- Not yet full — It came true when they saw Him risen. His own hold that joy now, in a world that still prefers His absence. It is complete only when He returns.
A woman, when she gives birth to a child, has grief because her hour has come; but when the child is born, she no longer remembers the trouble, on account of the joy that a man has been born into the world.
The disciples had just heard that in a little while they would not see Him, and they did not understand it. Jesus answers with the most ordinary picture He could have chosen: a woman in labour. It shows why the cross would feel like the end of everything — and why it would not be.
The Lord does not give them a timetable. First He tells them what they will feel, and what the world will feel.
The Lord answers the hidden desire in the hearts of His disciples. They tried in vain to solve the puzzle in His words, and they were afraid to ask Him anything. He answers in two steps. First He shows them the feelings that would fill their hearts. Then He shows them the true character of His coming and His departure. Grief would fill their hearts. They were about to lose the One for whom they had left everything, and the hope built on Him was fading away. The world, by contrast, would be quite happy to be rid of the One who troubled it by the testimony of the truth.
The woman's pain arrives at a set hour, and it ends at one. The Gospel also records the moment this promise came true.
A woman in labour has anguish because her hour has come. Then a son is born, and she forgets the anguish. So it would be with them. Sorrow now, but joy afterwards, and their joy would come from seeing Him again... Their sorrow would be like a passing cloud, never to return. A joy would then be theirs that no one could take away. Here we have the prediction. In John 20:20 we read of its fulfilment.
The picture holds two ideas, not one: sorrow turns into joy, and new life begins. The disciples' grief was also a faint echo of a deeper travail.
The travail of childbirth serves as an illustration. It pictures joy following sorrow, and it also pictures new life springing up. Now their sorrow was simply a reflection of His sorrow. His sorrow was so deep, and of such a kind, that Isaiah 53:11 calls it "the travail of His soul" [the ESV reads "the anguish of His soul"]. The verse before that predicts, "He shall see His offspring" — clearly in resurrection and in glory. They could not share His atoning sufferings, yet they were dimly sharing His sorrow.
Hours from the cross, the subject on His lips is their grief.
How wonderful that the Lord speaks here of the sorrow of His disciples, and not at all of His own sorrow, which was in fact infinitely deeper than theirs. Faced with all that He knew lay before Him, He occupied Himself in tender grace with them in their sorrow. This is pure, unaffected love.
If the travail is the cross, the birth is the resurrection. What came out of the grave was not just Jesus restored. A whole new order had begun.
Deeper things are in view here, for the resurrection of our Lord is the birth of the new creation... So we may clearly see that our Lord's tomb was the womb of the new creation, and His resurrection its birth. This introduces a new order where all is joy, and into which sin can never come.
The Lord barely names His death here, yet the promised joy rests on it. Commentators read that joy in stages: real at the resurrection, held now, complete when He returns.
Nothing is more striking than the way the Lord avoids bringing in His death as such here. No doubt it underlies everything, and the joy would have been poor indeed without His infinite sorrow on the cross... This was certainly true when He rose after His brief absence, and it will be fully proved when He comes for them, never to part again. He illustrates it by the most familiar of all pictures of sorrow turning into joy. Even now His resurrection is a joy that no one takes away. What will it be when He comes to receive us to Himself?
That "little while" also reaches into our own day.
The point in the "little while" is that the Lord is not going to be lost. As soon as God's purposes are accomplished He will come again... We have not entered fully into either case. Christ is gone in one sense, and yet we have seen Him, so that we are always rejoicing. The entire fulfilment will not come until Christ returns.
- The hour. The woman's pain comes because her hour has come — sorrow with a set beginning and a set end, not a permanent state.
- The travail. Their grief was a faint reflection of His own — the anguish of soul Isaiah 53:11 foretold, which He alone bore.
- The birth. The tomb was the womb of the new creation. His resurrection is the child born, and it opens an order into which sin can never come.
- The forgetting. The joy does not just balance the anguish; it makes her forget it — a passing cloud, never to return.
- The keeping. Their joy began when they saw Him risen. It is theirs now, and its full measure waits until He comes again.
And ye now therefore have grief; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.