Sorrow Turned To Joy
SORROW TURNED TO JOY
JOHN 16:16-24
The world’s joy is short-lived; the Christian’s joy lasts forever.
Jesus now tells his disciples about their not seeing him and then their seeing him again. This will be in a little while. The disciples are puzzled and do not know what he means by the expression. Interpreters of the Gospel since have not been in much better case! The question is whether the two references to “a little while” denote different periods of time. Some have suggested that within a few hours they would not see him because of his death. Then a few hours later they would see him again because of his resurrection. More probably, both instances of the phrase refer to the brief period between cross and resurrection which was a time of not seeing but of being about to see Jesus again.
Because of their difficulty in understanding, Jesus gives them a short parable. The time will be one of sorrow for them and of joy for the world, but their sorrow will be turned into joy. For it is like the anguish of childbirth. This time of crisis is sorrowful but soon turns into joy with the advent of new life. So their brief, temporary sorrow would turn into deep and permanent joy. Then they would start to ask the Father things in his name. If they asked they would receive and their joy would be full.
Notes 16:16: the seeing may not be altogether unconnected with the seeing of Christ in the end (1 John 3:2). Seeing him after the resurrection gives us a foretaste of the final vision. 16:17: the expression and reiteration of the doubt in this and in the next two verses suggest that some ambiguity may have been intended. 16:21: this is not merely an illustration of any sorrow giving way to joy. In the Old Testament the Messianic age was expected to be like childbirth, delivering God’s people from their afflictions (Isaiah 26:16-20; 66:7-14). 16:23f.: there would be direct access to the Father, though prayer would be made in the name of Christ and on his authority, because of his effective work of reconciliation.