Sorrow and Joy

When was the last time you had to wait on something you really wanted?

John 16:16 HCSB

16 “A little while and you will no longer see Me; again a little while and you will see Me.”

Context! Who is talking to who? Jesus is talking to the disciples. He is explaining that in a little while his coming death at the cross will separate them for a time.

Then in a little while you will see me. Jesus is referring to his resurrection because his death and resurrection have not taken place yet.

John 16:17–18 HCSB

17 Therefore some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this He tells us: ‘A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’ ?” 18 They said, “What is this He is saying, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what He’s talking about!”

The disciples did not know or understand that the Messiah, the one coming that was promised by God, needed to die to accomplish God’s plan.

John 16:20 HCSB

20 “I assure you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.

The coming death of Christ will leave his disciples in deep sorrow and mourning. The world will instead rejoice over his death. However, this sorrow over his death will turn to joy.

John 16:21–22 HCSB

21 When a woman is in labor she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. 22 So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will rob you of your joy.

What does Jesus mean? What does a pregnant woman have to do with the Messiah?

Remember our context. There is no New Testament at this time and so the New Testament that we read are filled with quotes and references to the Old Testament. Let’s look at Isaiah.

Isaiah 26:16–21 HCSB

16 Lord, they went to You in their distress; they poured out whispered prayers because Your discipline fell on them. 17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so we were before You, Lord. 18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain; we gave birth to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen. 19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits. 20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed. 21 For look, the Lord is coming from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.

The idea of a combination of intense suffering and relieved joy at childbirth is in the Old Testament, a common illustration of the travail of God’s people must suffer before the immense relief and joy brought about by the advent of the promised messianic salvation.

Jesus is saying that the birth pains of the Messiah’ refers to a period of trouble that must come before his consummation (the completion of an era of God’s working in history or the absolute completion of history, the final consummation.

John 16:22 HCSB

22 So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will rob you of your joy.

The illustration of a time coming of a joy that brings relief is now applied to the disciples. They will have a joy after Christ’s resurrection that no one will ever take away. The reason for this is not because Jesus is just resurrected but that his resurrection is the beginning of a new era of the new creation.

What is joy? What is this change from sorrow to joy? This joy is specific. It is an attitude change the disciples will have when they see the resurrected Jesus as they were told in John 15:11, “All the redeemed are brought into a close union with Christ, where they experience great joy. Abiding in Christ brings fullness of joy.”

Notice how Jesus will see them again. Not that the disciples could not truly see Jesus but that Jesus seeing them is more foundational to their relationship than the disciples seeing him. This is because they are known by God.

Our Sorrow and Our Joy

1. There are and will be times when we do not understand or know all the ways God is working in us and in our world.

This does not mean we are to remain in sorrow but instead remember how God has been faithful to us before when we find ourselves feeling sorrowful or not seeing God working in life. God’s plan is more important than a worldly sense of joy or personal goals. There are numerous times in Scripture and our lives that we know that God has and will be faithful to his ways of taking care of us and fulfilling his word.

2. Our sorrow is real but temporary.

It leads to joy in Christ’s coming. Our sorrow should not lead us to things that were never promised to us by God. Earthly distractions and desires will never bring the joy promised to us from looking forward to the coming of Christ.

Why? Because the world rejoiced in Jesus’ death and the disciples were in sorrow and mourning. When Christ rose and revealed his resurrection to the disciples, what was sorrow turned into joy that could not be taken away. This means that what was rejoicing for the world now turns into mourning for the world.

3. Sorrow exists for the Christian but our joy comes from the faithful promise that we will see Jesus and he is coming in a little while. Our sorrow is overtaken by the promise in Christ and not the things of this world.

Where does your sorrow come from? Is it from the failed promises of this world that lacks any rejoicing because Christ is risen and he is returning in a little while? Where does your idea come from? Is it something other than the joy that is coming when we see Christ again?