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JOHN 16:21 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 16:20John 16:22
“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”
When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a new being into the world — the analogy of childbirth captures the paradox of the cross: it is painful labor that brings forth new life. The woman's labor pains are real and intense, yet they are not mere suffering but creative pain, pain with purpose. Once the child is born, the pain is not erased from memory but is recontextualized; it becomes the price of joy rather than an isolated trauma. So too the disciples' suffering during the crucifixion becomes the gateway to resurrection joy.

Church Fathers on John 16:21

Our Lord after having relieved the spirits of the disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit, again depresses them: A little while, and you shall not see Me. He does this to accustom them to the mention of His departure, in order that they may bear it well, when it does come. For nothing so quiets the troubled mind, as the continued recurrence to the subject of its grief.

Chrysostom · 4th century

He said, A little while, and you shall not see Me alluding to His going to be taken that night by the Jews, His crucifixion the next morning, and burial in the evening, which withdrew Him from all human sight.

Bede · 8th century

The meaning of these words however was obscure, before their fulfillment; Then said some of His disciples among themselves, What is this that He said to us, A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again, a little while, and you shall see Me; and, Because I go to the Father?

Augustine · 4th century
Read all 19 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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John 16:21 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy