16 After a little time you will see me no longer; and then again, after a little time, you will see me. 17 So some of the disciples said one to another, What is this he is saying, After a little time, you will see me no longer; and then again, after a little time, you will see me? and, I am going to the Father? 18 So they said again and again, What is this he is saying, A little time? His words are not clear to us. 19 Jesus saw that they had a desire to put the question to him, so he said to them, Is this what you are questioning one with another, why I said, After a little time, you will see me no longer; and then again, after a little time, you will see me? 20 Truly I say to you, You will be weeping and sorrowing, but the world will be glad: you will be sad, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 When a woman is about to give birth she has sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she has given birth to the child, the pain is put out of her mind by the joy that a man has come into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now: but I will see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and no one will take away your joy.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 16:16-22
Commentary on John 16:16-22
(Read John 16:16-22)
It is good to consider how near our seasons of grace are to an end, that we may be quickened to improve them. But the sorrows of the disciples would soon be turned into joy; as those of a mother, at the sight of her infant. The Holy Spirit would be their Comforter, and neither men nor devils, neither sufferings in life nor in death, would ever deprive them of their joy. Believers have joy or sorrow, according to their sight of Christ, and the tokens of his presence. Sorrow is coming on the ungodly, which nothing can lessen; the believer is an heir to joy which no one can take away. Where now is the joy of the murderers of our Lord, and the sorrow of his friends?