John 16:20 (WEB)
Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
John 16:20 (KJV)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Key words
- κλαύσετε καὶ θρηνήσετεklausete kai thrēnēsete · Greek
- 'ye shall weep and lament' — the grief of the passion.
- ἡ λύπη ὑμῶν εἰς χαρὰν γενήσεταιhē lypē hymōn eis charan genēsetai · Greek
- 'your sorrow shall be turned into joy' — lypē is the Septuagint's word for the pain of childbirth in Genesis 3:16.
Why it matters
Jesus tells the disciples their sorrow at his passion will turn into joy, and in the next verse compares it to a woman in labour whose hour has come. Pitre reads the passion as a birth: the Church is born from the sorrow of the cross, and Mary, whose soul is pierced there, is the woman in travail. Our bond to her is that we are children of the birth pangs she bore at Calvary.