The idea
'A little while, and ye shall not see me… A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come.' Pitre charts the figure: the woman's hour, sorrow and delivery match Jesus' hour, death and resurrection; hōra is John's technical word for the passion, and Jesus says he has been speaking 'in figures.' The metaphor draws on the Jewish birth pangs of the Messiah. Then the verbal fulfilment three chapters later: at the cross the same two words return — 'Woman' (gynē) and 'from that hour' (hōra) — as Jesus gives his mother to the disciple. 'The use of these terms is not a coincidence.' Pitre adds a striking claim: Jesus' saying about the woman's hour 'may be the only reference in the New Testament that we possess to Mary's experience of Jesus' being raised from the dead.'
Key verses
- John 16:16 — 'a little while… and ye shall see me.'
- John 16:21 — the woman whose hour is come.
- John 16:20 — 'your sorrow shall be turned into joy.'
- John 19:26 — 'Woman'… 'from that hour' (v. 27).
The connection
| Old Testament root | New Testament fulfilment | |
|---|---|---|
| The woman in labour whose hour has come | → | Mary at the cross — 'Woman,' 'that hour' — and her joy at the resurrection |
John plants the figure at the Supper and fulfils it at the cross with the same vocabulary. Mary's labour is the passion; her joy, the resurrection.
Sources
- Modern scholars Pitre cites — Craig Keener; Raymond Brown (pp 128–130)