John 16:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

There is the end which is enough for us. It will be eternal, because no end will be enough for us except Him Who has no end. This thought inspired Philip when he said: Show us the Father, and it is enough for us (Jn 14:8). And the Son shows Himself, saying that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. Such joy no one will take from you.

Then He adds and says: A woman, when she is giving birth, has sorrow, because her hour has come. But when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a man has been born into the world. So you now have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you (Jn 16:21-22).

This comparison does not seem difficult to understand, because the likeness is evident. The very context makes clear why it is introduced. The pangs of childbirth are compared with sorrow, and the birth with joy, which is greater when a boy, not a girl, is born.

As for the words, and your joy no one will take from you, since their joy is Christ Himself, they imply what the Apostle said: Christ, having risen from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him (Rom 6:9).

Until this point in the chapter of the Gospel about which we are speaking today, everything has been sufficiently easy to understand. What follows requires more serious attention. What does He mean when He says: And in that day you will ask Me nothing (Jn 16:23)?

This verb, to ask, rogare, means both to request, petere, and to question, interrogare. The Greek Gospel from which this translation was made contains a word that can be understood in either way, so that the ambiguity cannot be avoided here.

Yet even if it could be avoided, the question would remain unresolved. For we read that the Lord Christ, after He had risen, was both questioned and petitioned. Before He ascended into heaven, the disciples asked Him when He would manifest Himself and when the kingdom of Israel would come (cf. Acts 1:6).

When He was already in heaven, Saint Stephen asked Him to receive his spirit (cf. Acts 7:59). Who would dare to think or say that Christ, dwelling in heaven, should not be petitioned, or that He was not questioned while He dwelt on earth?

Or that one should not petition the Immortal One, but had to question Him while He was mortal, that is, while He remained in a mortal state? Certainly not, beloved. Let us ask Him to untie the knot of this question Himself, granting light to our hearts, so that we may discern what He said.

I think that His words, But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you, should not be referred to the time when He rose and showed them His flesh for examination and handling (cf. Lk 24:39).

Rather, they refer to what He said: He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him (Jn 14:21). He had, of course, already risen, already shown Himself to them in the flesh, and already sat at the right hand of the Father.

Yet the same Evangelist John, to whom this Gospel belongs, said in his Epistle: Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2).

This vision belongs not to this life, but to the life to come. It is not passing, but eternal. And this is eternal life, as He Who is Himself Life said: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent (Jn 17:3).

Of this vision and knowledge the Apostle says: Now we see as through a dim mirror, in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I am known (1 Cor 13:12).

The Church now gives birth, awaiting the fruit of all her labor. Then she will bring it forth, seeing it face to face. Now she gives birth in groans; then she will give birth in joy. Now she gives birth by offering prayers; then she will give birth by rendering praise.

This fruit is male, because all our actions are directed toward this fruit of contemplation. In the vision of God by man, blessed Augustine distinguishes contemplation accessible in this life, such as prayerful meditation, from the blessed vision face to face, which belongs to the age to come, except in rare cases by a special gift of God.

For this fruit alone is free, liber, because it is self-sufficient and bound by nothing. Blessed Augustine often speaks of Christ's exceptional freedom in the sense that He alone freely chooses His lot: when to be born, when to accept death, and so forth.

This fruit is desired for its own sake, not for the sake of something else. We act for its sake. Every righteous act belongs to it, because it is done for its sake. It is desired and possessed not for something else, but for itself.

Here precisely is the end that will satisfy us. For it is eternal, since no end will satisfy us except the one that has no end. It stirred Philip when he said: Show us the Father, and it is enough for us (Jn 14:8).

And the Son promised to show Himself, saying: Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? (Jn 14:10). Thus, concerning what is enough for us, we have heard with complete certainty: Your joy no one will take from you (Jn 16:22).

In keeping with the gradual illumination of their thought, the joy of Christ’s disciples grew and was rooted in the heart gradually.

At last it reached such a measure that nothing could drive it from their hearts.

On the Pascha of the Resurrection, the light of the Risen One illumined them, and they rejoiced, seeing the Lord.

Yet they did not then see Him with complete clarity. Thoughts of unbelief still moved in their mind, and their hearts were troubled by fear of the malice of the Jews (Mt 28:8; Lk 24:32-33, 41, 43; Jn 20:16, 29).

At His Ascension, when He ascended into heaven before their eyes (Acts 1:9), their hopes were confirmed by the Lord’s promise.

On the day of Pentecost, the Comforter promised by the Lord descended upon their minds and hearts. Then joy so penetrated their hearts that no one could take it from them.

Then their hearts felt joy in their very depth.

Friends of the world, why is your joy so unreliable and so changeable?

It is because external objects and outward circumstances give you joy, and these same things take it away by their changeability.

It is because your joy touches only the outward man, while the inward man is tormented by thirst and weariness.

The joy of believing hearts does not depend on outward circumstances. Their joy is the fruit of the right ordering of the whole man and the consequence of the rebirth of their spiritual nature.

Therefore neither the persecutions of the Jewish world, nor those of the pagan world, nor hunger, poverty, sword, or fire can deprive them of spiritual joy (Rom 8:35, 39).

The Resurrection of Christ answered all the hopes, thoughts, and desires of man.

It completed his life with a blessedness of which he could have no concept, though he had always suffered, languished, and sought happiness.

And behold, the Lord God was pleased to give him a joy that fulfilled all his undefined, obscure, and sorrowful strivings for happiness.

It opened to him the boundless horizon of the life to come.

What could man ask after this? What more could he desire?

“In that day you will ask Me nothing,” says the Lord. Indeed, what question was not clarified by the Lord’s rising from the dead?

What desire of the human soul remained unfulfilled when it saw the risen Lord?