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Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
Does it seem that those who are pursuing the good in God weep while those full of hatred, selfishness, and pride seem to succeed and rejoice on all sides? To the former Jesus said, "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh", to the later, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep" (see Luke 6:21, 6:25). Pursuing the world and the things of this world as if they can deliver ultimate happiness is a strategy which may result in short term success, but which is destined for long term failure. Such failure, if not abandoned before the end, is definitive, absolute, and final.
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
Pursuing the things of God isn't always easy in the short term. It means dying to self so as to live for God, and therefore carrying one's cross, following in the path of Jesus himself. But divesting ourselves of disordered commitments to the world is the only way we find the freedom to live for those things which truly matter, which ultimately last, and which can finally satisfy our souls.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
Jesus told Nicodemus that those who wished to see the Kingdom of God would need to be born again. Here we see that the new birth is more than a nice sentiment. It is of necessity a complete transformation. But it is not one we can achieve, any more than we can achieve our own birth. It is a transformation given to us in baptism, which is itself properly this new birth, since in it we are born again by water and Spirit. But this reality of grace remains for us to live. The transformation is present potentially, but we must embrace it. Sometimes this only seems to us to be onerous and excessively difficult, not worth the effort. But Jesus promises that the joy that awaits us is worth it, that it is indeed the only joy worth seeking.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
The more Jesus himself is the source of our joy the less the world will be able to take that joy from us. Anguish is probably an inevitable part of letting go of lesser things in favor of Jesus himself. To the degree that such things seem to be our whole world or our entire life losing them will feel to that degree as a death. But we are called to remember that it is actually a new birth. As Christians living in the light of the resurrection we are meant to walk and live more and more in the reality of the newness of life. Even here in this valley of tears Jesus wants our taste for the things of heaven and our desire for the joy that is found in him is meant to draw us onward and upward. Clearly this joy is not something we can stir up in ourselves, much less something that the world can provide. But as we begin to live from our union with Jesus himself our own desires become increasingly things we ask the Father in his name. To this same degree his joy will fill our hearts.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
If we look at the mission of Paul from a temporal and human perspective we see disaster and failure and only limited success. But Paul saw his mission from the perspective of Jesus himself. He had surrendered his old desires as so much refuse (see Philippians 3:8) and strained toward instead toward Jesus himself. His desires were so much "in the name" of Jesus that he said of himself that he no longer lived, but that Jesus now lived in him and through him (see Galatians 2:20). This was the reason why, in the midst of earthly difficulties, he was able to remain joyful in the courageous.
Do not be afraid.
Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.
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