John 3:29

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ¹  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ² 

John 16:21

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ³  because her time ⁴  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ⁵  has been born into the world. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

² tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

³ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

⁴ tn Grk “her hour.”

⁵ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

⁶ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.