Word to the Wise
Friday, May 30, 2025 - 6th Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 18:9-18 and John 16:20-23]"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. So you are also in anguish, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you." [John]
I sometimes feel that the appropriate person to reflect on this passage from the Last Supper discourse would be someone who has given birth. Is this how she felt? Nevertheless, I think the image accomplishes its purpose in describing the emotional roller coaster being experienced by the disciples at the time. We, of course, know the end of the story, but they were still trying to make sense of what Jesus was saying. Strangely enough, given the description of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane that we have in the three other gospels, one might wonder if the image could apply to Jesus as well. The line that makes me think of this is "because her hour has come."
Jesus refers to his "hour" on a number of occasions in the Gospel According to John. We can recall his comment to his mother at the wedding feast of Cana: "My hour has not yet come." [John 2:4] It is not a chronological "hour" but an "existential" hour in which one realizes that something very important is about to happen which speaks to one's very identity and purpose in life. Giving birth is certainly an example of that. But Jesus' mission is also an example, even if, in this case, it is an "hour" in the life of the disciples as well, which still lay ahead of them.
The Gospel According to John is dramatic throughout. The childbirth image is consistent with that quality. Perhaps we can all recall moments of this kind to help us understand the "hour" Jesus is describing? AMEN