John 16:21-22

“ A woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she has brought forth the child, she remembers no more her anguish for the joy she has that a man is born into the world. 22. And you also now have sorrow;but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no one shall take from you. ”

The point of comparison is the sudden passage from extreme sorrow to extreme joy. It must be limited to this. The idea of the bringing forth of a new world, which is to result from this hour of anguish, does not seem to be in the thought of Jesus.

The expression her hour perhaps alludes to the sorrowful hour through which Jesus Himself is to pass (my hour). The word a man sets forth the greatness of the event accomplished, and gives the ground of the mother's joy.