Charles Ellicott Commentary John 16:22

"And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you." — John 16:22 (ASV)

And ye now therefore have sorrow.—The same word is used. The hour of their birth pangs was near; but it would pass away, and the fullness of joy would come in the constant presence of their Lord. Their sorrow would be only temporary; their joy would be abiding. The point of comparison between their state and the familiar illustration of a woman in labor is the passage from extreme suffering to extreme joy. We are not justified in taking the illustration as a parable and interpreting it as the death of Christ being the birth pang of a perfect humanity. This is the general interpretation of the more mystical expositors, and has been unfolded with great truth and beauty; but it is not an exposition of the present text.

But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.—In John 16:19 He had said, Ye shall see. This is the obverse of the same truth. He will again be with them and see them as they will see Him. The words also include the thought of His deep sympathy with them. He sees them now in the depth of their sorrow and feels with them in that. He will see them again in the time of their joy and will rejoice with them in that.

And your joy no man taketh from you.—The reading is doubtful. Some of the better manuscripts have the future ...shall take from you. “No man” is better rendered indefinitely, no one, as, for example, in John 10:18; John 10:29. (Compare Matthew 28:20, Romans 8:38–39, and Notes there.)