Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Ver. 20. Ye shall weep and lament] So long as ye abide in this valley of tears, as the Septuagint render that, Psalms 86:6; εις την κοιλαδα του κλαυθμωνος. In hoc exilio, in hoc ergastulo, in hac peregrinatione, in hac valle lachrymarum, In this banishment, in this prison, in this sojourn, this valley of tears, as Bernard hath it. "My tears have been my meat," saith David, Psalms 42:3, alluding to the hart, which, being pursued, sheds tears. These, instead of gems, were the ornaments of David's bed, saith Chrysostom. The Church's eyes are as the pools of Heshbon, ever glazed with the tears of compunction or compassion, Song of Solomon 7:5. Tertullian speaketh of himself, that he was born to nothing else but sorrow and mourning. Athanasius, by his tears, as by the bleeding of a chafed vine, cured the leprosy of that tainted age. Jerome, writing of his own life, saith that there were furrows in his face and icicles from his lips with continual weeping.
But the world shall rejoice] The merry Greeks of the world laugh themselves fat, and are so afraid of sorrow that they can never find time to be serious; counting it no sport unless they may have the devil their playfellow; no mirth but madness; no venison sweet but that which is stolen. These are forbidden to rejoice in anything, Hosea 10:1. Etiam si laeta tibi obveniant omnia, non est tamen quod laeteris. Even if your gladness exceed in all respects, it is not yet true gladness. (Ribera.) But if they do, there is a snare or cord in the sin of the wicked, to strangle their joy with; "but the righteous sing and rejoice," Proverbs 29:6. Woe be to mirth mongers, that fleer a when they should fear, Luke 6:25 .
But your sorrow shall be turned into joy] God shall soon give you beauty for ashes, the oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness, &c.; he shall turn all your sighing into singing, all your laments into laughter, your sackcloth into silks, your ashes into ointments, your fasts into feasts, your wringing of hands into applauses, &c.
a To laugh in a coarse, impudent, or unbecoming manner. ŒD