John 8:56

8:56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed ¹  to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” ² 

John 11:15

11:15 and I am glad ³  for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. ⁴  But let us go to him.”

John 19:3

19:3 They ⁵  came up to him again and again ⁶  and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁷  And they struck him repeatedly ⁸  in the face.

John 4:36

4:36 The one who reaps receives pay ⁹  and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together.

John 20:20

20:20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ¹⁰ 

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 ¹¹  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ¹² 

John 14:28

14:28 You heard me say to you, ¹³  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ¹⁴  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ¹⁵ 

John 16:20

16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁶  you will weep ¹⁷  and wail, ¹⁸  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, ¹⁹  but your sadness will turn into ²⁰  joy.

John 16:22

16:22 So also you have sorrow ²¹  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ²² 

[8:56]  ¹ tn Or “rejoiced greatly.”

[8:56]  ² tn What is the meaning of Jesus’ statement that the patriarch Abraham “saw” his day and rejoiced? The use of past tenses would seem to refer to something that occurred during the patriarch’s lifetime. Genesis Rabbah 44:25ff, (cf. 59:6) states that Rabbi Akiba, in a debate with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, held that Abraham had been shown not this world only but the world to come (this would include the days of the Messiah). More realistically, it is likely that Gen 22:13-15 lies behind Jesus’ words. This passage, known to rabbis as the Akedah (“Binding”), tells of Abraham finding the ram which will replace his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice – an occasion of certain rejoicing.

[11:15]  ³ tn Grk “and I rejoice.”

[11:15]  ⁴ sn So that you may believe. Why does Jesus make this statement? It seems necessary to understand the disciples’ belief here in a developmental sense, because there are numerous references to the disciples’ faith previous to this in John’s Gospel, notably 2:11. Their concept of who Jesus really was is continually being expanded and challenged; they are undergoing spiritual growth; the climax is reached in the confession of Thomas in John 20:28.

[19:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:3]  ⁶ tn The words “again and again” are implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἤρχοντο (hrconto).

[19:3]  ⁷ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[19:3]  ⁸ tn The word “repeatedly” is implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἐδιδοσαν (edidosan).

[4:36]  ⁷ tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.

[20:20]  ⁹ sn When the disciples recognized Jesus (now referred to as the Lord, cf. Mary’s words in v. 18) they were suddenly overcome with joy. This was a fulfillment of Jesus’ words to the disciples in the Farewell Discourse (16:20-22) that they would have sorrow while the world rejoiced, but that their sorrow would be turned to lasting joy when they saw him again.

[3:29]  ¹¹ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

[3:29]  ¹² tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

[14:28]  ¹³ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ¹⁴ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ¹⁵ sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[16:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “wail,” “cry.”

[16:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “lament.”

[16:20]  ¹⁸ tn Or “sorrowful.”

[16:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “will become.”

[16:22]  ¹⁷ tn Or “distress.”

[16:22]  ¹⁸ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.