Bible Study series. John 11:28-37. Jesus was preparing to raise Lazarus from the dead. Would his two sisters believe it?
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Scripture: John 11:28-37
28 When she said this, she departed and called Mary his sister and told her in private, “The teacher is here and calls for you.” 29 Then she, when she heard of it, got up quickly and came to him. 30 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house comforting her, seeing Mary, that she quickly got up and left, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb, to weep there.
32 Then Mary, coming to where Jesus was, when she saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he had a strong feeling of concern in spirit and was troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you placed him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus shed tears. 36 Then the Jews were saying, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not the man who opened the eyes of the blind man do something so that also this one would not have died?” (John 11:28-37)
Comments:
This pericope is so moving that I do not want to comment verse by verse. Let’s take it was a whole.
It is interesting that Jesus called for Mary to come out of her house and meet him where he was. Why? Did he want her to get out of herself and have faith in him? Was he healing her of her grief or even disappointment that led to anger? Or he may have wanted to separate her from all the grief and tears, but then he himself will weep (v. 35). We will never know for sure why he called her to himself, where Martha had met him.
The kind-hearted Jews who were comforting her followed along, because they misunderstood her intentions; Martha had told her privately that Jesus wanted to speak with her.
Once again, John refers to Mary by her Hebrew name Miriam, throughout this pericope. This will bring a thrill to the people of the Hebrew Roots Movement, who believe that Greek has distorted the message of the true gospel. But this was not John’s intention.
Mary fell at Jesus’s feet when she saw him and repeated what her sister said. If only Jesus had been there, Lazarus would not have died. Jesus would have healed him. But he does not proclaim his being the resurrection and the life to Mary, but he did to Martha. Does this mean that Mary did not have the same level of faith as her sister? Once again, we’ll ever know for sure.
When Jesus saw everyone—Mary and the Jewish comforters—weeping, he was “deeply disturbed” in spirit (Novakovic, p. 20), and professional lexicographers say that the verb has a nuance of indignation or even anger built into it (see Mark 1:43; 14:5; Matt. 9:30). The Shorter Lexicon suggests “groan.” He was disturbed in his spirit, not the Spirit. He felt moved. Then he shed tears. The Greek verb is different from that of Mary and the Jews weeping. The verb implies shedding tears. The Jews observe this and conclude that Jesus really did love Lazarus. Why was he weeping? As if he had no hope, just when he was going to resurrect Lazarus? No, that does not make sense. I like Mounce here: “Jesus wept because of the havoc wrought on the world by sin and death. To the one who came to bring life, death was a stark reminder of the continuing cosmic struggle between God and Satan for the souls of men and women. As long as death reigned, the kingdom of God was not yet finally and completely established” (comment on v. 35). Klink says that Jesus was “outraged” at sin and disbelief (comment on v. 33). Carson: “The one who always does what pleases his Father (8:29) is indignant when faced with attitudes that are not governed by the truths the Father has revealed. If sin, illness and death, all devastating features of this fallen world, excite his wrath, it is hard to see how unbelief is excluded. But the world that is at enmity with God is also the object of God’s love … so it is not surprising that when he is shown the tomb where the body lay, Jesus wept.” (comment on vv. 33-35)
Borchert on why Jesus showed anger and wept:
Then what about Jesus’ weeping? The other places in the Gospels where such a depth of Jesus’ emotions were expressed are specifically places related to his mission: the places where he groaned over the failure of Jerusalem to come to him (cf. Matt 23:37–39; Luke 13:34–35), where he prayed for his disciples’ safety and future (cf. John 17:9–26), and where he wrestled with his death and the disciples’ weaknesses (cf. Matt 26:37–41; Mark 13:33–37; Luke 22:40–46; John 12:27–28). Accordingly, I would maintain that Jesus’ weeping here is directly related to the failure of his followers to recognize his mission as the agent of God. God’s Son was in their midst. They really missed the point. That fact becomes more evident in the next two segments of the story. (comment on vv. 33b-37)
However, some of the Jewish mourners challenged him, saying that he should have come earlier so that the one who opened the eyes of the blind man could have prevented Lazarus from dying, by healing him. However, they themselves are blind to Jesus being the resurrection and the life. They’re the ones who need their eyes opened. Recall that irony means that a person thinks he is very wise and knowledgeable, but he does not know as much as he thinks he does. Job and his comforters knew some things about God and uttered beautiful poetry, but when God showed up, he gave them a deeper revelation of who he is; their minds could not handle it. They did not know as much as they had first believed. They repented. And so it was with Jesus’s critics. It’s best not to criticize about such matters, because they did not know as much as they thought. He is about to raise Lazarus from the dead.
GrowApp for John 11:28-37
1. Jesus shed tears for Lazarus. You have shed tears for the deceased. Study 1 Thess. 4:13-14. How should we grieve for the deceased?
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SOURCES
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