Notes on John 11
©
David H. Linden Action International
Ministries
When Lazarus fell sick,
Jesus was far away in Batanea (see the notes at 1:28). During His last time in
This miracle as intended
and implemented by God would (like 9:4 & 2:11) put the glory of God on
display and build the faith of His own. Signs are more than miracles; to be a
sign it must signify and show something beyond the sign itself. Jesus will say
He is the resurrection and the life; then He will act as One Who is both. Earlier, He said He was the bread of life and
the water of life. In John 11 the Lord did not give Lazarus something symbolic
of life (such as bread or water) but life itself.
The drama of redemption involved a crucial delay of time so that a death would occur, so that a spectacular miracle would happen which would precipitate the crucifixion itself. The plan of God in every life and in every age is predetermined and detailed. “…All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be,” Psalm 139:16 That brief delay brought Martha and Mary great grief; later it brought them joy and a greater knowledge of their Lord and His resurrection power.
11:1-6 The News that Lazarus Was Sick
Only
in this Gospel is Lazarus mentioned. Luke 10:38-42 mentions his sisters.
John
wrote as if his readers already know that Mary was the one who poured perfume
on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. There are a number of Mary’s in
the Gospels, so the apostle makes clear which one is related to Lazarus. The
name “Mary” is from the Hebrew name Miriam, the sister of Moses (Numbers
26:59). Christians relating the story of Jesus, often speak of the Mary who
anointed Jesus’ feet (Mark 14:9).
Specificity! The
story of Little Red Riding Hood begins: “Once upon a time there lived in a
certain village a little country girl; … everybody called her Little Red Riding
Hood. One day her mother, having made
some cakes, said to her, ‘Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing…’” In this fable, we do not have the names of
anyone, nor the country or village, nor the time in history. In contrast, note how
specific this Gospel is. The family members are named; they live in a village
well known to those of that day. We even know the name of Simon the leper of
11:2,3 The sisters were close
friends of Jesus. Jesus had withdrawn to a safer place (10:40) a long distance
away, yet they knew where to send word to Him about Lazarus being sick. Probably
very few in
Married people ought not
to fall into a pattern of social contact limited to other married couples so
that single brothers and sisters are often left to fellowship only among
themselves. God has many who will be single all their lives. Further, Jesus’
close friendship was not limited by gender; He loved all three, the sisters and
the brother (v.5).[1] It was natural for the sisters when sending
word to Him to refer to Lazarus as “the one You love”. (This is written by the
apostle who referred to himself in 13:23 as one Jesus loved.)
11:4-6 When the news of Lazarus’ sickness arrived, Lazarus was still alive. After two days Jesus said he had died (vv.11-14). The sisters obviously wanted Jesus to come and heal Lazarus. God had a different and more wonderful plan. The healing of the man born blind was so that “the works of God would be displayed in him” (9:3). For such works of God to be evident, the man had to be born blind! Lazarus’ death was necessary for the glory of God to be revealed. (See also v.40.)
11:6 “Yet when He heard that
Lazarus was sick …” (v.6). It is better to translate this as “When therefore He heard … ”
or as the ESV does below. It is not that Jesus did not care; John said in v.5
that Jesus loved them! There is a specific reason to delay going to
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he
stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (John 11:5 & 6, ESV)
According
to v.15, the delay also benefited the disciples. The Lord said He was glad for
their sake that He was not there. This indicates that had He been there, He
would have healed Lazarus, but they then would not have seen the sign showing
Him as the Resurrection and the Life. Raising Lazarus would encourage their
faith.
The will of the Father had decided Jesus’ delay. The way the Lord would use this sickness had large consequences in the history of redemption. Raising Lazarus after his death had been so well established in the community that it provoked the Sanhedrin to call a special meeting. In it they decided to put Jesus to death (11:45-57). That death was the salvation of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary! Furthermore, the sign related to the death of Lazarus made more clear to them (and to us as well) that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. God has chosen to be revealed in more than affirmations. He wanted the action (known to us only through the words of Scripture) of raising the dead man to be a visible acting out of the power Christ will use again at His coming! (1Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:42,43).
The Glory of God
and the Glorification of the Son What the Apostle John says in v.4 is a
major theme in the Gospel of John. In Christ’s human flesh we see the glory of
God (1:14). A glorious feature of God – mercifully saving His enemies by the
blood of Christ (Romans 5:9-11) – could never be known apart from Christ.
It was in His
great hour, the time when He went to the cross, that the Son was glorified
(17:1). That event showed what He was. It demonstrated God’s love (Romans 5:8)
and His own (15:13). In the cross, the words: “For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son …” take on their rich meaning. In the death of
Christ, we come to see both the glory of the obedient Son and the glory of the
providing Father.
God had
planned a wonderful sequence: Lazarus would become sick and die; Jesus would
delay going to
11:7-16 The Return to
11:7,8 Two days after Jesus learned of Lazarus’ sickness,
Lazarus died. Jesus knew this supernaturally. The long journey by foot back
from Batanea near the Sea of Galilee to the east of the
This
raises the matter of danger to Jesus’ life. At His recent time in
11:9,10 The Lord’s analogy is that the world has the sun in the sky so that men
may work in daylight. When Jesus refers to light as the kind the world has,
that indicates that it is not the light by which He makes His decisions. He
operated under the guidance of a different light – the will of His Father. It was
His food to do His Father’s will (4:34). Hours before His death, He would say
to the Father that He has accomplished the work (note 4:34 again!) the Father had
assigned to Him (17:4). Jesus being stoned and dying by a way that was not
being lifted up on the cross (3:14; 12:32,33) was not the Father’s will, so
Jesus resisted it. But going to
Let us go! Note the Lord said “us” in v.7, and in v. 11
that He was going. Repeating His “Let us” invitation to the disciples in v.15,
Thomas thought this meant death and proposed that they all go to die with Him.
Christ had said, “Let us” twice and said that He was going. A response was
needed; Thomas spoke up bravely, “Let us also go”. The “let us go” would be
repeated by Christ in 14:31. There it meant leaving the Upper Room, going out
to
To say there are twelve hours of daylight is a way to say
there is still more time for Him to work. In a similar situation in Luke
13:32-33, Jesus announced that He would keep doing what He was doing, in spite
of a death threat from Herod. In John 9:4 the Lord stressed that it was still
daylight and the work must continue. Danger does not decide our lives. He had
authority to lay down His life. The passions of wicked men would simply become
the tool the Lord would use to accomplish His purpose (Acts 4;27,28). As one
present for all of this discussion, Judas knew that the intent of those wanting
to arrest Jesus was murder. Knowing that, he still took Jesus’ enemies to where
they could find Him! There was enough light left to go to
11:11-14 Waking
up Lazarus
One way believers in the living Savior express faith is in
our attitude to death. Death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26) that brings
suffering and sorrow. It is the result of sin (Romans 5:12), yet salvation
includes even a body that has died. Thus we speak of death as sleep. The Lord
Jesus spoke this way. To Him it is as sleep because He can and will waken the
sleeping person. Going to
11:16 Courageous Thomas
Many remember Thomas as “Doubting Thomas”. Here he shows
courage and willingness to die like Peter in 13:36. (Usually it is Peter who
speaks up for the disciples.) Thomas’ name Didymus means “Twin”; note the
repetition in the name (Di Dy). When he said, “let us … die with Him,” that
reflects the kind of danger ahead. By going to
11:17-20 Arrival
in
Lazarus had been in his tomb for four days. Jesus found this to be the case. One of the great mysteries about Christ is that He became fully man, and remained at all times fully God. He could know supernaturally that Lazarus had died (v.11) though He was not there. He could see what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree (1:48-50). It is too deep for us to grasp how Jesus’ infinite divine nature and His limited human nature functioned in one Person. So like the Psalmist in Psalm 131, we humbly accept truth about Christ, admitting our limitations in understanding. At all times we must hold with tenacity to all revealed truths about Christ, even when we do not know how to connect them.
The four days is significant because the Jews had their own odd notions about death. They felt that the spirit stayed around the body for three days and that death after four days was too late for a return to life. (We learn such things from those who research those times.)
11:18,19 That
11:21-27 The
Meeting with Martha
John
wrote in concise form not telling how Martha knew Jesus was nearby. She alone
went to meet Him. The
sisters had sent word to Jesus (v.3). They naturally hoped He would come right
away and save His friend. (It is interesting that the verb to heal in
Greek and the verb for save are the same word.) She stated the fact that
if He had been there, Lazarus would not have died. She was not rebuking the
Lord. We are allowed to express how the Lord’s decisions affect us while we
groan under some of His decisions. (See Psalms 6, 35, 102 and many more.) The
Father did not arrange a situation where Jesus would appear callous in refusing
to heal Lazarus. God had simply arranged that Jesus would not be there, and Jesus
understanding that was glad (v.15).
Martha
knew that Jesus would have prevented her brother’s death, and she knew that any
request He might make of God the Father would be granted. There is no such
thing as Jesus interceding and the Father not granting all that He asks! This
is foundational to the Bible’s doctrine of the intercession of Christ. Martha
knew this but she did not expect to have her brother back that very day, as
v.39 makes clear.
11:23-26 The Lord said her brother would rise again. Martha believed this in the way any orthodox Jew would. It would happen on the last day. (In my opinion, that should make us cautious about thinking there may be multiple resurrections on different “last days”. Martha said “last day” since there is only one.)
11:26 Martha had her theology correct. There will
be a resurrection that includes the physical body of her dead brother. At
earlier times, distracted Martha gave less attention to sitting at Jesus’ feet
to learn from His instruction (Luke 10:41,42). When the reality of death
removed all other concerns, she really paid attention. The Lord turned the
conversation from whether or not she believed in what would happen, to who
makes it happen – thus Jesus’ famous “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
Standing before Martha was the Son of God, God in the
flesh. Whatever the Father does the Son also does (5:19). Since the Father
raises the dead and gives them life, the Son likewise gives life to whom He
wishes (5:21). He can do this when He wishes as well, as in the case of Jairus’
daughter (Mark 5:21-43) and the young man in Nain (Luke 7:11-17). The news from
Nain had spread to
Jesus’
words are far more personal than the doctrine Martha had just confessed. He said I and spoke of those who
believe in ME. The future resurrection is not simply rising from the
grave, it will be the appearance of the Lord Himself with His shout or loud
command (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Jesus calling with a loud voice in v.43
is an intentional parallel to what He will do in the last day when the dead
hear His voice (5:28,29).
The Lord asserts two things; He is both resurrection and life. This does not mean simply resurrection to a later life with nothing more now. The one who believes in Him possesses eternal life already. Such a person will never die in the sense of losing that eternal life. Unless the Lord comes while we are alive, all who believe will still die physically. Such death cannot interrupt the eternal life of the believer, because “he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.” Our Lord is personally both resurrection and life. He has promised both and no believer can be deprived of them. In John 6, Jesus will lose none the Father has given Him. In John 10 no one can snatch them from Him, and in John 11 every believer will live even if he dies! Those who belong to Christ are safe.
11:26,27 Martha
believed the truth that such things are guaranteed to God’s people. Jesus then
asked if she believed the truth as He just stated it, namely that life and
resurrection are His to give. She linked the truth He stated with her clear
confession of Who He is, the Christ, the Son of God Who was to come into the
world (see Psalm 118:26). The Apostle John wanted this reported to his readers
because that is the chief point of his Gospel in 20:30,31. By writing this
Gospel, John was simply promoting the message Christ gave of Himself in
11:25,26.
Jesus was always the Son of God, so He is fully the eternal image of the Father. As One sent, the One Who came into the world in our human flesh, Jesus is the Christ with the assigned mission to be the Redeemer of God’s people. To John it is so crucial that people understand Who Christ is and what He did. His coming into this world is a matter of history. Without it there is no Christian faith, no gospel; any belief that omits it is false. We believe at a specific time and for a specific duration that the Son of God as the Messiah (or the Christ) was in the world. Martha’s belief was based on facts of history and truths of doctrine, and her trust was in the One she confessed.
11:28-32 It
is valuable to have a record of this conversation, the only one in the four
Gospels with Martha alone. Mary is a woman noted for her devotion to Christ, yet
it was Martha who just made this clear confession.
Martha
carried to Mary the invitation from Christ for her to come to Him. The Lord
Jesus is consistent in His love for these His friends. He did not come only to
wake up Lazarus, but to restore him to his family. Mary’s fast exit from the house was not
understood by those present to comfort, thus they followed and came to the area
where the Lord was. The account does not show Jesus heading to the house of
Mary & Martha, but the meeting was outside the village. Since Jesus asked
where Lazarus was laid (v.34), this meant that Mary, Martha and Jesus had those
comforters follow to Lazarus’ tomb AND thus more became witnesses of his
resurrection. Had Mary and Martha met Christ together earlier and gone directly
to the tomb, the number of witnesses would have been reduced.
That Christ is called the Teacher reveals that even in His resting in their home, He was not taking a break from His assignment to do the Father’s work. He taught, and Mary especially was eager to learn from Him. Since teaching was an essential aspect of the Messiah’s ministry (see 4:25 and Isaiah 50:4), the content taught is highly treasured in our faith. To treat doctrine with disdain (a common response today) is to miss that Biblical doctrine is simply the teaching of Christ the Teacher! For this Mary had a great appetite.
Mary’s
words were the same as Martha’s about the difference the presence of Christ
would have made. It was like Mary, who would wash Jesus’ feet and dry them with
her hair, that she would fall at His feet.
11:33
& 38 See below the Appendix 11A: Jesus’ Emotion at the
Grave of Lazarus. The difficulty here is first a matter of translation to establish the
kind of emotion, and secondly, what it was that caused that kind.
No
one expected a resurrection! It would be
odd for Christ, in the setting of the recent death of His dear friend, to
proclaim that He is the resurrection and the life, and then to give Martha and
Mary only His words with no action to accompany them. There was not even an
acknowledgment by either sister of a hypothetical possibility that He might
raise Lazarus right away if He chose to do so. He had been dead for four days.
11:32-37 The
kind of mourning in that culture is shown in the word for weeping. Mary and those with her may have been wailing.
When Jesus wept the word is different; it is a word for shedding tears.
The observation that Jesus loved Lazarus is accurate. The
conclusion that He could have prevented the death is right. The memory of
healing the man born blind (John 9) remained in the consciousness of the people
in
11:38-40 See
Appendix 11A below. The objection by
Martha is revealing. The Lord took a step closer to Lazarus’ resurrection, yet
Martha, at that moment thinking like an unbeliever, made an objection that
showed no expectation of life for Lazarus.
Her faith was not consistent with the truth that her Lord was the
Resurrection and the Life, especially since He had indicated His intention to
raise Lazarus before the Last Day.
The
Lord either said expressly that she would see the glory of God or said things
that made that clear earlier. (We never seem to have entire conversations
reported in any of the Gospels.) Because
God is a pardoning God (Isaiah 55:7), it is His glory to forgive quickly. It is
also the glory of God in a new creation to undo the death man’s sin has
brought. It is the decision of God to wait till the Coming of Christ to raise
His children to immortal life, but Christ gave a foretaste of that day in the
case of Lazarus, even though poor Lazarus would die again.
11:41-42 Jesus’
prayer This was not the beginning of a prayer for
Lazarus. V.41 implies that this had been an earlier matter between the Father
and the Son, because the Father had heard Jesus. Martha was right that whatever
Christ would ask, the Father would do (v.22). By recording this theme twice,
John is eager that this point should have our attention. Anything Jesus asks for He receives. He had asked for the life of
Lazarus. By making public the content of His prayer, Christ shows Himself to be
the effective Intercessor (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34). The words to His Father “You always hear
me” are a
wonderful way to grasp the intercession of Christ for His people. The answers
Jesus has merited for us are as certain as the resurrection of Lazarus. The
benefit to those who heard was that they should see that He has come from the
Father and can speak to Him on behalf of His people. If we can believe Christ
came from God, then we can believe everything else about Him!
11:43-44 Christ
called for Lazarus to come out. He said this in a loud voice. (See the notes at
v.26.) In Greek the order is feet and
hands, but in English we tend to say “hands and feet”. The feet have a certain priority here; they
affect Lazarus walking. Maybe Lazarus came out hopping with his feet tied
together.
This ends this
part of the story. The Bible is God’s Word, and John under the Holy Spirit, did
not do what so many journalists today would do. They would ask what it was like
at the moment of dying, what it was like when he was dead for four days, and
all the human interest angles they could think up. This sign was intended to
reveal the glory of God in the ministry of Christ. The Bible was not written to
satisfy our curiosity, so the Apostle John does not spoil the sign by
deflecting attention away from Christ.
The Grave Clothes The raising of Lazarus was a sign, because it
pointed to something greater than itself. The ultimate resurrection is what
Christ will do for all men. First, He had to suffer and rise from the dead
Himself. When John reports Jesus’ resurrection in 20:5-7, he gave detail of the
cloths in which Jesus’ body and face were wrapped. The arrangement of these
strips of linen and the cloth for the head revealed that Jesus had simply
passed through them. No one unwrapped Jesus’ body, for the cloths showed how He
had simply passed through them in the same way He entered closed rooms
(20:19,26). They had all sagged in place. John planned to report this in
chapter 20, so he paid special attention in chapter 11 to the burial clothes of
Lazarus.
Lazarus had a
different kind of resurrection. He returned to mortal life. When Christ comes
again, His people will rise to eternal physical life, unlike Lazarus, never to
die again. The resurrection of Lazarus was a foretaste of what was to come. It
was symbolic of Jesus’ future conquest of death for Himself and His people.
(Note Ephesians 1:16-21.) In John 10:18
the Lord said He would take up His life again. In John 11 He gave life back to
Lazarus. God was glorified in the
resurrection of Lazarus (v.4). It has provided us a limited, yet powerful,
picture of the future deliverance from death, evil, Satan, and all the
consequences of sin.
John 11:45-57 This is the part of the Bible that tells
where the decision was really made to have Jesus killed. In the Synoptics
(i.e., Matthew, Mark & Luke) a trial before the Sanhedrin had Jesus present
(Matthew 26:57-59). The purpose of that meeting was to make official the
decision already made in John 11! By then they only needed some defensible
charges as justification for their decision (Matthew 26:59,60). The reasons for
Jesus’ death at the trial were different (blasphemy according to Matthew
26:65,66) from the earlier decision here in John 11. The real reason for murder
is given here: they saw Jesus as growing in influence; thus they were losing
their power over the people. Pilate knew that the Jewish leadership were
envious of the attention being given to Christ (Mark 15:9,10). Perhaps they did
fear that a major messianic movement with many people proclaiming one person as
the King of Israel, would provoke the Roman government to react. If
11:48 Just how John ever knew to be able to record the
insider information we find in this section, we do not know for sure, except
that he was known to the high priest! (See 18:15.) Possibly Nicodemus was the
source. Almost all the rulers were certain that Jesus was not the Messiah. Some
thought, perhaps sincerely, that the danger was real that the Romans might come
to crush a messianic movement if crowds followed Jesus, proclaiming Him as King
of the Jews. The Romans had installed Herod (by this time long dead) and
Herod’s sons as quasi-Jewish rulers, loyal to
11:49-53 They seemed to agree on a
double threat: 1.) People believing in
Jesus were not following them, and 2.) they supposed the Romans would react in
a way that also endangered them. Obviously, they had selfish interests to
protect. Caiaphas’ simple solution was to kill the one man who was such a
danger to them. The Pharisees should have objected that that would be breaking
the law – something Jesus pointed out in 7:19.
They did not; they agreed with Caiaphas. Caiaphas proposed a small act
that would bring a huge benefit. It would be better “for you,” a possible way
John shows the self-interest in the Sanhedrin’s action – better that one should
die and not the nation. In this way he suggested a “small” twisting of
obedience to God with a major good result. (Killing the Son of God is not
small.)
By
stating it as he did, Caiaphas the high priest of
John
did not want his readers to think the death of Christ was for Jews only, the
way the sacrifices of the OT were for
John
12 gives the real reason the religious authorities had for putting Jesus to
death. Later they would need some explanation they could give to the public.
They said it was for blasphemy, something not mentioned in the deliberations of
the Sanhedrin in John 11. The charge of blasphemy suggests to the public that
their great concern was to defend the Name of God. However, what really
mattered the most to them was their privileged role as leaders. If they were
concerned about the glory of God, they would have refused to break His sacred
commandment about murder. In John 11 they decided to put Him to death; later
they were looking for how to do it (Luke 22:2). They had a meeting in the
The Movements
of Jesus in the Face of Danger The
death threats to Jesus were centered mostly in
In John 5, His opponents tried harder to
kill Him. John does not say more than that. In John 6 Jesus was in Galilee; in
chapter 7 the big question was whether He would return to
There was a policy of careful protection of
Christ’s location, withdrawals from danger, and caution about when He would go
to a feast. In light of this, we see more clearly how deliberate it was for
Jesus to return to
11:55-57 The
time Jesus had been away from
Appendix
11A: Jesus’ Emotion at the Grave of Lazarus
That
Jesus wept is one of the familiar facts of Jesus’ life on earth. That skilful
Bible teachers have many different interpretations of this section of John 11
is less well known. Likewise, credible translations differ.
When
the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly
and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep
there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet,
saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died." When Jesus saw her weeping,
and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in
his spirit and greatly troubled.[4] And he said, "Where have you laid him?"
They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept.
So
the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said,
"Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man
from dying?" Then Jesus, deeply
moved again,[5] came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone
lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister
of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor,
for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell
you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" John 11:31-40 ESV
The Two
Difficulties:
1.
How should a certain verb
be translated, the one for “deeply moved”?
2.
If it is translated that
Jesus was angry, then what is the specific reason for His anger?
Many assume that Jesus’ feelings were simply a
matter of grieving. They conclude that His feelings were compassion for the
grieving sisters weeping at His side and/or perhaps sorrow over Lazarus still
in his tomb. How one crucial verb is translated decides what John meant in his
account of the nature of Jesus’ emotion. Both the NIV and ESV adopt the more
generic stance of “deeply moved”. That choice makes no definite commitment
whether the Lord was also angry about something or simply moved with grief alone.
Most recent translations soften the word to groaning, sighing, deeply moved or
something similar. The sense of anger is not evident. Recent translations
indicate intense emotion.
How some English
versions translate this verb embrimaomai[6] in
11:33:
JB (Jerusalem Bible) *: …Jesus said in great
distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart …
KJV & NKJV:
He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
NIV: He
was deeply moved in spirit and troubled
ESV: He was
deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled
*
(In these, I have guessed, probably correctly, which words in English
correspond to embrimaomai.)
What does the Apostle John mean by this word, a
word that does not appear many times in the NT? It is used by John only in John
11:33, 38. It appears in Matthew 9:30 and Mark 1:43 to indicate someone being
sternly warned. In Mark 14:5 the disciples used it to scold Mary for using such
expensive ointment on Christ.
In 11:33 embrimaomai is joined to a different word
that means that Jesus was troubled.
Some translations add “greatly” in English to ensure that the readers is
informed that this word also is a strong word. This word for being troubled is
used: of the disciples being terrified (ESV) when they thought they saw a ghost
(Mark 6:50); of Herod’s consternation In Matthew 2:3; of Jesus announcing His
betrayal by Judas John 13:21; and also when He spoke of His impending death
(John 12:27); of people being troubled by false doctrine (Galatians 1:7 &
Acts 15:24).
Conclusion A From the other uses of the verb, even though
they are few, I conclude that embrimaomai in this text is not confined
to the emotion of grief. It is used here to show the indignation of Christ.
If indeed Jesus’ reaction to the weeping of Mary
and others shows a sense of anger, what specifically is the object of that
anger? Many can see that the verb embrimaomai conveys a sense of anger,
but they find it strange to think Jesus was angry with a sorrowing sister who had
just lost her brother. The word alone may be clear, but it may be the setting
that makes translators soften the verb. Those who think Jesus was not indignant
do not need to explain the object of Jesus’ anger! What stirred Jesus’ anger?
Some suggestions:
1. Was it the sorrow of Mary? This is plainly preposterous! Jesus wept and as a “Man of Sorrows” He could
not be angry at her sorrow. We are commanded to weep with those who weep
(Romans 12:15).
2. Was it the nature of their mourning? In those days, people often had flute players
and professional mourners who were very good at making a loud scene of sorrow
with great demonstration of agony, whether sincere or not. See Luke 8:52.
(Admittedly, the Greek words for their weeping (v.33) and His (v.35) are not
the same.)
3. Was it sorrow over the loss of a friend? In a matter of minutes, Jesus would raise
Lazarus from the dead. He began in v.4 by saying this sickness was not unto
death. It is more likely that Jesus shared the sorrow of the sisters than that
this is His sorrow over Lazarus, but I am not sure of this.
4. Was it that a miracle was forced on Him by
friends? This misses the mark, since Jesus announced in advance that the
sickness would not end in death and that He would go and wake Lazarus up. The
miracle was for the glory of God. It was not forced on Jesus. He never
indicated that He was being manipulated.
5. Was it anger at the destruction Satan had
brought on humanity through sin? This is
a theological explanation that brings to John 11 much truth from other passages
of Scripture. It may well be a factor in Jesus’ indignation, but nothing John
11 says requires this explanation. Jesus’ response was connected to the weeping
of Mary and those with her.
6. Was it a reaction to unbelief? I agree with D. A. Carson that this is the
best explanation. The Lord had traveled in what was probably a four-day journey
to arrive at
If their sorrow was of the wailing sort, as it
seemed to be, that indicates a sorrow akin to the world’s despair. The Apostle
Paul said we do not mourn for believers the way the world grieves (1
Thessalonians 4:13). John 11 shows a great contradiction. The overwhelming
sorrow was oblivious to the presence of the Resurrection and the Life. It is a
terrible expression of unbelief. Just as faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6),
unbelief angers Him. Because of what Jesus encountered at the
The word for Jesus’ emotional distress is used
twice, once in connection with Mary’s weeping and the other just prior to
Martha’s objection against moving the stone. Would not Jesus’ order to move
that stone be a wonderful sign that He was about to remedy their sorrow? Why
reply to the Lord, the Resurrection and the Life, that moving the stone would
just allow the stench of a cadaver to escape? Jesus had a different purpose for
taking away that stone. His response to Martha was a rebuke that she did not
believe (v.40). The Lord did not say such things to rebuke her grief. I suggest
that His anger in v.38 was in response to her unbelief. “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of
God?” Here is Jesus’ explanation in the context. We need look no
further.
Conclusion B We
have plenty of reason to be careful to interpret Scripture with humility.
Astute exegetes differ on this passage. Köstenberger notes that there is a
“bewildering array of interpretations”. Some scholars have been cautious not to
treat embrimaomai as expressing Jesus’ indignation. Then those who do,
differ on what made Jesus angry. Certainly Jesus, who loved the sisters, had
feeling for their sorrow. I think He also had indignation at their unbelief.
The Lord is angry at every sin while He still loves His children. For us,
divine wrath fell on Christ on the cross. It was love and grace that made God
direct His anger in that way. Mary and Martha are examples of early believers
in Christ. Mary especially is exemplary in devotion, but here the Bible shows
even the most devoted souls are frail in faith. Thankfully, it is not our faith
that wins heaven for us, but the strong Savior in Whom we place our weak
faith.
[1] Sometimes Bible teachers draw a great distinction between two Greek
verbs for love, as if agapao were a considerably different from phileo. There
seems to be a difference in how they are used in John 21. Agapao is used more in the NT. Here in John
11 phileo is used in v.3 and agapao in v.5. This shows that they can be
virtually interchangeable in the Gospel of John. In John 5:20 phileo is used
for the love of the Father for Christ. This should make clear that phileo is
not a word with less quality than agapao. It is also used of the love of the
Father for the disciples because they have loved Christ (16:27). Greek is a
language we do not speak, and it is difficult to catch many nuances of an old
language. There must be some difference in the words, but I hope I have given
sufficient reason to restrain making a sharp distinction that is not there.
[2] V.49 says Caiaphas was high Priest that year. The high priest was to serve till his death. Caiaphas was high priest from 18-36 AD.
[3] To say this is only to agree with what John 11 tells us. I am a Christian, but I do not state these facts as support for holding living Jews today accountable for the death of Christ. He also died at the hands of Gentile Romans after a trial in a Roman court. The entire world was united against Him. The chief issue in Judaism is whether they will continue to reject the Christ, the King of Israel, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the one men call Jesus of Nazareth. Denying Christ must not bring on them the wrath of Christians. No Christian knowing his faith or the assignment Jesus Christ has given, can reason that way. When any and all people refuse to believe in Christ, they are under the wrath of God (3:36) not the wrath of believers. Our gospel is to tell people how they can escape. We point all men to the Jesus Who has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26). When the Apostle Peter preached to Jewish leaders (Acts 4:8-12), he acknowledged their rejection of Christ and offered salvation to them in the Person they had crucified! To convey forgiveness in Christ for the sins that we and our neighbors have committed, is the real Christian policy.
[4] John 11:33 ᾿Ιησοῦς οὖν ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὴν κλαίουσαν καὶ τοὺς συνελθόντας αὐτῇ ᾿Ιουδαίους κλαίοντας, ἐνεβριμήσατo τῷ πνεύματι καὶ ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν,
5 John 11:38 ᾿Ιησοῦς οὖν, πάλιν ἐμβριμώμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ,
[6] From Strong’s concordance: βριμάομαι brimaomai (to snort with anger); to have indignation on, that is, (transitively) to blame, (intransitively) to sigh with chagrin, (specifically) to sternly enjoin: - straitly charge, groan, murmur against.