It is somewhat embarrassing to admit now, but this passage was a real favorite of mine as a youngster. Not because of the message mind you, but because it contains the shortest verse in the Bible. When Sunday School teachers gave the assignment to repeat a verse of scripture from memory, I was known to take my turn by standing and saying, "Jesus wept. John 11:35" and then sitting down with a smug look of self-satisfaction. I loved memory work and was good at it, but there were times I just didn’t want to make the effort. It all seems so childish now.

Far more disconcerting however was the discovery that my understanding of this whole story in scripture has been out of whack! We’ll get to that shortly, but let me set the stage first.

There’s no question but what Mary, Martha and Lazarus were special friends to Jesus. John tells us so in this chapter. The problem is how we have allowed that fact to distort the real significance of the events which unfold here. Let’s start at the beginning and talk it out.

In chapter 10 we read about Jesus saying to the Jews, "I and the Father are one" and how they picked up stones to kill Him, but He evaded them. Together with the disciples, He traveled "beyond the Jordan" to where John had begun his ministry. Did you ever notice that?

Christ is within weeks of His death, burial and resurrection and He returns to the very place where the announcement of the kingdom was first made. This location is the beginning and ending of His earthly ministry. Those who came to Him affirmed everything John had said about Him was true and many believed on Him. All that transpires from this point on has to do with his laying down His life. The Jews couldn't take it before, but now the time has come.

As the disciples waited with Him, they receive a message saying Lazarus was sick. Jesus’ response is most notable, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it." How could Jesus make such a statement knowing that Lazarus would in fact die? Stay tuned, but do note the purpose of the events. As we will see, the glory Christ has in view is not the glory given to God for the raising of Lazarus.

While one might think Jesus would have immediately healed Lazarus from afar or begun to travel to Bethany, He waited two more days before telling the disciples they are headed back to Judea again. They remind Him the Jews still want to kill Him but He observes there are twelve hours in the day and those who walk in the day don't stumble. I won't expound on this at length, but remember He is the day and He has not come to His last hour. They are secure while they have the Day with them. In other words, He is confirming what they previously experienced. Men cannot take His life. At the appointed time, He will lay it down.

When Jesus told them Lazarus was asleep, the didn't understand; they saw it as a sign Lazarus would recover. Then Jesus tells them plainly, "Lazarus is dead" and Thomas rejoins, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." This is no idle word. The seriousness of the moment is apparent to them all and Christ is most aware of what is about to transpire. To understand the significance of the rest of the story we need to pause and recall the story of the centurion in Luke 7.

Jesus had visited Capernaum but after he left, some Jewish elders sent word to Him that the centurion’s servant was ill. It was because of this centurion they enjoyed such favorable treatment from Rome and they wanted to do him a favor.

Jesus headed back and was almost there when the centurion’s servants met Him with a message from their superior, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it." Do you remember Christ’s response? "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

With this picture in mind we are prepared to understand Christ’s grief in John 11.

As they approached Bethany, Martha met them on the road and lamented that if Christ had just been there Lazarus would not have died. She also confesses that "even now" God would give Him whatever He asked. No centurion’s faith here! She did not understand that Christ only did the will of the Father. He did not ask for what the Father did not show Him.

Still, Jesus told her Lazarus would rise again. The Greek here is anastesetai which literally means "he will stand." If we are going to understand this passage we need to see the dialogue is about the nature of that standing. Christ came to restore what was lost in Adam. Adam had standing with God in the garden, but fell through disobedience. Christ came to restore standing for those who believe in Him.

Martha confirms she knows about that standing but she is not concerned about the spiritual. She is focused on the physical. Unsatisfied, she returns to town and privately tells Mary Jesus has come. When Mary leaves the house, the mourners with her assume she is going to weep at the tomb but instead she goes to Jesus and repeats her sister’s lament. Does this surprise you? It should!

We are familiar with Christ’s previous stay with this family and how Martha busied herself in the kitchen while Mary learned at Jesus’ feet. For her to confront Christ about not coming to heal Lazarus is most surprising. She knew better. More than that, she was aware of the danger His presence in Judea represented to Him, but she was focused on her physical needs and not the big picture.

Let’s assess the situation so we don’t miss its significance: 1) these were two sisters left in a male culture without a male over their household (not a good thing), 2) both women understood their brother would rise again in the same way Jesus told them he would (spiritually), 3) it was common practice to hire mourners to make the passing of a dear one seem even more tragic than it was, and 4) what they want is His physical presence right now!

Their focus should have been on what was about to unfold in the life of their Master, not only for Lazarus, but for the two of them and all the world as well. His focus was on the spiritual, not the physical and their fuss over the death of Lazarus added insult to injury.

Christ had said the whole incident was meant for glory to God, but He wasn’t referring to the resurrection of Lazarus from the grave. Let’s go back to the text.

When Jesus sees Mary and the mourners, we read His reaction in verse 33, "he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled...." The popular view says His compassion for their loss caused His distress and seeing the tomb caused Him to lose it and weep. Though many commentators share this view, others do not, and for reasons you should find interesting.

We’ve spent some time setting the context for the story. It is the end of Christ’s ministry. The purpose of raising Lazarus is not to grant some special favor on the two sisters but to convict them of their unbelief (remember the centurion), and to set in motion the events which will lead to His own death.

Why would anyone see things this way? Word studies! Spend some time with the words in verse 33. Look up "groaned" and "troubled." Here’s what you’ll find.

"Groaned" is from Strong’s number 1690: embrimaomai which means to snort with anger, to have indignation on, murmur against etc. At its root, it has the idea of snorting in disgust! This is not a word of compassion!

Neither is "troubled!" It comes from Strong’s number 5015. tarasso meaning agitated. One commentator attempting to soften the impact of this verse suggested Jesus was angry at Satan for taking Lazarus but the text is clearly wanting of any such suggestion. God took Lazarus to create the occasion whereby the earthly ministry of Christ would come to an end so that His life would shortly come to be manifest in them all.

It wasn’t what they were looking for, but it was what He had come to Judea to bring "at just the right time." Nevertheless, He did raise Lazarus physically and the picture would be  comical if it were not so tragic. The formerly deceased emerges from the tomb struggling to move within the grip of the unclean clothes of death.

Have you ever thought of the picture in those terms? Leviticus 22 tells us anything which touches a corpse is unclean. Here is resurrected Lazarus bound by that which was unclean and he is resurrected defiled! Is this something to celebrate? I now see it as a sad, picture.

Prior to his resurrection he had been in Abraham’s Bosom (paridiso or paradise) awaiting the resurrection of righteousness which would have soon delivered him from death and hades. Now he is forced to return to the world unclean and await redemption with the living. Can you see how tragic this picture is from Christ’s perspective?

If you’ve been following along in John 11, you should have noticed we skipped two important verses, "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die." (vs. 25-26)

These verses represent a Hebrew literary construction called a parallelism. The initial statement is further explained by seeing the rest of the statement alongside it. For the sake of comparison we slightly adjust the way things are stated but it looks like this:

Remember, at the time Christ said this, there were two categories of believers: 1) those who had died prior to His atoning sacrifice and the coming consummation of the kingdom, and 2) those believers who would "not taste death" until they saw Him coming in glory.

Jesus’ response to Martha silenced her complaint! Real life was not a matter of the flesh, but knowing Him. Lazarus was physically dead but as a believer he was about to receive life in the grave - real life. It was the life Paul longed for and yet was content to delay his departure as long as God chose to use him in the proclamation of the gospel.

The other side of the equation was that those who lived until the consummation would never die. They would as Paul said in Romans 8:11, receive life in their mortal bodies.

By all means note Paul does not say they will receive life in their dead bodies. Mortal means liable to die, or able to die, not dead! Paul agrees with Jesus, those who were alive and remained until the consummation would receive real life while yet in their mortal bodies and would never die. The life and death in view is spiritual, not physical. Otherwise, some of those first century believers would still be with us today.

Jesus wept not over Lazarus, but the unbelief of the Jews. While many believed, the masses did not and were destroyed. Jesus challenged Martha with, "Do you believe this?" What about us? Do we believe that Jesus did what He came to do?

If we believe we have life and will never die, we testify His work has been completed. How is it then so many who claim life eternal deny the consummation of the ages which has given us life in His name?

May Christ not be found weeping over our ignorance and unbelief.

© Copyright 2004 ~ Jim Wade

02/20/04