Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
Parallel Translations
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Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
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A certayne man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethania the toune of Mary and her sister Martha.
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And a certaine man was sicke, named Lazarus of Bethania, the towne of Marie, and her sister Martha.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to John 11:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Luke 10:38-42 As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.” Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
- John 12:17 The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead was testifying about it.
- 2 Kings 20:1-12 In those days Hezekiah was sick and dying. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.’ ” Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to Yahweh’s house. I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.” ’ ” Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I will go up to Yahweh’s house the third day?” Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.” Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
- John 11:11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
- John 12:9 A large crowd therefore of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
- Matthew 21:17 He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there.
- John 11:5-6 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
- Acts 9:37 In those days, she became sick, and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
- Mark 11:1 When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
- Luke 16:20-25 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.
- John 11:3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”
- John 12:1-2 Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
- Genesis 48:1 After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. And one named Lazarus was sick. The Evangelist…
1. And one named Lazarus was sick. The Evangelist passes on to another narrative, which contains a miracle eminently worthy of being recorded. For not only did Christ give a remarkable proof of his Divine power in raising Lazarus, but he likewise placed before our eyes a lively image of our future resurrection. This might indeed be said to be the latest and concluding action of his life, for the time of his death was already at hand. We need not wonder, therefore, if he illustrated his own glory, in an extraordinary manner, in that work, the remembrance of which he wished to be deeply impressed on their minds, that it might seal, in some respects, all that had gone before. There were others whom Christ had raised from the dead, but he now displays his power on a rotting corpse. But the circumstances which tend to magnify the glory of God in this miracle shall be pointed out in their proper place and order.
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. The probable reason why this circumstance is mentioned is, that Lazarus had not acquired so great celebrity among believers as his sisters had; for these holy women were accustomed to entertain Christ with their hospitality, as is evident from what is related by the Evangelist Luke, (Luke 10:38.) It is really too ridiculous a blunder, to suppose that Monks, and such fry as the Papists have, made this small town or village a castle.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Christ in restoring the stinking carcass of his friend…
Christ in restoring the stinking carcass of his friend to life, showeth an example both of his mighty power, and also of his singular good will toward men: which is also an image of the resurrection to come.
Where his sisters dwelt.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus,…
1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
Ver. 1. Bethany, the town of Mary, &c.] Not the tower ( castellum) of Mary and Martha, as some monks have doted; digni sane qui ad grammatices elementa remittantur, truly worth are those who relax the laws of grammar, from the saith an interpreter. Bethany was a small town or village nigh to Jerusalem, where dwelt these three, Lazarus and his two sisters, all in one house (though fratrum concordia rata establishing brotherly peace), to whom our Saviour joins himself a fourth in their friendship. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Surely there the Lord "commands the blessing, even life for evermore," Psa 133:1; Psa 133:3.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Bethany (as appears by Joh 11:18) was nigh unto…
Bethany (as appears by Joh 11:18) was nigh unto Jerusalem, not wholly at two miles distance from it: but our Saviour was not at this time in Judea, for, Joh 11:7, he saith to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. He was at this time in Galilee, or in Peraea; and we shall find, Joh 11:17, that Lazarus had been in his grave four days before our Saviour got thither: so as we must allow at least six or seven days between the time when Christ heard of Lazarus’s sickness, and the time when he came to Bethany. This Bethany is here only described to us as the place where Martha and Mary lived, or at least where they were born. Some think that Bethany was only a part of the Mount Olivet; but others, more probably, think that it was some little town or city, standing within that part of the Mount Olivet; for it is here called a town, and, Luk 10:38,39, the place where these two sisters lived is called a village.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain This chapter relates unto us the miraculous power of…
This chapter relates unto us the miraculous power of Christ, in raising of dead Lazarus, which, as it was one of his last, so was it one of the greatest miracles which he wrought: and yet we find none of the Evangelists make mention of it, but only St. John: the reason is supposed to be this, because when the other Evangelists make mention of it, but only St. John: the reason is supposed to be this, because when the other Evangelists wrote their history, Lazarus was then alive; (for Epiphanius says, he lived thirty years after he was raised by Christ) and probably, the mention of this relation might have brought Lazarus into danger and trouble; but St. John wrote his gospel after Lazarus’s death. This miracle was a sufficient demonstration of Christ’s godhead: none but an almighty power could recall a man four days dead, from a settled corruption to a state of life. None but he that created Lazarus could thus make him anew.
Here observe, 1. The tender sympathy of these two endeared sisters with their afflicted brother; they feel his sorrows, and acquaint their Saviour with his sufferings, Lord! behold he whom thou lovest is sick. They do not say, Our brother that loves thee is sick; he whom thou lovest is sick; thereby pleading not the merit of Lazarus, but the merit of Christ. For how can the love of Christ, which is infinite and eternal, have any cause but itself; Note, The person whom Christ loved is sick, and dies.
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Learn hence, That strength of grace, and dearness of respect, even from Christ himself, cannot prevail either against death or against diseases. Lazarus, whom Christ loved, is sick.
Observe, 2. The gracious answer which Christ sent to the sister’s message; This sickness is not unto death; but for the glory of God; that is, this sickness shall not bring upon him such a death as he shall remain under the power of, to the general resurrection; but is only designed to give me an opportunity of glorifying God, by exerting my miraculous power in restoring him to life.
Learn hence, 1. That as God’s own glory is his supreme aim and end in all his actions, so in particular it is designed by him in sending afflictions upon his people, to glorify his power and wisdom, mercy and love, in and upon them. The saints sicknesses are all for the glory of God.
2. That God is glorified when his Son is glorified: as none do honour the Father, who do not honour the Son; so the Father accounts himself glorified, when the glory of the Son is advanced. This sickness is for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have in these verses,
We have in these verses,
I. A particular account of the parties principally concerned in this story, Joh 11:1, Joh 11:2. 1. They lived at Bethany, a village nor far from Jerusalem, where Christ usually lodged when he came up to the feasts. It is here called the town of Mary and Martha, that is, the town where they dwelt, as Bethsaida is called the city of Andrew and Peter, Joh 1:44. For I see no reason to think, as some do, that Martha and Mary were owners of the town, and the rest were their tenants. 2. Here was a brother named Lazarus; his Hebrew name probably was Eleazar, which being contracted, and a Greek termination put to it, is made Lazarus. Perhaps in prospect of this history our Saviour made use of the name of Lazarus in that parable wherein he designed to set forth the blessedness of the righteous in the bosom of Abraham immediately after death, Luk 16:22. 3. Here were two sisters, Martha and Mary, who seem to have been the housekeepers, and to have managed the affairs of the family, while perhaps Lazarus lived a retired life, and gave himself to study and contemplation. Here was a decent, happy, well-ordered family, and a family that Christ was very much conversant with, where yet there was neither husband nor wife (for aught that appears), but the house kept by a brother, and his sisters dwelling together in unity. 4. One of the sisters is particularly described to be that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, Joh 11:2. Some think she was that woman that we read of, Luk 7:37, Luk 7:38, who had been a sinner, a bad woman. I rather think it refers to that anointing of Christ which this evangelist relates (Joh 12:3); for the evangelists do never refer one to another, but John frequently refers in one place of his gospel to another. Extraordinary acts of piety and devotion, that come from an honest principle of love to Christ, will not only find acceptance with him, but gain reputation in the church, Mat 26:13. This was she whose brother Lazarus was sick; and the sickness of those we love is our affliction. The more friends we have the more frequently we are thus afflicted by sympathy; and the dearer they are the more grievous it is. The multiplying of our comforts is but the multiplying of our cares and crosses.
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II. The tidings that were sent to our Lord Jesus of the sickness of Lazarus, Joh 11:3. His sisters knew where Jesus was, a great way off beyond Jordan, and they sent a special messenger to him, to acquaint him with the affliction of their family, in which they manifest, 1. The affection and concern they had for their brother. Though, it is likely, his estate would come to them after his death, yet they earnestly desired his life, as they ought to do. They showed their love to him now that he was sick, for a brother is born for adversity, and so is a sister too. We must weep with our friends when they weep, as well as rejoice with them when they rejoice. 2. The regard they had to the Lord Jesus, whom they were willing to make acquainted with all their concerns, and, like Jephthah, to utter all their words before him. Though God knows all our wants, and griefs, and cares, he will know them from us, and is honoured by our laying them before him. The message they sent was very short, not petitioning, much less prescribing or pressing, but barely relating the case with the tender insinuation of a powerful plea, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. They do not say, He whom we love, but he whom thou lovest. Our greatest encouragements in prayer are fetched from God himself and from his grace. They do not say, Lord, behold, he who loveth thee, but he whom thou lovest; for herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Our love to him is not worth speaking of, but his to us can never be enough spoken of. Note, (1.) There are some of the friends and followers of the Lord Jesus for whom he has a special kindness above others. Among the twelve there was one whom Jesus loved. (2.) It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves to be sick: all things come alike to all. Bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces, of God's people. (3.) It is a great comfort to us, when we are sick, to have those about us that will pray for us. (4.) We have great encouragement in our prayers for those who are sick, if we have ground to hope that they are such as Christ loves; and we have reason to love and pray for those whom we have reason to think Christ loves and cares for.
III. An account how Christ entertained the tidings brought him of the illness of his friend.
1. He prognosticated the event and issue of the sickness, and probably sent it as a message to the sisters of Lazarus by the express, to support them while he delayed to come to them. Two things he prognosticates: -
(1.) This sickness is not unto death. It was mortal, proved fatal, and no doubt but Lazarus was truly dead for four days. But, [1.] That was not the errand upon which this sickness was sent; it came not, as in a common case, to be a summons to the grave, but there was a further intention in it. Had it been sent on that errand, his rising from the dead would have defeated it. [2.] That was not the final effect of this sickness. He died, and yet it might be said he did not die, for factum non dicitur quod non perseverat - That is not said to be done which is not done for a perpetuity. Death is an everlasting farewell to this world; it is the way whence we shall not return; and in this sense it was not unto death. The grave was his long home, his house of eternity. Thus Christ said of the maid whom he proposed to restore to life, She is not dead. The sickness of good people, how threatening soever, is nor unto death, for it is not unto eternal death. The body's death to this world is the soul's birth into another world; when we or our friends are sick, we make it our principal support that there is hope of a recovery, but in that we may be disappointed; therefore it is our wisdom to build upon that in which we cannot be disappointed; if they belong to Christ, let the worst come to the worst, they cannot be hurt of the second death, and then not much hurt of the first.
(2.) But it is for the glory of God, that an opportunity may be given for the manifesting of God's glorious power. The afflictions of the saints are designed for the glory of God, that he may have opportunity of showing them favour; for the sweetest mercies, and the most effecting, are those which are occasioned by trouble. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dispensations of Providence, they are all for the glory of God, this sickness, this loss, or this disappointment, is so; and, if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied, Lev 10:3. It was for the glory of God, for it was that the Son of God might be glorified thereby, as it gave him occasion to work that glorious miracle, the raising of him from the dead. As, before, the man was born blind that Christ might have the honour of curing him (Joh 9:3), so Lazarus must be sick and die, that Christ may be glorified as the Lord of life. Let this comfort those whom Christ loves under all their grievances that the design of them all is that the Son of God may be glorified thereby, his wisdom, power, and goodness, glorified in supporting and relieving them; see Co2 12:9, Co2 12:10.
2. He deferred visiting his patient, Joh 11:5, Joh 11:6. They had pleaded, Lord, it is he whom thou lovest, and the plea is allowed (Joh 11:5): Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. Thus the claims of faith are ratified in the court of heaven. Now one would think it should follow, When he heard therefore that he was sick he made all the haste that he could to him; if he loved them, now was a time to show it by hastening to them, for he knew they impatiently expected him. But he took the contrary way to show his love: it is not said, He loved them and yet he lingered; but he loved them and therefore he lingered; when he heard that his friend was sick, instead of coming post to him, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. (1.) He loved them, that is, had a great opinion of Martha and Mary, of their wisdom and grace, of their faith and patience, above others of his disciples, and therefore he deferred coming to them, that he might try them, that their trial might at last be found to praise and honour. (2.) He loved them, that is, he designed to do something great and extraordinary for them, to work such a miracle for their relief as he had not wrought for any of his friends; and therefore he delayed coming to them, that Lazarus might be dead and buried before he came. If Christ had come presently, and cured the sickness of Lazarus, he had done no more than he did for many; if he had raised him to life when newly dead, no more than he had done for some: but, deferring his relief so long, he had an opportunity of doing more for him than for any. Note, God hath gracious intentions even in seeming delays, Isa 54:7, Isa 54:8; Isa 49:14, etc. Christ's friends at Bethany were not out of his thoughts, though, when he heard of their distress, he made no haste to them. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, stands at a stay, it does but stay the time, and every thing is beautiful in its season.
IV. The discourse he had with his disciples when he was about to visit his friends at Bethany, Joh 11:7-16. The conference is so very free and familiar as to make out what Christ saith, I have called you friends. Two things he discourses about - his own danger and Lazarus's death.
1. His own danger in going into Judea, Joh 11:7-10.
(1.) Here is the notice which Christ gave his disciples of his purpose to go into Judea towards Jerusalem. His disciples were the men of his counsel, and to them he saith (Joh 11:7), "Let us go into Judea again, though those of Judea are unworthy of such a favour." Thus Christ repeats the tenders of his mercy to those who have often rejected them. Now this may be considered, [1.] As a purpose of his kindness to his friends at Bethany, whose affliction, and all the aggravating circumstances of it, he knew very well, though no more expresses were sent to him; for he was present in spirit, though absent in body. When he knew they were brought to the last extremity, when the brother and sisters had given and taken a final farewell, "Now," saith he, "let us go to Judea." Christ will arise in favour of his people when the time to favour them, yea, the set time, is come; and the worst time is commonly the set time - when our hope is lost, and we are cut off for our parts; then they shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened the graves, Eze 37:11, Eze 37:13. In the depths of affliction, let this therefore keep us out of the depths of despair, that man's extremity is God's opportunity, Jehovah-jireh. Or, [2.] As a trial of the courage of the disciples, whether they would venture to follow him thither, where they had so lately been frightened by an attempt upon their Master's life, which they looked upon as an attempt upon theirs too. To go to Judea, which was so lately made too hot for them, was a saying that proved them. But Christ did not say, "Go you into Judea, and I will stay and take shelter here;" no, Let us go. Note, Christ never brings his people into any peril but he accompanies them in it, and is with them even when they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
(2.) Their objection against this journey (Joh 11:8): Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? Here, [1.] They remind him of the danger he had been in there not long since. Christ's disciples are apt to make a greater matter of sufferings than their Master does, and to remember injuries longer. He had put up with the affront, it was over and gone, and forgotten, but his disciples could not forget it; of late, nun - now, as if it were this very day, they sought to stone thee. Though it was at least two months ago, the remembrance of the fright was fresh in their minds. [2.] They marvel that he will go thither again. "Wilt thou favour those with thy presence that have expelled thee out of their coasts?" Christ's ways in passing by offences are above our ways. "Wilt thou expose thyself among a people that are so desperately enraged against thee? Goest thou thither again, where thou hast been so ill used?" Here they showed great care for their Master's safety, as Peter did, when he said, Master, spare thyself; had Christ been inclined to shift off suffering, he did not want friends to persuade him to it, but he had opened his mouth to the Lord, and he would not, he could not, go back. Yet, while the disciples show a concern for his safety, they discover at the same time, First, A distrust of his power; as if he could not secure both himself and them now in Judea as well as he had done formerly. Is his arm shortened? When we are solicitous for the interests of Christ's church and kingdom in the world, we must yet rest satisfied in the wisdom and power of the Lord Jesus, who knows how to secure a flock of sheep in the midst of a herd of wolves. Secondly, A secret fear of suffering themselves; for they count upon this if he suffer. When our own private interests happen to run in the same channel with those of the public, we are apt to think ourselves zealous for the Lord of hosts, when really we are only zealous for our own wealth, credit, ease, and safety, and seek our own things, under colour of seeking the things of Christ; we have therefore need to distinguish upon our principles.
(3.) Christ's answer to this objection (Joh 11:9, Joh 11:10): Are there not twelve hours in the day? The Jews divided every day into twelve hours, and made their hours longer or shorter according as the days were, so that an hour with them was the twelfth part of the time between sun and sun; so some. Or, lying much more south than we, their days were nearer twelve hours long than ours. The divine Providence has given us day-light to work by, and lengthens it out to a competent time; and, reckoning the year round, every country has just as much daylight as night, and so much more as the twilights amount to. Man's life is a day; this day is divided into divers ages, states, and opportunities, as into hours shorter or longer, as God has appointed; the consideration of this should make us not only very busy, as to the work of life (if there were twelve hours in the day, each of them ought to be filled up with duty, and none of them trifled away), but also very easy as to the perils of life; our day shall be lengthened out till our work be done, and our testimony finished. This Christ applies to his case, and shows why he must go to Judea, because he had a clear call to go. For the opening of this, [1.] He shows the comfort and satisfaction which a man has in his own mind while he keeps in the way of his duty, as it is in general prescribed by the word of God, and particularly determined by the providence of God: If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not; that is, If a man keep close to his duty, and mind that, and set the will of God before him as his rule, with an impartial respect to all God's commandments, he does not hesitate in his own mind, but, walking uprightly, walks surely, and with a holy confidence. As he that walks in the day stumbles not, but goes on steadily and cheerfully in his way, because he sees the light of this world, and by it sees his way before him; so a good man, without any collateral security or sinister aims, relies upon the word of God as his rule, and regards the glory of God as his end, because he sees those two great lights, and keeps his eye upon them; thus he is furnished with a faithful guide in all his doubts, and a powerful guard in all his dangers, Gal 6:4; Psa 119:6. Christ, wherever he went, walked in the day, and so shall we, if we follow his steps. [2.] He shows the pain and peril a man is in who walks not according to this rule (Joh 11:10): If a man walk in the night, he stumbles; that is, If a man walk in the way of his heart, and the sight of his eyes, and according to the course of this world, - if he consult his own carnal reasonings more than the will and glory of God, - he falls into temptations and snares, is liable to great uneasiness and frightful apprehensions, trembles at the shaking of a leaf, and flees when none pursues; while an upright man laughs at the shaking of the spear, and stands undaunted when ten thousand invade. See Isa 33:14-16, he stumbles, because there is no light in him, for light in us is that to our moral actions which light about us is to our natural actions. He has not a good principle within; he is not sincere; his eye is evil. Thus Christ not only justifies his purpose of going into Judea, but encourages his disciples to go along with him, and fear no evil.
2. The death of Lazarus is here discoursed of between Christ and his disciples, Joh 11:11-16, where we have,
(1.) The notice Christ gave his disciples of death of Lazarus, and an intimation that his business into Judea was to look after him, Joh 11:11. After he had prepared his disciples for this dangerous march into an enemy's country, he then gives them,
[1.] Plain intelligence of the death of Lazarus, though he had received no advice of it: Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. See here how Christ calls a believer and a believer's death.
First, He calls a believer his friend: Our friend Lazarus. Note, 1. There is a covenant of friendship between Christ and believers, and a friendly affection and communion pursuant to it, which our Lord Jesus will own and not be ashamed of. His secret is with the righteous. 2. Those whom Christ is pleased to own as his friends all his disciples should take for theirs. Christ speaks of Lazarus as their common friend: Our friend. 3. Death itself does not break the bond of friendship between Christ and a believer. Lazarus is dead, and yet he is still our friend.
Secondly, He calls the death of a believer a sleep: he sleepeth. It is good to call death by such names and titles as will help to make it more familiar and less formidable to us. The death of Lazarus was in a peculiar sense a sleep, as that of Jairus's daughter, because he was to be raised again speedily; and, since we are sure to rise again at last, why should that make any great difference? And why should not the believing hope of that resurrection to eternal life make it as easy to us to put off the body and die as it is to put off our clothes and go to sleep? A good Christian, when he dies, does but sleep: he rests from the labours of the day past, and is refreshing himself for the next morning. Nay, herein death has the advantage of sleep, that sleep is only the parenthesis, but death is the period, of our cares and toils. The soul does not sleep, but becomes more active; but the body sleeps without any toss, without any terror; not distempered nor disturbed. The grave to the wicked is a prison, and its grave-clothes as the shackles of a criminal reserved for execution; but to the godly it is a bed, and all its bands as the soft and downy fetters of an easy quiet sleep. Though the body corrupt, it will rise in the morning as if it had never seen corruption; it is but putting off our clothes to be mended and trimmed up for the marriage day, the coronation day, to which we must rise. See Isa 57:2; Th1 4:14. The Greeks called their burying-places dormitories - koimētēria.
[2.] Particular intimations of his favourable intentions concerning Lazarus: but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. He could have done it, and yet have staid where he was: he that restored at a distance one that was dying (Joh 4:50) could have raised at a distance one that was dead; but he would put this honour upon the miracle, to work it by the grave side: I go, to awake him. As sleep is a resemblance of death, so a man's awaking out of sleep when he is called, especially when he is called by his own name, is an emblem of the resurrection (Job 14:15): Then shalt thou call. Christ had no sooner said, Our friend sleeps, but presently he adds, I go, that I may awake him. When Christ tells his people at any time how bad the case is he lets them know in the same breath how easily, how quickly, he can mend it. Christ's telling his disciples that this was his business to Judea might help to take off their fear of going with him thither; he did not go upon a public errand to the temple, but a private visit, which would not so much expose him and them; and, besides, it was to do a kindness to a family to which they were all obliged.
(2.) Their mistake of the meaning of this notice, and the blunder they made about it (Joh 11:12, Joh 11:13): They said, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. This intimates, [1.] Some concern they had for their friend Lazarus; they hoped he would recover; sōthēsetai - he shall be saved from dying at this time. Probably they had understood, by the messenger who brought news of his illness, that one of the most threatening symptoms he was under was that he was restless, and could get no sleep; and now that they heard he slept they concluded the fever was going off, and the worst was past. Sleep is often nature's physic, and reviving to its weak and weary powers. This is true of the sleep of death; if a good Christian so sleep, he shall do well, better than he did here. [2.] A greater concern for themselves; for hereby they insinuate that it was now needless for Christ to go to him, and expose himself and them. "If he sleep, he will be quickly well, and we may stay where we are." Thus we are willing to hope that the good work which we are called to do will do itself, or will be done by some other hand, if there be peril in the doing of it.
(3.) This mistake of theirs rectified (Joh 11:13): Jesus spoke of his death. See here, [1.] How dull of understanding Christ's disciples as yet were. Let us not therefore condemn all those as heretics who mistake the sense of some of Christ's sayings. It is not good to aggravate our brethren's mistakes; yet this was a gross one, for it had easily been prevented if they had remembered how frequently death is called a sleep in the Old Testament. They should have understood Christ when he spoke scripture language. Besides, it would sound oddly for their Master to undertake a journey of two or three days only to awake a friend out of a natural sleep, which any one else might do. What Christ undertakes to do, we may be sure, is something great and uncommon, and a work worthy of himself. [2.] How carefully the evangelist corrects this error: Jesus spoke of his death. Those that speak in an unknown tongue, or use similitudes, should learn hence to explain themselves, and pray that they may interpret, to prevent mistakes.
(4.) The plain and express declaration which Jesus made to them of the death of Lazarus, and his resolution to go to Bethany, Joh 11:14, Joh 11:15. [1.] He gives them notice of the death of Lazarus; what he had before said darkly he now says plainly, and without a figure: Lazarus is dead, Joh 11:14. Christ takes cognizance of the death of his saints, for it is precious in his sight (Psa 116:15), and he is not pleased if we do not consider it, and lay it to heart. See what a compassionate teacher Christ is, and how he condescends to those that are out of the way, and by his subsequent sayings and doings explains the difficulties of what went before. [2.] He gives them the reason why he had delayed so long to go and see him: I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. If he had been there time enough, he would have healed his disease and prevented his death, which would have been much for the comfort of Lazarus's friends, but then his disciples would have seen no further proof of his power than what they had often seen, and, consequently, their faith had received no improvement; but now that he went and raised him from the dead, as there were many brought to believe on him who before did no (Joh 11:45), so there was much done towards the perfecting of what was lacking in the faith of those that did, which Christ aimed at: To the intent that you may believe. [3.] He resolves now to go to Bethany, and take his disciples along with him: Let us go unto him. Not, "Let us go to his sisters, to comfort them" (which is the utmost we can do), but, Let us go to him; for Christ can show wonders to the dead. Death, which will separate us from all our other friends, and cut us off from correspondence with them, cannot separate us from the love of Christ, nor put us out of the reach of his calls; as he will maintain his covenant with the dust, so he can make visits to the dust. Lazarus is dead, but let us go to him; though perhaps those who said, If he sleep there is no need to go, were ready to say, If he be dead it is to no purpose to go.
(5.) Thomas exciting his fellow-disciples cheerfully to attend their Master's motions (Joh 11:16): Thomas, who is called Didymus. Thomas in Hebrew and Didymus in Greek signify a twin; it is said of Rebekah (Gen 25:24) that there were twins in her womb; the word is Thomim. Probably Thomas was a twin. He said to his fellow-disciples (who probably looked with fear and concern upon one another when Christ had said so positively, Let us go to him), very courageously, Let us also go that we may die with him; with him, that is,
[1.] With Lazarus, who was now dead; so some take it. Lazarus was a dear and loving friend both to Christ and his disciples, and perhaps Thomas had a particular intimacy with him. Now if he be dead, saith he, let us even go and die with him. For, First, "If we survive, we know not how to live without him." Probably Lazarus had done them many good offices, sheltered them, and provided for them, and been to them instead of eyes; and now that he was gone they had no man like-minded, and "Therefore," saith he, "we had as good die with him." Thus we are sometimes ready to think our lives bound up in the lives of some that were dear to us: but God will teach us to live, and to live comfortably, upon himself, when those are gone without whom we thought we could not live. But this is not all. Secondly, "If we die, we hope to be happy with him." Such a firm belief he has of a happiness on the other side death, and such good hope through grace of their own and Lazarus's interest in it, that he is willing they should all go and die with him. It is better to die, and go along with our Christian friends to that world which is enriched by their removal to it, than stay behind in a world that is impoverished by their departure out of it. The more of our friends are translated hence, the fewer cords we have to bind us to this earth, and the more to draw our hearts heavenwards. How pleasantly does the good man speak of dying, as if it were but undressing and going to bed!
[2.] "Let us go and die with our Master, who is now exposing himself to death by venturing into Judea;" and so I rather think it is meant. "If he will go into danger, let us also go and take our lot with him, according to the command we received, Follow me." Thomas knew so much of the malice of the Jews against Christ, and the counsels of God concerning him, which he had often told them of, that it was no foreign supposition that he was now going to die. And now Thomas manifests, First, A gracious readiness to die with Christ himself, flowing from strong affections to him, though his faith was weak, as appeared afterwards, Joh 14:5; Joh 20:25. Where thou diest I will die, Rut 1:17. Secondly, A zealous desire to help his fellow-disciples into the same frame: "Let us go, one and all, and die with him; if they stone him, let them stone us; who would desire to survive such a Master?" Thus, in difficult times, Christians should animate one another. We may each of us say, Let us die with him. Note, The consideration of the dying of the Lord Jesus should make us willing to die whenever God calls for us.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now a certain man was sick,.... Very likely of…
Now a certain man was sick,.... Very likely of a fever; Nonnus calls it a morbid fire, a hot and burning disease:
named Lazarus of Bethany; for his name, which the Ethiopic version reads "Eleazar", and the Persic version "Gazarus", See Gill on Luk 16:24; and for the place Bethany; see Gill on Mat 21:1, See Gill on Mat 21:17.
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The town of Mary and her sister Martha; where they were both born, as well as Lazarus, or at least where they dwelt; of the former, some account is, given in the next verse, and of the latter, See Gill on Luk 10:38.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain One Lazarus - It is probable, Lazarus was younger…
One Lazarus - It is probable, Lazarus was younger than his sisters. Bethany is named, the town of Mary and Martha, and Lazarus is mentioned after them, ver. 5. Ecclesiastical history informs us, that Lazarus was now thirty years old, and that he lived thirty years after Christ's ascension.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Account of the sickness of Lazarus, 1.
CHAPTER XI.
Account of the sickness of Lazarus, 1.
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His sisters Martha and Mary send for Christ, 2.
Our Lord's discourse with his disciples on this sickness and
consequent death, 3-16.
He arrives at Bethany four days after the burying of Lazarus,
17, 18.
Martha meets Christ-their conversation, 19-27.
She returns and Mary goes out to meet him, in great distress,
28-33.
Christ comes to the grave-his conversation there, 34-42.
He raises Lazarus from the dead, 43-46.
The priests and Pharisees, hearing of this, hold a council, and
plot his destruction, 47, 48.
The remarkable prophecy of Caiaphas, and the consequent
proceedings of the Jews, 49-53.
Jesus withdraws into a city called Ephraim, 54.
They lay wait for him at the passover, 55-67.
NOTES ON CHAP. XI.
Verse 1. Lazarus, of Bethany] St. John, who seldom relates any thing but what the other evangelists have omitted, does not tell us what gave rise to that familiar acquaintance and friendship that subsisted between our Lord and this family. It is surprising that the other evangelists have omitted so remarkable an account as this is, in which some of the finest traits in our Lord's character are exhibited. The conjecture of Grotius has a good deal of weight. He thinks that the other three evangelists wrote their histories during the life of Lazarus; and that they did not mention him for fear of exciting the malice of the Jews against him. And indeed we find, from Joh 12:10, that they sought to put Lazarus to death also, that our Lord might not have one monument of his power and goodness remaining in the land. Probably both Lazarus and his sisters were dead before St. John wrote. Bethany was situated at the foot of the mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem. Bishop Pearce observes that "there is a large gap in John's history of Christ in this place. What is mentioned in the preceding chapter passed at the feast of the dedication, Joh 10:22, about the middle of our December; and this miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead seems to have been wrought but a little before the following passover, in the end of March, at which time Jesus was crucified, as may (he thinks) be gathered from verses 54 and 55 of this chapter, Joh 11:54-55, and from Joh 12:9." John has, therefore, according to the bishop's calculation, omitted to mention the several miracles which our Lord wrought for above three months after the things mentioned in the preceding chapter.
Calmet says, Christ left Jerusalem the day after the dedication took place, which was the 18th of December. He event then to Bethabara, where he continued preaching and his disciples baptizing. About the middle of the following January Lazarus fell sick: Christ did not leave Bethabara till after the death of Lazarus, which happened about the 18th of the same month.
Bishop Newcome supposes that our Lord might have stayed about a month at Bethabara.
The harmonists and chronologists differ much in fixing dates, and ascertaining times. In cases of this nature, I believe men may innocently guess as well as they can; but they should assert nothing.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Joh 11:1-2. Now a certain man was sick, named…
Joh 11:1-2. Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus — While Jesus was on the other side of Jordan, whither he had retired when he left Jerusalem, a particular friend of his, called Lazarus, fell sick of a very dangerous disorder, at the village of Bethany, near Jerusalem. The town of Mary, and Martha, Lazarus’s sisters — It is probable Lazarus was younger than his sisters, Bethany being named their town, and Lazarus being mentioned after them, Joh 11:5. Ecclesiastical history informs us, that Lazarus was now thirty years old, and that he lived thirty years after Christ’s ascension. It was that Mary who afterward anointed the Lord with ointment — See Joh 12:3; and Mat 26:7. Some commentators have supposed that this refers to the story related by Luk 7:37, &c.; and have argued from thence, that Mary Magdalene, whom they think to be the person there described, as a woman that was a sinner, was the same with this Mary, the sister of Lazarus. But it seems much more probable that John himself should mention the fact that he has here referred to, which, if he has done at all, it must be that which he relates Joh 12:3, &c., where there can be no doubt that the person who performed this instance of respect to Christ was Mary the sister of Lazarus, who was of Bethany, and therefore must be different from Mary Magdalene, who was of Magdala, a town of Galilee, at a considerable distance. Nor is there any ground from Scripture to conclude, that Mary Magdalene was the person who anointed Christ in Luke, which appears rather to be there described as the action of a woman of Nain, where Christ restored the widow’s son to life. See note on Luk 7:37; Luk 8:2.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A certain man was sick - The resurrection of…
A certain man was sick - The resurrection of Lazarus has been recorded only by John. Various reasons have been conjectured why the other evangelists did not mention so signal a miracle. The most probable is, that at the time they wrote Lazarus was still living. The miracle was well known, and yet to have recorded it might have exposed Lazarus to opposition and persecution from the Jews. See Joh 12:10-11. Besides, John wrote for Christians who were out of Palestine. The other gospels were written chiefly for those who were in Judea. There was the more need, therefore, that he should enter minutely into the account of the miracle, while the others did not deem it necessary or proper to record an event so well known.
Bethany - A village on the eastern declivity of the Mount of Olives. See the notes at Mat 21:1.
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The town of Mary - The place where she lived. At that place also lived Simon the leper Mat 26:6, and there our Lord spent considerable part of his time when he was in Judea. The transaction recorded in this chapter occurred nearly four months after those mentioned in the previous chapter. Those occurred in December, and these at the approach of the Passover in April.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain At the end of the preceding chapter, we are…
At the end of the preceding chapter, we are told that Jesus went into the place where John the Baptist was first baptizing. This place, as may be gather from St. John, (chap. i. ver. 28. and 44.) was Bethania; but not the Bethania where the sister of Lazarus resided. The Bethania where Christ was at this time was beyond the Jordan, and was likewise called Bethabara; whereas the Bethania where Lazarus lay sick, was two miles to the south of Jerusalem, and formed a part of the suburbs of that city. It is called the town of Martha and Mary, because they lived there; in the same manner as Bethsaida is called the city of Peter and Andrew. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain John Chapter 11
John Chapter 11
We come now to the testimony which the Father renders to Jesus in answer to His rejection. In this chapter the power of resurrection and of life in His own Person are presented to faith. [40] But here it is not simply that He is rejected: man is looked upon as dead, and Israel also. For it is man in the person of Lazarus. This family was blessed; it received the Lord into its bosom. Lazarus falls sick. All the Lord’s human affections would be naturally concerned. Martha and Mary feel this; and they send Him word that he whom He loved was sick. But Jesus stays where He is. He might have said the word, as in the case of the centurion, and of the sick child at the beginning of this Gospel. But He did not. He had manifested His power and His goodness in healing man as he is found on earth, and delivering him from the enemy, and that in the midst of Israel. But this was not His object here-far from it-or the limits of what He was come to do. It was a question of bestowing life, or raising up again that which was dead before God. This was the real state of Israel; it was the state of man. Therefore He allows the condition of man under sin to go on and manifest itself in all the intensity of its effects down here, and permits the enemy to exercise his power to the end. Nothing remained but the judgment of God; and death, in itself, convicted man of sin while conducting him to judgment. The sick may be healed-there is no remedy for death. All is over for man, as man here below. Nothing remains but the judgment of God. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. The Lord therefore does not heal in this instance. He allows the evil to go on to the end-to death. That was the true place of man. Lazarus once fallen asleep, He goes to awaken him. The disciples fear the Jews, and with reason. But the Lord, having waited for His Father’s will, does not fear to accomplish it. It was day to Him.
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In fact, whatever might be His love for the nation, He must needs let it die (indeed it was dead), and wait for the time appointed by God to raise it up again. If He must die Himself to accomplish it, He commits Himself to His Father.
But let us follow out the depths of this doctrine. Death has come in; it must take effect. Man is really in death before God; but God in grace comes in. Two things are presented in our history. He might have healed. The faith and hope of neither Martha, Mary, nor the Jews, went any farther. Only Martha acknowledges that, as the Messiah, favoured of God, He would obtain from Him whatsoever He asked. But He had not prevented the death of Lazarus. He had done so many times, even for strangers, for whosoever desired it. In the second place, Martha knew that her brother would rise again at the last day; but true as it was, this truth availed nothing. Who would answer for man, dead through judgment on sin? To rise again and appear before God was not an answer to death come in by sin. The two things were true. Christ had often delivered mortal man from his sufferings in flesh, and there shall be a resurrection at the last day. But these things were of no value in the presence of death. Christ was, however, there; and He is, thanks be to God! the resurrection and the life. Man being dead, resurrection comes first. But Jesus is the resurrection and the life in the present power of a divine life. And observe that life, coming by resurrection, delivers from all that death implies, and leaves it behind [41] sin, death, all that belongs to the life that man has lost. Christ, having died for our sins, has borne their punishment-has borne them. He has died. All the power of the enemy, all its effect on mortal man, all the judgment of God, He has borne it all, and has come up from it, in the power of a new life in resurrection, which is imparted to us; so that we are in spirit alive from among the dead, as He is alive from among the dead. Sin (as made sin, and bearing our sins in His own body on the tree), death, Satan’s power, God’s judgment, are all past through and left behind, and man is in a wholly new state, in incorruption. It will be true of us, if we die (for we shall not all die), as to the body, or, being changed, if we do not die. But in the communication of His life who is risen from the dead, God has quickened us with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.
Jesus here manifested His own divine power to this effect; the Son of God was glorified in it, for we know He had not yet died for sin; but it was this same power in Him that was manifested. [42] The believer, even if he were dead, shall rise again; and the living who believe in Him shall not die. Christ has overcome death; the power for this was in His Person, and the Father bore Him witness of it. Are any that are His alive when the Lord exercises this power? They will never die-death exists no more in His presence. Have any died before He exercises it? They shall live-death cannot subsist before Him. All the effect of sin upon man is completely destroyed by resurrection, viewed as the power of life in Christ. This refers of course to the saints, to whom life is communicated. The same divine power is, of course, exercised as to the wicked; but it is not the communication of life from Christ, nor being raised with Him, as is evident. [<A href=“#43” 43] Christ exercised this power in obedience and in dependence on His Father, because He was man, walking before God to do His will; but He is the resurrection and the life. He has brought the power of divine life into the midst of death; and death is annihilated by it, for in life death is no more. Death was the end of natural life to sinful man. Resurrection is the end of death, which has thus no longer anything in us. It is our advantage that, having done all it could do, it is finished. We live in the life [44] that put an end to it. We come out from all that could be connected with a life that no longer exists. What a deliverance! Christ is this power. He became this for us in its full display and exercise in His resurrection.
Martha, while loving Him and believing in Him, does not understand this; and she calls Mary, feeling that her sister would better understand the Lord. We will speak a little of these two presently. Mary, who waited for the Lord’s own calling her to Him, modestly though sorrowfully leaving the initiative with Him, believing thus that the Lord had called her, goes to Him directly. Jews and Martha and Mary all had seen miracles and healings that had arrested the power of death. To this they all refer. But here life had passed away. What now could help? If He had been there, His love and power they could have counted on. Mary falls down at His feet weeping. On the point of resurrection power she understood no more than Martha; but her heart is melted under the sense of death in the presence of Him who had life. It is an expression of need and sorrow rather than a complaint that she utters. The Jews also weep: the power of death was on their hearts. Jesus enters into it in sympathy. He was troubled in spirit. He sighs before God, He weeps with man; but His tears turn into a groan, which was, though inarticulate, the weight of death, felt in sympathy, and presented to God by this groan of love which fully realised the truth; and that in love to those who were suffering the ill that His groan expressed.
He bore death before God in His spirit as the misery of man-the yoke from which man could not deliver himself, and He is heard. The need brings His power into action. It was not His part now patiently to explain to Martha what He was. He feels and acts upon the need to which Mary had given expression, her heart being opened by the grace that was in Him.
Man may sympathise: it is the expression of his powerlessness. Jesus enters into the affliction of mortal man, puts Himself under the burden of death that weighs upon man (and that more thoroughly than man himself can do), but He takes it away with its cause. He does more than take it away; He brings in the power that is able to take it away. This is the glory of God. When Christ is present, if we die, we do not die for death, but for life: we die that we may live in the life of God, instead of in the life of man. And wherefore? That the Son of God may be glorified. Death came in by sin; and man is under the power of death. But this has only given room for our possessing life according to the second Adam, the Son of God, and not according to the first Adam, the sinful man. This is grace. God is glorified in this work of grace, and it is the Son of God whose glory shines brightly forth in this divine work.
And, observe, that this is not grace offered in testimony, it is the exercise of the power of life. Corruption itself is no hindrance to God. Why did Christ come? To bring the words of eternal life to dead man. Now Mary fed upon those words. Martha served-cumbered her heart with many things. She believed, she loved Jesus, she received Him into her house: the Lord loved her. Mary listened to Him: this was what He came for; and He had justified her in it. The good part which she had chosen should not be taken from her.
When the Lord arrives, Martha goes of her own accord to meet Him. She withdraws when Jesus speaks to her of the present power of life. We are ill at ease when, although Christians, we feel unable to apprehend the meaning of the Lord’s words, or of what His people say to us. Martha felt that this was rather Mary’s part than hers. She goes away and calls her sister, saying, that the Master (He who taught-observe this name that she gives Him) was come, and called for her. It was her own conscience that was to her the voice of Christ. Mary instantly arises and comes to Him. She understood no more than Martha. Her heart pours out its need at the feet of Jesus, where she had heard His words and learnt His love and grace; and Jesus asks the way to the grave. To Martha, ever occupied with circumstances, her brother stank already.
Afterwards (Martha served, and Lazarus was present), Mary anoints the Lord, in the instinctive sense of what was going on; for they were consulting to put Him to death. Her heart, taught by love to the Lord, felt the enmity of the Jews; and her affection, stimulated by deep gratitude, expends on Him the most costly thing she had. Those present blame her; Jesus again takes her part. It might not be reasonable, but she had apprehended His position. What a lesson! What a blessed family was this at Bethany, in which the heart of Jesus found (as far as could be on earth) a relief that His love accepted! With what love have we to do! Alas, with what hatred! for we see in this Gospel the dreadful opposition between man and God.
There is an interesting point to be observed here before we pass on. The Holy Ghost has recorded an incident, in which the momentary but guilty unbelief of Thomas was covered by the Lord’s grace. It was needful to relate it; but the Holy Ghost has taken care to shew us, that Thomas loved the Lord, and was ready, at heart, to die with Him. We have other instances of the same kind. Paul says, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is profitable to me for the ministry.” Poor Mark! this was necessary on account of what took place at Perga. Barnabas also has the same place in the apostle’s affection and remembrance. We are weak: God does not hide it from us; but He throws the testimony of His grace over the feeblest of His servants.
But to continue. Caiaphas, the chief of the Jews, as high priest, proposes the death of Jesus, because He had restored Lazarus to life. And from that day they conspire against Him. Jesus yields to it. He came to give His life a ransom for many. He goes on to fulfil the work His love had undertaken, in accordance with His Father’s will, whatever might be the devices and the malice of men. The work of life and Or death, of Satan and of God, were face to face. But the counsels of God were being accomplished in grace, whatever the means might be. Jesus devotes Himself to the work by which they were to be fulfilled. Having shewn the power of resurrection and of life in Himself, He is again, when the time comes, quietly in the place to which His service led Him; but He no longer goes in the same manner as before into the temple. He goes thither indeed; but the question between God and man was morally settled already.
Footnotes for John Chapter 11
40: It is very striking to see the Lord in the lowliness of obedient service, allowing evil to have its full way in man’s failure (death) and Satan’s power, till His Father’s will called Him to meet it. Then no danger hinders, and then He is the resurrection and the life in personal presence and power, and then giving Himself-being such, up to death for us.
41: Christ took human life in grace and sinless; and as alive in this life He took sin upon Him. Sin belongs, so to speak, to this life in which Christ knew no sin, but was made sin for us. But He dies-He quits this life. He is dead to sin; He has done with sin in having done with the life to which sin belonged, not in Him indeed but in us, and alive in which He was made sin for us.Raised up again by the power of God, He lives in a new condition, into which sin cannot enter, being left behind with the life that He left. Faith brings us into it by grace. It has been pretended that these thoughts affect the divine and eternal life which was in Christ. But this is all idle and evil cavil. Even in an unconverted sinner, dying or laying down life has nothing to do with ceasing to exist as to the life of the man within. All live to God, and divine life in Christ never could cease or be changed. He never laid that down, but in the power of that, laid down His life as He possessed it here as man, to take it up in an entirely new way in resurrection beyond the grave. The cavil is a very evil cavil. In this edition I have changed nothing in this note, but have added a few words in the hope that it may be clear to all. The doctrine itself is vital truth. In the text I have erased or altered a part for another reason, namely, that there was confusion between the divine power of life in Christ, and God’s raising Him viewed as a dead man from the grave. Both are true and blessedly so, but they are different and were here confounded together. In Ephesians Christ as man is raised by God. In John it is the divine and quickening power in Himself.
42: Resurrection has a double character: divine power, which He could exercise and did exercise as to Himself (chap. 2:19), and here as to Lazarus, both the proof of divine sonship; and the deliverance of a dead man from his state of death. Thus God raised Christ from the dead, so here Christ raises Lazarus. In Christ’s resurrection both were united in His own Person. Here, of course, they were separate. But Christ has life in Himself and that in divine power. But He laid down His life in grace. We are quickened together with Him in Eph 2:1-22. But it seems avoided saying, He was quickened, when speaking of Him alone in chapter 1.
43: The cavil I have referred to in the note to page 345 sanctions (most unwittingly, I gladly admit) the pestiferous doctrine of annihilation, as if laying down life, or death, that is the end of natural life, were ceasing to exist. I notice it, because this form of evil doctrine is one very current now. It subverts the whole substance of Christianity.
44: Observe the sense which the apostle had of the power of this life, when he says, “That mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Consider, in this point of view, the first five chapters of 2 Corinthians.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain
II
ANTITHESIS BETWEEN THE BELIEVING AND THE UNBELIEVING JEWS OF JUDEA AND JERUSALEM AT THE GRAVE OF LAZARUS. CHRIST, IN CONSEQUENCE OF HIS RAISING OF LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD, HIMSELF DEVOTED TO DEATH. SYMBOLISM OF DAY’S WORK AND OF SLEEP. THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.
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Joh_11:1-57
A. Christ’s death-bringing journey to Bethany to raise His friend from the dead. Symbolism of day-life and night-life. Symbolism of sleep
(Joh_11:1-16.)
1Now [But] a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of [from] Bethany, the town 2of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that [the] Mary which [who afterwards] anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick. 4When Jesus heard that, he said [And Jesus hearing it, said], This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might [may] be glorified thereby.
5Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6When he had heard therefore [When therefore he heard] that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was [he then remained in the place where he was, two days]. 7Then after that saith he [Then after this he saith] to his [the] disciples, Let 8us go into Judea again. His [The] disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought [just now were seeking, νῦν ἐζήτουν] to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 9Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man 10walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. 11These things said he: and after that [this] he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth 12[hath fallen asleep]; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples [The disciples therefore said to him]1, Lord, if he sleep [hath fallen asleep] he shall do well [become whole, recover]2. 13Howbeit Jesus spake [But Jesus had spoken] of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep [he was speaking of the rest of sleep, περὶ τῆς κοιμήσεως τοῦ ὕπνου]3. 14Then [Then therefore, τότε οὖν] said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. 16Then said Thomas, which [who] is called Didymus [i. e. twin child], unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
In the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the most stupendous of the revivifying (quickening) miracles of Jesus, we see at once the ultimate occasion of His death, and the first foreshadowing of His resurrection. Bayle relates of Spinoza [the Jewish philosopher]: “On m’ a assuré qu ’il disait à ses amis, que s’il eût pu se persuader la résurrection de Lazare, il aurait brisé en piéces tout son système et aurait embrassé sans répugnance la foi ordinaire des chrétiens.” [Dict. art. Spinoza].4
The special plea of modern criticism against the reality of this miracle is the silence of the Synoptists. This fact may be explained: 1. By the character of the Gospels, each one of which being a particular view of the life of Jesus, uses only such historical matter as suits its total; 2. by historical circumstances which made it seem advisable to the Synoptists, who wrote earlier, to omit from their records the history of the family of Bethany, probably in order to avoid attracting to it the attention of Jewish fanatics in Jerusalem (see Leben Jesu, II. 2, p. 1132); 5 3. by the preponderance of Galilean tradition in the Synoptists, which may well be connected with the fact that a great portion of this tradition was derived from narratives of the life of Jesus addressed by the earlier disciples of Galilee to the later disciples at Jerusalem. We have proof in the writings of the Synoptists that they were well aware of the frequent sojourn of Jesus at Jerusalem; Mat_23:37; Luk_10:38.6
[The narrative is divided into three parts: (1) The preparation, which is ruled by the idea of death, 1–16; (2) The raising of Lazarus, or the triumph of life over death, 17–44; (3) The effect, (a) the positive effect: confirmation of the faith of the disciples, 45; (b) the negative effect: exciting the opposition of the Sanhedrin to deadly hatred, 47–57.—The miracle carries its own evidence to every fair and unprejudiced mind. But as the performance of it was a moral test to the Jews, so is its narrative to the readers and critics: a savor of life and a source of comfort to believers, a stumbling-block to unbelievers. There are four false theories, opposed to the true one: 1. The rationalistic view of a raising from a trance, in spite of the ἤδη ὄ̇ζει, Joh_11:39! (Paulus, Gabler, Ammon, Kern, Schweizer, modified by Gfrörer and Weisse). 2. The mythical hypothesis of an unconscious poem of the primitive Christian fancy. (Strauss, in his large “Life of Jesus,” while in his new Leben Jesu, p. 476 ff., he represents the historic Lazarus of John as a free fiction of the fourth Evangelist based upon the parabolic Lazarus of Luke.) 3. The theory of a conscious symbolical or allegorical representation of the death-conquering glory of Christ and His disciples. (Baur, Weizsäcker). 4. The infamous hypothesis of a down-right imposture or pious fraud, an intrigue of the family of Bethany, to which Jesus lent Himself as an instrument with the view to make an impression upon the unbelieving Jews. (Renan, Vie de Jésus, p. 359 f.). All these theories owe their origin to a disbelief in the supernatural. They neutralize each other and explain nothing at all. The only alternative is: historic truth, or dishonest fiction. The historic truth is abundantly attested by the simplicity, vivacity and circumstantiality of the narrative, the four days in the tomb (Joh_11:39), and the good sense and moral honesty—to say the very least—of Lazarus and his sisters, the Evangelist and Christ Himself.—P. S.]
Joh_11:1. But there was a certain man sick.—The δέ indicates that Jesus’ stay in Peræa was terminated by the sickness and death of Lazarus.
Lazarus, from Bethany.—The designation of Lazarus: from Bethany [άπό, like ἐκ, denotes descent, or, as here, residence], as also the designation of Bethany as the town of Mary and Martha her sister (comp. Joh_1:44), presupposes the acquaintance of the readers with the family of Bethany, and places Mary, as the most prominent personality of the group, in the foreground. After her, mention is made of Martha, as her sister; after both, Bethany is designated; after Bethany, Lazarus.
Bethany on the Mount of Olives, distinct from the Bethany beyond Jordan, in the environs of which Jesus is now, probably, again abiding (see Joh_1:28), is distant three-quarters of an hour [about two miles] from Jerusalem, in a south-easterly direction, on the other [eastern] side of the Mount of Olives, over whose southern portion the road leads. From its situation on the declivity of the mountain, Simonis thus construes it: בֵּית עֲנִוָּה, locus depressionis, Low Borough, Valley Borough; with more probability, however, Lightfoot, Reland and others hold that it derives its name from its date-palms: בֵּית הִינֵי, locus dactylorum, House of Dates, Date Borough (see the palm-entry, Matthew 21).7 In the history of the Passion, Bethany appears as a peaceful refuge for the Lord from hostile Jerusalem; Mat_21:17; Mat_26:6, etc.8
[Bethany is never mentioned in the Old Testament or the Apocrypha, and is known to us only from the New Testament, but possesses an unusual charm as the place where more than in any other Jesus loved to dwell and to enjoy domestic life. There was a house of peace with three children of peace, where the Prince of Peace went in and out as a friend. There He received the hospitable attentions of busy Martha, and commended the contemplative Mary (Luk_10:38 ff.); there He performed His greatest miracle on their brother Lazarus, and proved Himself to be the Resurrection and the Life; there Mary anointed Him against the day of His burial; from Bethany He commenced His triumphant entry into Jerusalem; to Bethany He resorted for the rest of the night during the few days before His crucifixion; and near this village He loved so well, He ascended to heaven. At present it is a poor, wretched mountain hamlet of some twenty families, and is called, from Lazarus, El-Azarîyeh (by Robinson) or El-Lazarieh (according to Lord Lindsay and Stanley); the traditional sites of the house and tomb of Lazarus are still shown. Stanley and Grove give a very unfavorable account; but Bonar and Lindsay describe the situation of Bethany, as viewed from a distance, as “remarkably beautiful,” “the perfection of retirement and repose,” “of seclusion and lovely peace.” It is no doubt with Bethany as with Jerusalem and Palestine generally: it is a mere shadow of the past, a scene of desolation and death; yet not without traces of former glory, and not without hope of a future resurrection.—P. S.]
Joh_11:2. It was the Mary who (afterwards) anointed the Lord with ointment, etc.—John supposes the history of the anointing to be familiar through the evangelical tradition; and this trait shows the vividness and copiousness of that tradition and at the same time the historical character of this Gospel. In the next chapter he proceeds to relate the history of the anointing itself [as required by the course of his narrative]. The evangelist designs here to bring into view the friendly relation existing between Jesus and the brother and sisters of Bethany, in explanation of the following history. Comp. Com. on Matthew, chap. 26; Luke, chap. 10. Touching the vast difference between Mary of Bethany and the great sinner or Mary Magdalene, comp. the Art. Maria Magdalena in Herzog’s Real-Encyklopædia [vol. ix. p. 102 ff.].9 On the character of the two sisters comp. the Com. on Luke, chap. 10. 10 Hengstenberg’s romance founded upon the story of the family of Bethany, is well known.
[Hengstenberg devotes twenty-six pages of his Commentary on John (vol. ii. pp. 198–224) to prove that Lazarus of Bethany whom the Lord raised from the dead, is none other than the poor Lazarus of the parable, and that Mary of Bethany is the same with the unnamed sinner who washed the Saviour’s feet with her tears of repentance (Luk_7:36 ff.) and with Mary Magdalene (Luk_8:2). In the former he is original; in the latter he follows the tradition of the Latin church which identified the two or three Marys, down to recent times when it was rightly opposed by several Roman Catholic as well as Protestant divines. Out of the scattered hints of the Gospels Hengstenberg, with more ingenuity than sound judgment and good taste, weaves the following religious novel, which is worthy of a place in a Romish legendary. Mary, originally of Magdala, a village on the western coast of the lake of Galilee, near the city of Tiberias, led a disreputable life, but was converted to Christ, who expelled from her seven devils, i.e., her wild passions, and gave her rest and peace. She clung to Him with boundless devotion and followed Him on His journeys in Galilee (Luk_8:2) and to Judea. While the Lord labored in and around Jerusalem she resided at Bethany in the house or country-seat of her sister Martha, who had married a rich but low-minded Pharisee, Simon the Leper. Here she anointed the Lord and wiped His feet with the tears of repentance, six days before His passion (Luke 7, which is assumed to be the same with the scene described John 12.) Her brother Lazarus, after a similar life of dissipation and consequent poverty, resorted also to the protection of Martha and lived off the parsimonious charity of his brother-in-law. He is the beggar at the gate of “the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day” (Luk_16:19 ff.). He died, was buried, and carried to Abraham’s bosom, but was raised again by Christ, to which an allusion may be found in the parable (Joh_11:31, “though one rose from the dead”). Mary and Lazarus were so dearly loved by Him, not on account of their virtuous and lovely character, but as striking examples of the power of redeeming grace. They illustrate His saying that it is easier for publicans and sinners to enter the kingdom than for righteous Pharisees.—The grounds for this strange combination are the identity of names (Lazarus of the parable—the only name mentioned in any parable of the New Testament—and Lazarus of Bethany; Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany), and the similarity of the anointing scene related by Luke, Joh_7:36 ff., and the one described by John, Joh_12:3, as well as Matthew, Mat_22:3 ff.; and Mar_14:3. But the differences of locality (Magdala and Bethany), of time (the beginning and the close of Christ’s ministry), and of circumstances, in the anointing scenes, are sufficient to neutralize the superficial appearance of identity. Besides, there are strong arguments against Hengstenberg’s hypothesis. 1. Luke’s Gospel which is constructed on the chronological order (Luk_1:3), can not be charged with such a glaring chronological mistake, as to place the anointing of Christ in Bethany in the first year of Christ’s ministry, when according to Matthew, Mark and John it occurred only six days before His passion and had special reference to His near burial. 2. Luke, in introducing Mary of Bethany in Luk_10:39, gives no intimation that she was the unnamed sinner of John 7 or the Mary Magdalene whom he had already honorably mentioned inLuke _8:2; nor does John give any hint of such identity when he introduces Mary Magdalene in Luk_19:25. To explain this fact, Hengstenberg (p. 208) resorts to the far-fetched conjecture of intentional concealment of the identity from family considerations and apprehensions of abuse. 3. If Lazarus lived in miserable dependence on a mean brother-in-law, it would have been cruel to call him back from Paradise. 4. There is an intrinsic improbability, as urged already by Origen and Chrysostom, that Jesus should have selected for His special friendship persons whoso former lives were stained by gross impurity.—The view of Hengstenberg has been generally rejected by German commentators, but Bishop Wordsworth (on Luk_11:1), without mentioning his name, seems to adopt it as far as the identity of the Lazarus of the parable and the Lazarus of the miracle is concerned. He finds in the parable a prophecy of the miracle, in the latter a fulfilment of the former. Godet (II. 320) aptly says of Hengstenberg’s dissertation that it only proves the facility with which a man of learning and acumen can prove any thing he wants to prove.—But while we must utterly reject the identification of the two Lazaruses, it is quite possible that the Lazarus of John 11 was either a son or a brother-in-law of Simon the Pharisee. An article in Smith’s Dict. (vol. II., p. 1614) identifies him with the young and rich ruler who came to Jesus and was loved by Him, Matthew 19; Mark 10; Luk_18:8, but this conjecture is without proof and contrary to the chronological order of events. The traditions concerning the later life of Lazarus and his labors in Marseilles, where he is said to have founded a church and suffered martyrdom, are worthless. The ecclesiastical applications of the name of Lazarus (Knights of St. Lazarus, lazaretto, lazar-house, lazzarone) are derived from the Lazarus of the parable and connected with the etymology (Lazarus=לֹא עֵזֶר, auxilio destitutus, no help, helpless, or better=לַעְזָר, abridged from אֶלְעָזָר, Eliazar, Deus auxilium, the German Gotthilf). The Lazarists, a French Society of missionary priests, were named after Lazarus of Bethany (from the College of St. Lazarus in Paris which they acquired in 1632).—P. S.]
Joh_11:3. Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.—If we read in these words the indirect expression of a positive entreaty that Jesus would come, possibly we overlook the situation of the parties. It is as evident to the sisters in Bethany as to the disciples that imminent peril of death threatens the Lord in Jerusalem and its surrounding country. We are not warranted in assuming that they rated the sickness of their brother higher than the deadly peril impending over Jesus. In fact, in their very appreciation of His danger we read the explanation of their tender message in its delicate historicalness. They give emphasis to their communication thus: whom Thou lovest; it is the expression of an ardent, heart-felt desire wherewith they inform Him of what may happen. [ὅν φιλεῖς is more solicitous of help than the mere name, and yet more modest, than “who loves Thee,” or the designation of “friend,” as the Lord in His condescending love calls Lazarus, Joh_11:11.—P. S.]
Joh_11:4. Jesus hearing it said [εἶπεν] This sickness, etc.—[Alford: “The only right understanding of this answer, and our Lord’s whole proceeding here is,—that He knew and foresaw all from the first,—as well the termination of Lazarus’s sickness and his being raised again, as the part which this miracle would bear in bringing about the close of His own ministry.”—P. S.] In the lack of ἀπεκρίνατο (replied) there is no warrant for the assumption that these words did not form part of a message sent to the sisters, although they were addressed to the disciples also. It was, in reality, His prophetic utterance concerning the entire sickness.—Is not unto death [πρὸςθάνατον].—The expression was an ambiguous one and involved a trial of faith for the sisters. They might thus understand it: The sickness will not result in death, will not be fatal; and to this interpretation the rest of the sentence might seem to point: for the glory of God, etc. From these words it was possible to draw the inference that Jesus would at all events preserve Lazarus from death; perhaps by an exercise of healing power from afar. But this was not His meaning. The certainty and the necessity of the death of Lazarus were manifest to Him from the beginning; He foreknew also that He should raise him from the dead. In this sense, therefore, we are to understand His words: The end and aim of this sickness is not death, but the glorification of God by a raising of the dead, which shall also glorify the Son of God.11 Therein lay a trial of faith for the sisters (Brenz, Neander). A human instrumentality in order to the divine awakening of the dead was also thus ordained. The sick man and his sisters waited hopefully for the Lord even until the coming of death; then, if they would not be perplexed by the promise of Jesus (see Joh_11:40), on which their hopes were based, they must take refuge in the mysterious expression: to the glory of God. Not only does the text afford no ground for the supposition that a second message concerning the further progress of the malady was sent to the Lord, informing Him of the incorrectness of His favorable opinion (Paulus, Neander), but such a supposition is directly contrary to the text (see Joh_11:14).—That the Son of God may be glorified thereby.—This was the purpose of God. Not that God should be glorified by the glorification of Christ (Meyer), but that the glorifying of God through the miracle wrought in His name should also glorify the Son of God,—and this in a striking manner, in the presence of a great multitude and in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They who accused Him of working miracles by the power of Satan, should be witnesses to this astounding miracle, performed by Him after a solemn invocation of that God, whom they called their God and as the blasphemer of whom they denounced Him. It is noteworthy that after this fact He is no more charged with having a demon and working miracles by the assistance of Beelzebub. Christ’s prayer to God at the grave of Lazarus was, however, introduced by the sending of the man who was born blind to the pool of Siloam, that being the property of the temple and of the God of the temple.
Joh_11:5. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.—[and—and: happy family! Bengel.]—Reference of these words: 1. De Wette: Explanatory of Joh_11:3; John 2. Meyer: explanatory of the consoling assurance contained in Joh_11:4; John 3. Baumgarten-Crusius: preparatory to Joh_11:6. “Although He loved them all, He tarried.” Why is Martha here the prominent person and Mary simply designated as her sister? Martha stood in peculiar need of a still greater trial of faith, of purification from her petty cares; and in order to these results, death must be felt in all its terrors and deliverance in all its rapture. In this sense Jesus loved her. Thus the connection with Joh_11:6 might also be expressed by a “therefore,” etc. But since the evangelist has not specified this connection more positively, room is left for both conjectures (“although” and “therefore”). The expression ἠγάπα, not ἐφίλει (as Joh_11:3), may not have been chosen solely “on account of the therewith mentioned sisters” (Meyer), but also on account of the loftily severe conduct of the love of Christ. [ἀγαπᾶν may be used of divine love, but φιλεῖν expresses human love and the personal relation of friendship. The relation of Jesus to the female sex exhibits a tenderness truly human with a purity and dignity truly divine. Comp. the remarks on p. 167.—P. S.]
Joh_11:6. When therefore he heard that he was sick, then (at that time), indeed, he remained two days.—Τότε μέν [tum quidem, omitted in the E. V.]. The μέν leads us to expect a δέ after ἔπειτα, which has, however, been omitted in order that the conclusion of the sentence might appear independently in all its significance. Explanation of the delay of Jesus:
1. In order to test the faith of the interested parties (Olshausen after the ancients). This motive cannot be rejected as “inhuman arbitrariness” (Meyer). It was undoubtedly influential, although not exclusively so.
2. Jesus was detained in Peræa by important business (Lücke [Neander, Tholuck] and others.) Here, without doubt, we have the grand motive and the foundation of the previously mentioned one, for it would have been an utter impossibility for Jesus to remain two days away from Bethany in inactivity. Meyer objects to this explanation on the ground that nothing of the kind is stated in the text. But it is implied everywhere that Jesus was never inactive and that He had days’ works, times (καιροί) and hours, appointed Him by God.
3. Meyer [and Alford]: The motive is indicated Joh_11:4 : the glorification of God through the miracle. This was undoubtedly a final and supreme motive, one, however, that never stands alone; it is invariably associated with concrete, moral motives. Assuming this to be the sole motive, the delay of two days was totally unnecessary, since Lazarus had already been dead a long time.
Bretschneider and his followers have based their arguments against the authenticity of the history itself upon this delay, which they did not comprehend. We must further beware of the false idea that Jesus first suffered Lazarus to die, and then went to raise him from the dead. As Lazarus had already lain in the grave four days, when Jesus arrived at Bethany, he would (assuming the distance to have been a day’s journey) have been two days in the grave, if Jesus had set out for Bethany immediately upon receiving the message. Hence He caused no fruitless waiting by the bedside of the sick man. The sisters had deferred sending the message to Jesus until Lazarus was at the point of death, because they knew the danger attending the return of the Saviour to Judea. So fine a historical trait cannot have been invented.
Two days.—On the great activity of Jesus in Peræa see the Com. on Matthew. He was to depart from a province in which there were many that believed on Him.
Joh_11:7. Let us go again into Judea (from Peræa), etc.—He does not say, to Bethany. To Judea, “to the land of unbelief and deadly enmity.”12 The πάλιν is doubtless indicative of the fact that Jesus had previously journeyed with the disciples from Peræa to Judea, to attend the feast of the consecration of the temple.
Joh_11:8. But just now13 the Jews were seeking to stone Thee.—Dissuading, in view of the obvious peril of death. In this connection the form of the message sent by the sisters is to be explained. These words, as well as Joh_11:16, prove that the disciples were not apprehensive as to their own safety merely, but that the Lord was the principal subject of their anxiety.
Joh_11:9. Are there not (fully) twelve hours, etc.?—“In Palestine, where the clays are of nearly equal duration, they are divided, the whole year through, into twelve hours.” Gerlach.14 Jesus probably uttered these words in the early morning, in view of the rising sun,15 just as the day was beginning; in like manner the words: I must work as long as it is day (Joh_9:4), were spoken in face of the setting sun. In the first place, this was not said to allay the apprehensions of the disciples on their own account (Chrysostom, Neander); it had reference to the life-journey of the Lord Himself: Christ employs, however, such general terms, that the words are applicable to the life-journey of the disciples also. Under the figure of the day, the idea of the life-day of the individual and of the day’s work appointed him is again presented, as in Joh_9:4 f. Here, however, the God-given, fully meted out day of life is the main point. If there the meaning be: I must work with speed, for My day draweth near its close—there is but little time remaining—the twelve hours will soon be over; so here the signification is: I can still work without peril of death,—I can still make the journey thither,—My twelve hours are not yet at an end. The determination of the day to twelve hours has led Grotius and others to this explanation: Are there not only twelve hours—contrary to the sense of the figure, which portions out the one day into twelve assured sections. Lyra and Luther have discerned in the twelve hours the image of the changing moods of men: “the hearts of the Jews are fickle.” This is at all events an import of minor weight and prominency. Entirely arbitrary and gratuitous is the interpretation of Augustine; according to him, the twelve hours are the twelve apostles, who must follow the Lord as the hours follow the sun.
But now arises the question, whether, by the twelve hours, Jesus intended to express simply His present safety from mortal peril, or whether He would intimate at the same time that, in the future, death was inevitably prepared for Him; that a time of suffering and death was impending, when He must desist from active work. That we are to understand Him as having reference to both facts, the subsequent sentence proves: but if any man walk in the night, etc. The one consideration does not exclude the other; on the contrary they form together a higher unity. To walk and to work as long as the assured day of life lasts, but after that, to rest, and not by wilful working in the night of suffering and death, to plunge into danger and ruin,—such is the teaching of the outward life-regimen, prescribed to us in the distinction of day and night.
But again, the expression, and particularly the “stumbling in the night” points to a still higher antithesis: as the day was made to symbolize the day of life, so the day of life becomes the symbol of duty and of heavenly light in divinely appointed duty; and the evening and night of life are an image of the darkness outside of duty. This was especially applicable to the disciples. Now, when the day of life was still assured to them, they would willingly have abstained from walking and working; but when the Saviour’s night of suffering arrived, then they desired to walk and to act. Judas walked, stumbled, and fell into bottomless perdition; Peter walked, and fell after the most perilous fashion. I walk in the day, and as long as the day lasts, in perfect security; take care that ye do not now desire prematurely to rest, and then, at an unseasonable time, when the night has come, to walk.
Meyer admits only the former apprehension: “The working time appointed Me by God has not yet passed away; so long as this lasts, no man can prevail against Me; but when it has expired, I shall fall into the hands of My enemies, just as he who walks at night stumbles, because he is destitute of light” (and thus Apollinaris, Jansen [ Maldonatus, Corn. a Lapide ] and others). Tholuck apprehends in this the symbol of working as predominant over that of walking, with reference to the περιπατεῖν, which undoubtedly implies such an idea, because now the work of Jesus was a walking to Bethany; nevertheless, this is not the prevailing view; to warrant its adoption as such, another verb would be requisite. With the primary figure of the day of life, Lücke, after Melanchthon, has rightly connected the figure of the day of duty. Luthardt: “He who moves within the bounds of duty, does not stumble, makes no false steps, for the light of the world, i.e. the will of God, enlightens him; but he who walks, i.e. is active, outside of the limits of his vocation, will err in what he does, since not the will of God, but his own pleasure is his guide.” And still further, beyond even this second figure, has the spiritual interpretation of this saying been carried out. Chrysostom and others: The walking by day is that blameless conduct wherein one has nought to fear; Erasmus and others: It is fellowship with Christ; De Wette: It is a pure, guiltless, clear course of action;—the twelve hours being the ways and means of activity, the night, deficiency in wisdom and integrity. All these considerations, however, are included in a just perception of the antithesis of day and night.
The great law of physical life: the day-time for walking and working, the night-time for resting and sleeping, is a symbol of the law of moral life: during the whole day of life to fulfil with joyous and fearless activity the whole duty, and then, in the night of suffering and death, to submit calmly to God’s providence, and rest and cease from labor in Him. But this law of moral life is conditioned by that of religious life: to work in the day of the light of God and Christ; not in the night of self-will, whereby we should prepare for ourselves a fall into perdition. And thus this thought also is indicated: that a false prolongation of life by evasion of duty is the immediate preparation for a night, in which one must of necessity stumble and fall; while a resigned and passive demeanor in the divinely appointed night of death becomes a walking in a loftier sense, a going to the Father (Leben Jesu, ΙΙ. 2, p. 1118). Still this is but the result of the ethical idea, not the immediate sense of the figure itself.
Twelve, brought forward with emphasis, signifying, objectively, life full-measured, rich, with its manifold appointments; subjectively, Christ’s joyful assurance of life.
If any man walk.—The living man a walker and worker, a pilgrim and workman of God.—In the day.—The present day a symbol of the day of life, which, together with its day’s task, is appointed to man.—He stumbleth not.—As men run against objects at night. He does not stumble upon an occasion of his death.—For he seeth.—The light shines upon him so that he avoids the stumbling blocks that obstruct his road even in the day-time. Thus, in a moral sense, man sees in the light of his calling the dangers which he can and should avoid, without being obliged to abandon his vocation.
But if any man walk in the night.—The exceptions to the law of physical life (nocturnal working and walking) do not here come under consideration. Such is the rule in the physical life:—a rule which obtains in a still greater degree in the moral life. A self-seeking excitement—tumultuous living—of life prepares for itself death in the twilight of suffering, and destruction in the night of death. As Jesus has no desire to walk=work in the night, this remark is intended especially for the disciples.—He stumbleth.—See the account of the disciples in the history of the Passion.—The light is not in him.—No day-light from heaven, no light in the eyes; this holds good both in a physical and in a symbolical sense. The weakening of the antithesis of day and night to tempus opportunum and inopportunum (Morus, Paulus, etc.) is not incorrect but altogether insufficient.
Joh_11:11. And after this.—After the tranquilizing words a pause.
Our friend Lazarus.—Thus Christ was acquainted with his sickness, with the hour of his death and the nature of it, by virtue of His divine-human consciousness. Our friend. An expression of hearty love and fellowship, in which they also do and should share. [Bengel notices the kind condescenion with which our Lord shares His friendship with the disciples. Only twice more does Christ call men by the endearing name of friends, viz., the apostles, Joh_15:14-15; Luk_12:4. Figuratively John the Baptist called himself a friend of Christ (Joh_3:29). Abraham is called a “friend of God” (Jam_2:23; comp. 2Ch_20:7; Isa_41:8), but more in the passive sense: the favorite of God.—P. S.]
Hath fallen asleep.—This expression is not selected simply in view of the approaching awakening. Comp. Mat_9:24; 1Th_4:13. It is the kinship of sleep and physical death, that Christ here proclaims. Sleep is the periodical death on earth; death is the final sleep for earth in the period of its present existence;—sleep is the concentration of outward life to the interior, in the nocturnal consciousness and vegetation of the body; death is the concentration and internalization of life in the transit of the soul to another state of existence.—But I go.—The confidence of the Lord in His mission.
[Bengel: “Death, in the language of heaven, is the sleep of the pious, but the disciples did not here understand His language. The freedom of the divine language is incomparable; but men’s dullness often degrades Scripture to our sadder mode of speaking. Comp. Mat_16:11.” The scriptural designation of death as a sleep from which the pious awakes in the glorious morning of eternity (Mat_9:24; Mat_27:52; Act_7:59; Act_13:36; 1Co_15:6; 1Th_4:13; Rev_14:13), furnishes no basis for the false doctrine of the sleep or unconscious condition of the soul from death till resurrection (psychopannychia), against which Calvin wrote his first theological treatise. The life union of the believer with Christ can not be suspended or lost in the darkness of unconsciousness; on the contrary, it passes through death to a higher degree of clearness and joy, being translated into the immediate presence of the Lord, although it does not attain to its perfect maturity till the time of the general resurrection, when the whole body of Christ, and consequently every member of it, will be fully grown.—P. S.]
Joh_11:12. He shall be restored (be saved).—i.e. recover by means of sleep as a health-bringing crisis. Their misapprehension of the Lord’s words and their application of them to bodily sleep have a psychological connection with their repugnance to the journey to Bethany. According to Bengel and Luthardt, they thought that the sleep had been produced by the agency of Jesus while yet absent (to which the πορεύομαι is considered to refer); according to Ebrard, that a cure had already been effected by the same agency (after Joh_11:4). The text affords no ground for either assumption.—Of the rest of the sleep.—Of the rest of dream-life; i.e., of real sleep in antithesis to the sleep of death.
Joh_11:14. Plainly: Lazarus is dead.—Παῥῥησίᾳ, here, without circumlocution, Joh_11:10; Joh_11:24.
Joh_11:15. I am glad for your sakes.—He is glad that He was not there. This does not mean, glad that He was not there to see Lazarus die, because his death might have raised doubts in the minds of the disciples (Paulus; against this construction Bengel remarks, that none ever died in presence of the Prince of Life),—but glad because now the greater miracle of a raising of the dead should take the place of a healing of the sick. He rejoices—not at his death—but in anticipation of the sign from God.—That ye may believe.—[The subjective intent with regard to the disciples themselves; the objective intent being the glory of God, Joh_11:4.—P. S.] With reference to their still weak faith, and to the trials of faith which they are about to encounter. Meyer: “Every new step of faith is in measure a new believing.” Comp. Joh_2:11.—But let us depart.—The ἀλλά terminates the conversation in order to the departure, as Joh_14:31.
Joh_11:16. Then said Thomas.—תְֹּאם = תֹּאמָא [Aramaic] corresponding to the Greek Δίδυμος [Didymus], twin.16 In the Gospels (Mat_10:3; Mar_3:18; Luk_6:15) he is mentioned in connection with Matthew, in the Acts (1:13) with Philip. He was probably a Galilean, as he is mentioned Joh_21:2 together with the Galilean fisher-apostles. Tradition has made him a veritable twin and bestowed the name of Lysia on his sister. In yet another relation he was pronounced a twin. According to Eusebius, H. E. Ι. 13, 5, he was called Judas; he is also designated in the Acta Thomæ, and has doubtless in this way been confounded with Judas, “the brother of Jesus.” Tradition assigns Antioch as his birth-place, states that as an apostle he preached Christianity among the Parthians and that he was buried at Edessa. According to later authority (as early, however, as Gregory of Nazianzen) he made an apostolic journey to India and there, after the latest tradition, suffered martyrdom. Apocryphal literature has appended his name to an Evangelium Thomæ and the Acta Thomæ.
His characteristics are vividly portrayed in the sayings preserved by St. John; thus here Joh_11:16; Joh_14:5; Joh_20:24 (21:2). In ecclesiastical tradition he is one-sidedly designated as skeptical, from his conduct in the moment of temptation. For various delineations of his character see the Art. Thomas in Winer. According to Winer, he had a bias towards the visible and comprehensible; he was, above all things, desirous of seeing clearly and was then rashly, even violently, decided. According to Tholuck, he united a mind inclining to doubt and despondency with intense acuteness of sensibility. From the passages cited it would appear that his doubting was the result of profound earnestness approaching to melancholy, and allied to a yearning after truth; hence, he became the critical spirit of the circle of apostles;—and hence, too, he displays the utmost decision in living in conformity to his convictions (see Leben Jesu, ΙΙ. 2, p. 697; Com. on Matthew, p. 183).
Joh_11:16. Let us also depart that we may die with Him.—With reference to Jesus [Meyer, Alford], not to Lazarus (Ewald, following Grotius). Thomas foresees, as he believes, that Jesus is going to His death and is ready to die with Him. Weak faith, strong love; an unequal relationship which is thus explained: a vigorous germ of faith, reflected in his not yet purified and glorified love to Jesus; a weak, dull development of faith, held in check by the carefulness of his hitherto empirical view of the world.
[It is the language of mingled melancholy, resignation and courage, controlled by love to Christ. It is in full accordance with the character of Thomas as it appears on other occasions, Joh_14:5; Joh_20:5 ff. He is ever inclined to take the dark view, but deeply attached to his Lord, and ready to die with and for Him. He represents the honest, earnest and noble skeptics, who do not hold fast to the Invisible as if they saw Him, who require tangible evidence before they believe, but who submit to the evidence when presented, and exclaim before the risen Saviour: My Lord and my God!—P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The raising of Lazarus, the death of the Lord. Christ as dying for the resurrection of the world.
2. The three dead-awakenings of Christ in their gradation: The child on its death-bed,—the youth on his bier,—the man in his grave; the awakening in the hushed circle of friends,—in presence of a funeral procession of acquaintances,—in the midst of the Jews.
3. How the opinion of Jesus concerning the sickness of Lazarus applies in a broader sense to every sickness, considered with reference to its final aim, and so in a peculiar sense to the sickness of the believer.
4. The love of the Lord to His friends is holy, and therefore manifoldly and inscrutably deep and mysterious in its manifestation, like the providence of God itself.
5. The delay and haste of Jesus.
6. Symbolism of day-life and night-life. The duty of the day is the day of the duty. This is applicable to the day of life as well as to the individual day.
7. Symbolism of sleep. Christ has changed death into sleep; but as the death of His people is sleep, so is the spiritual sleep of unbelievers death.
8. The noble and therefore open doubt of Thomas in antithesis to the wicked, secret and reserved doubting of Judas.
9. The mysterious rapport of spirit and life between the praying Christ in Peræa and the praying household in Bethany.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
[Literature: On the raising of Lazarus see the numerous and valuable notes of Dr. Mallet on John, John 11, 12 in the “Bremer Post,” from the close of the year 1857 to the year 1859. Similarly John 11 Sermons on the eleventh chapter of St. John’s Gospel by Dr. Schroeder, Pastor at Elberfeld, 1853. As also the list of books in Heubner, p. 389. Historie von Lazaro, by Sutellius, Wittenberg, 1543; Joh. Arnd’s Lazarus redivivus, Jena 1620; Balthasar Muenter, Public Lectures on the discourses of Jesus, etc., ninth volume, 1793; Lilienthal, Predigten über die Auferweckung des Lazarus, 1764; Ewald, Lazarus, Berlin 1790; Herder, Homilies, No. 19; Seiler, Pastoral-Theologie, ΙΙ. p. 93–101; Hanstein, Erinnerungen an Jesu, vierte Fortsetzung; Wichelhaus, Weg zur Ruhe; Bourdaloue, Sermon, etc.; Massillion, Fournier, Bethanien, Berlin, 1837; Theremin, Predigten, ΙΙΙ. no. 8; W. Huelsemann, die Geschichte der Auferweckung des Lazarus, Leipzig, 1835. [Gumlich, in the Studien und Kritiken, 1862, pp. 65 ff., 248 ff.; Trench, Notes on the Miracles, pp. 312 ff. Sea also a large list of English sermons, lectures and practical treatises on John 11 in Darling’s Cyclopædia Bibliographica, vol. I., pp. 1115 ff.—P. S.]
The three sections from Joh_11:1-57 together, as a homiletical trilogy: 1. The journey of Jesus to Bethany to the grave of His dead friend, or the journey into peril of death, in order to the raising of the dead; 2. the miracle at Bethany, or the raising of the dead in the face of mortal enemies; 3. the message from Bethany, or the death-fate impending over the Lord in consequence of the message of the Prince of Life.—”`Now there was one sick,” or how the distress of His people draws the Lord unto them: 1. down from heaven into human misery; 2. over the Jordan into peril of death; 3. forever back from the rest of heaven into the conflict of earth; 4. in the future, from the throne of glory to the judgment-seat.
Our section, Joh_11:1-16. The pious household of the sick man.—The fellowship of a believing family: 1. a relationship of blood and spirit; 2. fellowship of suffering and triumph.—The imperishable glory and blessedness of the names of the just. How they shine eternally in the light of the love of Jesus.—“That the Son of God may be glorified thereby.” Or how Christ has always in the highest sense made a virtue of necessity: 1. Of oppression, deliverance; 2. of danger, a triumph; 3. of temptation, a victory; 4. of misery, redemption; 5. of death, a festival of resurrection.—Brothers and sisters after the flesh, as spiritually kindred in Scripture and history.—The message from Bethany: 1. How strong; 2. how tender.—Christ, the Master, over against His people; 1. They call and He tarries; 2. they dissuade and He goes.—Christ’s heavenly knowledge of the earthly circumstances of His people.—“Let us go again into Judea.” Or Christ returns in spite of His enemies.—The twelve hours of the day, or life-time and life’s duty in their indissoluble unity: 1. The certainty of life within the bounds of duty. The servant of God does not die until his work is performed. 2. The sacredness of duty within the bounds of life.—Day and night in relation to the life of duty; 1. Within, day; 2. without, night.—The order of the antithesis between day and night, an image of the antithesis between life-time and death. (Now—work, then—rest).—The inverters of this order, who pass their time in idleness now, shall then incur fearful pains.—Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. How this is applicable to every departed believer: our friend sleeps.—This also is true: the Awakener is already on the way.—The misunderstanding of the disciples.—“Let us go!” Or the same words in their two-fold meaning: 1. In the mouth of Christ; 2. in the mouth of Thomas.—The three expressions of doubt proceeding from Thomas and the victory of his faith. A. The expressions of doubt: 1. A doubt as to the victory of life; 2. a doubt as to the way to heaven (chap. 14); 3. a doubt as to the certainty of the resurrection (chap. 20). B. The victory of his faith. 1. Prepared by his ardent love to Jesus and to the brethren (chap. 11); 2. introduced by his longing desire for a higher disclosure (chap. 14); 3. decided by his joy at the manifestation of the Risen One (chap. 20.)
Starke: Majus: In distress and misery we should dispatch sighs and tears as our messengers to Christ, and remind Him of our covenant that we have made with Him.—Zeisius: Not to the physician of the body, as is the general custom, but to Christ, the omnipotent Physician of soul and body should the sick first of all resort. Psa_133:1.—Cramer: We pray well when we ground our petitions on the love of Christ, that is, on His love to us, not on ours to Him.—Hedinger: To be sick and to be a dear child of God go well together.—When we pray, we must not limit the Lord in respect to time and method.—Quesnel: God’s manner of regarding sickness and prayer for the sick often differs materially from that of praying relatives and friends. He is concerned for His honor and the eternal salvation of the sufferer, Rom_8:28; Php_1:20.—Hedinger: Help is oftentimes delayed, only that deliverance may be all the more glorious:—Quesnel: God sometimes denies us a small favor, that He may show us a greater one.—There is no believer who is not at times forced to cry out: O Lord, how long! Psalms 13; Mat_27:46.—Majus: Jesus does not forget His own, although it sometimes seems as if He did; before they are aware, He is with them.—When God calls a man to venture something, he must shun no danger.—They who seek to escape the cross are never at a loss for excuses.—Hedinger: Death a sleep, Isa_26:19; Isa_57:2.—The ways of the Lord, which apparently militate against faith, must often serve to strengthen it.—Ibid.: It is well, if thou be ready to go with Christ unto death.
Braune: In no narrative is the Lord’s fulness of love more clearly and richly revealed, and nowhere is the heart of the Redeemer more fully unveiled to us.
Joh_11:4. Honor, therefore, the Christian, and ye honor God; the two things are inseparably connected.
Joh_11:14. Jesus rejoiced when men wept; He may likewise be angry, when men are glad.
Gerlach: The dead man was not a stranger to Him, like the young man of Nain and the daughter of Jairus (although it is a question, whether these were essentially strangers to Him), but he believed on Him.—In all such cases Jesus proceeds in precisely the same manner as divine Providence, which generally affords relief in the most wonderful ways only when the utmost need is reached. Thus, forsooth, dares no human helper act, who holds not the issues in his power.—When God carries the torch before us and bids us follow, we may courageously advance, even though menaced on all sides by death.
Gossner: The Church of Jesus resembles this house, where Jesus stopped. It has Marys, clinging with ardent devotion to the Lord; it has Marthas, active and fruitful in good works; it has Lazaruses, sick or even dead (better: it has suffering and dying members), but who are healed and raised up by the word of Jesus.—Love and a cross; man cannot make the two rhyme, but it is thus that God always rhymes. Heubner: We can distinguish a three fold love in Jesus: 1. Towards all men; 2. towards believers on Him; 3. towards individuals; a peculiar friendship for them, as here for this family, and for John.—Happy the household, the hearts of whose members love to Jesus unites.—One of the three was sick; the others suffer with him.—The sickness of loved ones is a means of strengthening and intensifying the bonds of love.—“Lazarus, by his weakness and death, assists in the accomplishment of a greater and more glorious work than if he had personally preached in all the world.” (Sutellius.)—Before God all the discord of suffering humanity is already melted into harmony.—Habet Dominus suas horas et moras.—As sleep is the withdrawal of life inwards, for the gathering of new strength, so likewise is death, etc.
Schleiermacher: But two houses are mentioned in which Jesus was peculiarly at home; one was the house of Peter (Mat_8:14), when He began to dwell at Capernaum and as often as He abode there afterwards; the other is the house of Lazarus and his sisters at Bethany, in the vicinity of Jerusalem. (The third is doubtless the country-house of Gethsemane, the fourth the house in Jerusalem, where He kept the Passover; but a veil hangs over the respective families.)—We may be right in believing that He would not leave this region (Peræa) so suddenly, without saying farewell to those that believed on Him, leaving with them yet other sound words of doctrine and establishing more firmly their faith and love;—all this He must do before He could depart thence with a good conscience and tranquil heart.—From the raising of Lazarus they were to derive the hope that the promise, so frequently heard by them and so deeply graven on their hearts, should in like manner be fulfilled in the case of the Lord.
Schröder: The brother and sisters of Bethany; Lazarus, Martha, Mary. Was it not, perhaps, a step-ladder of spiritual life? Well, if we take Lazarus for the beginning, Martha may be our point of transit, but Mary ever our aim and end.
Joh_11:3-5. The love of the Lord a tabernacle of God among men. The outer court (Joh_11:3), the Holy Place (Joh_11:4), the Holy of Holies (Joh_11:5).
Joh_11:6-10. The way of Jesus: He acts in darkness, He walks in light.
Joh_11:11-13. The death of His friends a sleep. They fall asleep, they rest, they awake.
[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_11:4. This death , itself was not unto death, but to give occasion for a miracle; whereby men might be brought to believe in Christ, and so escape eternal death.
Joh_11:11-14. To our Lord, he was sleeping; to men, who could not raise him again, he was dead.—From Chrysostom: Joh_11:3. They sent, not went, partly—1. from their great faith in Him; 2. because their sorrow kept them at home.
Joh_11:5. We are instructed not to be sad if sickness falls upon good men, and friends of God.
Joh_11:9-10. The upright need fear no evil, the wicked only have cause for fear: Or, If any one seeth this world’s light, he is safe; much, more he who is with Me.—From Theophylact: Joh_11:15. I am glad for your sakes, for—1. had I been there I should have only cured a sick man; but 2. having been absent, I shall now raise a dead man.—From Brentius: Joh_11:3. The message is like all true prayer; it does not consist in much speaking and fine sentences.—From Lavater: Joh_11:6. Jesus proposed to help them in His own way, that is as God.—From M. Henry: Joh_11:2. Extraordinary acts of piety, will not only find acceptance with Christ, but will gain reputation in the church, Mat_26:13.
Joh_11:3. His sisters sent unto Him; though God knows all our wants, He would know them from us, and is honored by our laying them before Him.—He whom Thou lovest—not, he who loveth Thee; our greatest encouragements in prayer are fetched from God Himself, and from His grace.—Note 1. there are some followers of Jesus for whom He hath a special kindness, Joh_13:23; John 2. it is no new thing for those whom Christ loves to be sick; 3. it is a great comfort (blessing) when we are sick, to have those about us who will pray for us; 4. we have great encouragement in our prayers for the sick, if we have reason to believe that they are such as Christ loves.
Joh_11:4. The afflictions of saints are designed for the glory of God; The Son of God is glorified thereby, as His wisdom, power and goodness are glorified—1. in supporting the sufferers; 2. in relieving them; (3. in ordering their sorrows for their welfare. E. R. C.)
Joh_11:6. It is not said, He loved them, and yet He lingered; but, He loved them and therefore He lingered: He lovingly delayed—1. that He might try the sisters, and through trial, bless; 2. that He might have opportunity for doing more for Lazarus (and his sisters) than for any others.—God hath gracious intentions even in seeming delays, Isa_49:13-14; Isa_54:7-8.
Joh_11:7. When Christ knew they were brought to the last extremity (Joh_11:14) He said—Let us go into Judea; Christ will arise in favor of His people when the set time is come, and the worst time is commonly the set time—man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.—Let us go; Christ never brings His people into any peril without accompanying them in it.
Joh_11:7-8. Christ’s gracious purpose of revisiting persecuting Judea, and the wonder of the disciples thereat; His ways in passing by offences, are above our ways.
Joh_11:9-10. Christ shows—1. the comfort and satisfaction of walking in the path of duty; 2. the pain and peril of not walking in this path.—Christ ever walked in the day; and so shall we, if we follow His steps.
Joh_11:11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth: see here how Christ calls—1. a believer, friend; 2. a believer’s death, sleep.—Note 1. there is a covenant of friendship between Christ and believers; 2. those whom Christ owns as His friends, all His disciples should take as theirs [our friend); 3. death does not break the bond of friendship.—A Christian when he dies does but sleep; he—1. rests from the labors of the day past; 2. is being refreshed for the next morning.
Joh_11:13. How carefully the evangelist corrects the mistake of the disciples; those who speak in an unknown tongue, or use similitudes, should learn to explain themselves.
Joh_11:14. Christ takes cognizance of the death of His saints, for it is precious in His sight, Psa_116:15.
Joh_11:15. Let us go unto him—not, unto his sisters; death, which separates from all other friends, cannot separate us from Christ.
Joh_11:16. Let us go that we may die with Him, i. e. with Christ (?); Thomas here—1. recognizes the danger of following Christ; 2. expresses a gracious readiness to die with Him; 3. manifests a zealous desire to bring his fellow disciples to a similar readiness.—From Burkitt: Joh_11:4. God is glorified when His Son is glorified.
Joh_11:9-10. Learn—1. Every man has his working time assigned him by God in this world; 2. whilst this time is unexpired he shall not be disabled (for the performance of the work given him.—E. R. C.). he shall not die; 3. every man has his night in which he must expect to stumble, i.e. to die.
Joh_11:15. To the intent ye may believe; the faith of the strongest—1. needs confirmation; 2. is capable of increase.—From Scott: Joh_11:1-5. Those families in which love and peace abound are highly favored; but they whom Jesus loves and by whom He is beloved, are most happy.
Joh_11:1. Jesus did not come to preserve His people from affliction; but—1. to save them from sin and the wrath to come; 2. to convert sorrows and temporal death into means of completing that salvation.
Joh_11:1-6. We cannot judge of Christ’s love to us by outward dispensations.—From Alford: Joh_11:4. The glorifying of the Son of God in Lazarus himself is subordinately implied; men are not mere tools, but temples, of God.—From Stier: Joh_11:4. The indefinite answer of Jesus—1. includes a consolation which dispels the fear of death as to the issue; but 2. leaves “this sickness” to itself, to run its appointed course.—The resurrection of Lazarus, the comprehensive concluding symbol of all the miracles exhibiting the glory of God in Christ.—From Barnes: Joh_11:3-5. Whom Thou lovest; this shows that—1. peculiar attachments are lawful to Christians; 2. those friendships are peculiarly lovely which are tempered and sweetened with the spirit of Christ.
Joh_11:11-14. The word sleep is applied to death—1.because of the resemblance between them; 2. to intimate that death will not be final.—From Williams: Joh_11:15. Instead of raising up Lazarus from sickness, as they whom He loved had desired, they are all by this miracle to be raised up, together with Lazarus, unto the life of Faith, which will never die.—From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh_11:6. “To faithful suppliants there is no better sign than for their prayers not to be soon answered, for it is a pledge of greater good in store.”—From Ryle: It was meet that the victory of Bethany should closely precede the crucifixion at Calvary.
Joh_11:1. How much in life hinges upon little events, and especially on illness; sickness is one of God’s great ordinances.
Joh_11:2. The good deeds of all saints are recorded in God’s book of remembrance.
Joh_11:3. The humble and respectful confidence of the message.
Joh_11:5. Jesus loves all who have grace, though their temperaments differ—Marthas as well as Marys.
Joh_11:6. Christ knows best when to do anything for His people.—The pain of a few was permitted for the benefit of the whole Church.
Joh_11:8. How strange and unwise our Lord’s plans sometimes appear to His short-sighted people.
Joh_11:15. are not Jesus does not say, I am glad Lazarus is dead; but, l am glad I was not there: we may not rejoice in the death of Christians, but we may rejoice in the circumstances attending their deaths, and the glory redounding to Christ and the benefit accruing to saints from them.
Joh_11:16. The despondency of Thomas; a man may have notable weaknesses of Christian character, and yet be a disciple of Christ.—From Owen: Joh_11:10. Spiritual light is as necessary to the spiritual traveler, as the natural sun is to one who walks on the earth.]
Footnotes:
[1]Joh_11:12.—Lachmann αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί in accordance with Codd. D. K.; Tischendorf simply αὐτῷ in accordance with Cod. A. etc.; according to Meyer, the latter might he the original reading. [In ed. viii. Tischend. reads, with Cod. Sin.: εἶπον οὖν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί. (Cod. Sin. εἶπαν). So also Westcott and Hort. Alford brackets οἱ μαθηταί, but retains αὐτῷ.—P. S.]
[2]Joh_11:12.—[Lange inserts the gloss: without our making a perilous journey thither.—P. S.]
[3]Joh_11:13.—[Or “of the taking of rest in sleep,” or “of taking rest in sleep.”—P. S.]
[4][“I have been assured that he would say to his friends: If he could have convinced himself of the resurrection of Lazarus, he would have dashed to pieces his entire system [of pantheism] and embraced without repugnance the common faith of Christians.” This is sound reasoning. If Christ could raise the dead to life, it was an easy task for Him to heal the sick, and to command the powers of nature, and He must have been truly the Son of God. This miracle was a fulfilment of what He said concerning His person as the Fountain of life, and a prophecy of His resurrection. It contains, as then for the family of Lazarus, the disciples and friends of Jesus, so now and for all time, the most solid comfort, and effectually disperses the gloom and terror of the grave.—P. S.]
[5][According to tradition (Epiph. Hær. 66) Lazarus lived thirty years after his resurrection and died sixty years old. But the Gospels were probably written after the year 60. Epiphanius, Grotius, Herder, Olshausen, Bäumlein, Godet and Wordsworth agree with Lange in explaining the silence of the Synoptists from a prudential regard to the surviving family of Lazarus, but Meyer (ed. 5th, p. 439) and Alford (Proleg., p. 15) reject this supposition, because such concealment was alien from the spirit and character of the Evangelists, and because the Gospels and Epistles were at first not published to the world at large, but to believing communities. Meyer explains the omission from the plan of the Synoptists who confined themselves to the Galilean activity of Jesus till His solemn entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21 and parallels), while John, omitting the Galilean miracles of the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the widow’s son from the dead, describes the resurrection miracle which took place in Judea.—P. S.]
[6][Cyril remarks that the resurrection of Lazarus furnishes the true explanation of the plaudits and hosannas of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem as described by the Synoptists.—P. S.]
[7][Stanley (Sinai and Pal. p. 144) agrees with this last derivation, but admits that even then the palm tree was probably rarely found on the high land in Palestine. The olive and fig now only remain. Arnold (art. Bethania in Herzog’s Encycl., II. p. 116) derives tho name from the Chaldee or Aramæan בֵּית עַנְיָא, domus miseri, House of the afflicted (comp. Buxt. Lex. Chald. col. 631 sq.). Origen and Theophylact call it οἶκος ὑπακοῆς, as if related to עָנָה, respondit, exaudivit, i.e., where the prayer of the needy is heard and answered.—P. S.]
[8]With respect to the Bethany of the present day, see Notes on Matt., John 21; Art. B. in Winer [Smith, Kitto and others], the books of Eastern travel; the legends on Lazarus see in Thilo, Cod. Apocr., p. 711; Fabric. Cod. Apocr., III, p. 415. On the name of Lazarus see Com. on Luk_16:20 [p. 254, Am. Ed., also art. Lazarus in Smith’s Dict.—P. S.]
[9] [The Roman tradition (since Tertullian, De pudic. 11), contrary to its usual habit of multiplying scriptural personalities, identifies Mary of Bethany with Mary of Magdala and the unnamed sinful woman who anointed the Saviour’s feet (Luk_7:37 ff.), although Irenæus, Origen and Chrysostom clearly distinguish them. To account for the difference of locality, it was arbitrarily assumed that Mary of Bethany in Judea had a country-seat at Magdala in Galilee. But the anointing recorded by Luke (7), differs as to time, place and character from the anointing in Bethany (Matthew 26; Mark 14; John 12). The superstitious Pope Gregory I. gave his sanction to this hypothesis of the identity of the three Marys, so that it even passed into the service of the Roman Breviary for July 22d and several mediæval hymns, e.g., one de S. Maria Magdalena (in Daniel’s Thesaurus hymnol. tom. I. p. 221):
“Lauda, mater ecclesia,
Lauda Christi clementiam,
Qui septem purgat vitia
Per septiformem gratiam.
“Maria, soror Lazari,
Quæ tot commisit crimina,
Ab ipsa fauce tartari
Redit ad vitæ limina,” etc.
Comp. other hymns on Mary Magdalene in Mone, Lat. Hymnen des Mittelalters, vol. II. pp. 415–425. On all points of exegesis and criticism the Romish traditions are worth very little or nothing at all.—P. S.]
[10][Martha represents the active, practical, Mary the contemplative, passive, type of piety. They are related to each other as Peter and John among the apostles. Romish asceticism has perverted Mary into a nun and abused the eulogy of the Lord, Luk_10:42 (“Mary hath chosen the good part”) for an overestimate of monastic seclusion from the world and its daily duties.—P. S.]
[11][Alford: “It need hardly be remarked, with Olshausen and Trench, that the glorifying of the Son of God in Lazarus himself is subordinately implied. Men are not mere tools, but temples of God.” Comp. Joh_11:15, that ye may believe.—P. S.]
[12][Luthardt, Godet and Gumlich discover the same design in πάλιν. But it corresponds rather to the πάλιν πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου in Joh_10:40.—P. S.]
[13][νῦν with the imperfect ἐζήτουν refers to the recent past as being still present, 10:31. Kühner II. p. 385.—P. S.]
[14][Alford thinks that the twelve-hour division was probably borrowed from Babylon, and refutes the view of Townson and others, that John adopts the so-called Asiatic method of reckoning time: see on Joh_1:40; Joh_4:6.—P. S.]
[15][So also Gumlich and Godet.—P. S.]
[16][Hengstenberg fancies that Christ gave Thomas this name to designate his double nature and vacillation between unbelief and faith, and refers for this to Gen_25:23 f.! Christ did not thus brand His disciples; the names He gave (to Peter and the sons of Zebedee) were names of honor.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. Now—Rather to be translated But; the going to…
1. Now—Rather to be translated But; the going to Bethany being the reverse of his remaining in Bethabara.
Town of Mary—Commentators notice that John assumes that his readers are acquainted with the names of Mary and Martha. He even seems to suppose that his readers know a fact which he is soon to fully narrate, (Joh_12:3.) It is equally clear that he assumes that a certain Lazarus (who is indeed named by no other Evangelist) is to his readers unknown. It is a serious question: How happens it that this greatest of miracles is emitted from the other Gospels? The ancient reply is, (and perhaps no better can be given,) that the other Evangelists wrote while Lazarus was still living, and from delicacy, or for safety, avoided exposing him to notoriety and danger from the hostile Jews. But it does not, in fact, seem that the other Evangelists viewed the raising of the dead as so pre-eminent a miracle as it is esteemed by modern thinkers or by the Jewish populace. The raising of the widow’s son of Nain is narrated by Luke alone, and in as brief and ordinary a way as any other miracle. And pictorially as John spreads out this narrative, it fills no wider space than that of the restoration of the blind-born in chap. 9. The Evangelists, doubtless, presuppose that either of these miracles require a whole omnipotence, and neither requires more. To the popular view, and to the eye of modern science, the raising of the dead appears the greatest of miracles; but to a true spiritual view the casting out and controlling demons may be far greater. The former is a mastery of passive or willing human nature; the latter is a mastery of hostile powers. But the reality of the present miracle is unconsciously attested by all the Evangelists; since they all describe a sudden popular excitement in favour of Jesus which can be solved only by some such fact; an excitement which soon reacted and resulted in his crucifixion. See Joh_12:11; Joh_12:17-18. From the fact that Bethany is called the town of Mary and Martha, it is not to be inferred, as it is by some, that the sisters were largely property holders, (though this may have been the case,) but that they were permanent residents. So Bethsaida is styled by our Evangelist “the city of Andrew and Peter,” Joh_1:44.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1–33. The Prelude to the Sign
1–33. The Prelude to the Sign
1. Now a certain man was sick] Note once more the touching simplicity of the narrative. ‘Now’ should perhaps be ‘but,’ though the Greek particle may mean either. Here it introduces a contrast to what precedes. Christ went into Peraea for retirement, but the sickness of Lazarus interrupted it.
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named Lazarus] The theory that this narrative is a parable transformed into a miracle possibly represents something like the reverse of the fact. The parable of Dives and Lazarus was apparently spoken about this time, i.e. between the Feast of Dedication and the last Passover, and it may possibly have been suggested by this miracle. In no other parable does Christ introduce a proper name. Some would identify Lazarus of Bethany with the rich young ruler (Mat_19:16; Mar_10:17; Luk_18:18), and also with the young man clad in a linen cloth who followed Jesus in the Garden after the disciples had fled (Mar_14:51; see note there). The name Lazarus is an abbreviated Greek form of Eleazar = ‘God is my help.’ It is commonly assumed without much evidence that he was younger than his sisters: S. Luke’s silence about him (Joh_10:38-39) agrees well with this.
Bethany] A small village on the S. E. slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem (see on Mat_21:9).
the town of Mary] Better, of the village of Mary. The same word is used of Bethlehem (Joh_7:42) and in conjunction with ‘towns’ or ‘cities’ (Luk_13:22), It is an elastic word; but its general meaning is ‘village’ rather than anything larger. Mary is here mentioned first, although apparently the younger sister (Luk_10:28), because the incident mentioned in the next verse had made her better known. They would seem to have been people of position from the village being described as their abode (to distinguish it from the other Bethany in Peraea, to which Christ had just gone). The guests at the funeral (Joh_11:31; Joh_11:45), the feast, the family burying-place (Joh_11:38), and Mary’s costly offering (Joh_12:2-3), point in the same direction.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Now a certain man was sick.—This is connected…
(1) Now a certain man was sick.—This is connected with the preceding narrative to introduce the reason for our Lord’s leaving His retirement to go again into the neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
Named Lazarus, of Bethany.—For the name “Lazarus,” comp. Note on Luk_16:20, where it occurs as the solitary instance of a name in our Lord’s parables. It will be seen from the Chronological Harmony of the Gospels, p. 36, that the parable was closely connected with the miracle in order of time. It is in every way probable that the form in which the truths of the world beyond the grave there took shape was suggested by the incidents which are here recorded. See also the suggestion that this Lazarus may have been identical with the young man that had great possessions, in Notes on Mat_19:16 et seq. The induction rests upon an enumeration of instances which makes it at least probable in a high degree.
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“Bethany,” too, is familiar to us from the earlier Gospels (Mat_21:17; Mat_26:6; Mar_11:12; Mar_14:3; Luk_19:29; Luk_24:50). The modern name, El-Azirieh, or El-Lazirieh, connects it with the events of this chapter, being formed from El-Azir, the Arabic form of the name Lazarus. It is a poor village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem (Joh_11:18).
The town of Mary and her sister Martha.—Better, the village . . . (Comp. Luk_10:38.) This is the general meaning of the Greek word, which is distinguished from that for “city” or “town,” as in Mat_9:35; Mat_10:11; but John uses it in Joh_7:42 for Bethlehem. For the relative position of Mary and Martha, comp. Notes on Luk_10:38-42. The younger sister is here mentioned first as the better known from the events related in Joh_11:2. Lazarus was probably younger than his sisters (Joh_12:2). The village was known, then, in the circles of the first disciples, as the village of Mary and Martha, by way of distinction from the “Bethany beyond Jordan”; and the distinction is marked here on account of the paragraph at the end of the preceding chapter. (See Joh_1:28.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-57. 7. Christ the Antagonist of death a…
Vers. 1-57. 7. Christ the Antagonist of death a victory of love and power. The narrative of this chapter is a further advance in the proof that the unbelief of the Jews was aggravated by the greatness of the revelation. The issue of his sublime and culminating act of power, of his supreme and self-revealing work of transcendent tenderness and beauty, was a deeper and wilder passion of hatred. The evangelist completes his series of seven great miracles with one that in true and believing minds, evokes a new sense of the glory of God. This great last sign corresponds with the first (Joh 4) by being enacted amid the domestic and family life of a small and insignificant town, and also by express reference to the veritable manifestation involved in it of the doxa Yeou , on which we have frequently commented. Baur treated the narrative as an ideal composition, illustrating the great metaphysical utterance, I am the Resurrection and the Life." Keim endeavored to reduce the whole narrative to a fiction, not so well contrived as some of the evangelist"s tours de force. This is almost as arbitrary and offensive as M. Renan"s endeavor (which held its place in numerous editions of his "Vie de Jesus") to represent the miracle as a got-up scene, into which Christ, by a kind of Divine mensonge, allowed himself to be drawn. Subsequently, Renan has suggested that Mary and Martha told Jesus their persuasion that such a miracle would convince his enemies, and that he replied that his bitter foes would not believe him even if Lazarus were to rise from the grave; and that this speech was expanded by tradition into an actual event. This corresponds with what Weisse had suggested, that the story is an expansion of the Lord"s conversation with the sisters at Bethany. Gfrorer ("Heiligthum und Wahrheit," p. 311, Meyer) thought that it is the story of Nain over again in a developed form, and that Nain is equivalent to Bethany; and Schenkel has fancied that the parable of Luke 16. has been expanded into a narrative of genuine resurrection. Thorns has, in like manner, regarded it as the poetic expansion of the idea of the Christ as the Prince of life and Conqueror of death, and as based on the synoptic account of two resurrections, and on the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. These hypotheses are all incompatible with the simplicity of the account and with the apostolicity of the Gospel. Many attempts have been made to account for the silence of the synoptists concerning this narrative.
Some writers, with Epiphanius, have said they feared, when their narratives were made public, to call such marked attention to the family of Bethany, lest they might have endangered their lives; but this is exceedingly improbable. Others have argued that this crowning miracle would not take such a conspicuous place in their less-carefully arranged records. It was only one of "many signs" wrought by our Lord with which they were familiar. Matthew (Mat_9:18) and Mark (Mar_5:22) had already described the raising of Jairus"s daughter from the bed of death, from what was believed by the onlookers to have been veritable dissolution; and Luke (Luk_7:11) had shown the Lord at the gates of Nain to have royally withstood the power of death, even when the corpse of a young man was being carried out to the burial. The narrative before us is not different in kind from these, though the prelude and the accompaniments of the miracle and its consequences are all wrought out with much dramatic force, while numerous touches, by-scenes, and references are introduced which give consummate interest to the whole. Another suggestion of moment is that it was not the purpose of the synoptists to detail the incidents of our Lord"s ministry in Jerusalem. Let it not be forgotten that each of the evangelists records incident and discourse to which neither of the others had access. The peculiarities of Matthew and Luke are nearly as numerous as those of the Fourth Gospel. Why should not John bring forth facts from his memory which they had left untouched? (see Introduction, p. 96.).
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Vers. 1-16. (1) The mystery and might of sacrificial love seen in the prelude of the miracle.
Now a certain (man) was sick, (named) Lazarus, of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. The certain man who was sick, Lazarus (or Eleazar) by name, was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. The two prepositions apo and ek generally denote procession from, but the latter implies closer and more intimate original association; they here are put in apposition, though there are passages where they are discriminated. (Luk_2:4 Act_23:34 Rev_9:18) The contention of Gresswell that apo referred to present residence, and ek to nativity, and that the kwmh was to be found in Galilee, is not sound. (see Joh_12:21 Joh_19:38) Bethany is mentioned to distinguish it from "Bethany beyond Jordan," referred to in Joh_1:28 (see note). The town is now known as El Azirieh, and is about a mile and a half from Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. Simonis interpreted the name to mean "house of depression," "valley-town" hYniAtyBe (Lightfoot); Reland derives its name from yneyhiAtyBe, "house of dates". (see Mat_21:17) It seems that palm branches could be then torn from the trees in the neighborhood. Arnold (Herzog., "Enc.") derives its name from aYnAtyBe (Aramaic), "house of the afflicted." The village has become well known in the circle of evangelic narrative from St. Luke"s reference to Mary and Martha. (Luk_10:38, etc.) Mary"s name is probably mentioned first from the further record of her ecstatic love, which the other Gospels were diffusing through the world, and to which John makes an anticipatory reference. Her name had not been given before. In Mat_26:13 and Mar_14:3 she was "a certain woman." John throws light on the ground of her gratitude. The efforts made by Bunyan, in his "Jerusalem Sinner Saved," and by Hengstenberg, to defend the pre-Reformation identification of "Mary" with the "Magdalene," and the Magdalene with the woman that was a sinner, (cf. Luk_7:37 with Luk_8:2) rest on insufficient grounds. The identification of the two anointings with each other is without justification. All the circumstances are different the time, the place, the obvious reason, the motive assigned by our Lord, the conversations which followed. If a woman who was a sinner had taken such a step, and this expression of her gratitude had been accepted by Jesus, Mary of Bethany found more ample reason for following her example (see Dr. Schaff"s admirable and extended reply to Hengstenberg). B. Weiss acutely observes that this reference shows that in the circle for which the evangelist wrote Bethany was known as the home of the sisters, and Mary as the heroine of the anointing incident. Numerous other identifications, i.e. of Simon the Leper with Simon the Pharisee, Martha with Simon"s wife, are precarious. Dean Plumptre"s identificationof Lazarus with the "rich young man" who is supposed to have given his all away to the poor, and who possessed nothing but a solitary garment; and his subsequent identification with the young man who fled away naked on the night of Christ"s arrest, are specimens of ingenuity, but carry no conviction. The contrast between the ideas involved in the parable of Luke 16 and this narrative is so profound that we dismiss the hypothesis of theidentity of the two Lazaruses. Strauss, Keim, and others deal with it as an expansion of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, who is supposed actually to have been sent unto the people from the dead, but, in agreement with our Lord"s prediction, winning no obedience. Vehement efforts are made in this and other ways to undo the commanding significance of the miracle. Bishop Wordsworth and Archdeacon Watkins are disposed to identify the Lazarus of the parable and the Lazarus of Bethany; the latter supposes the parable to have been delivered at the very time mentioned in Persea. Our Lord"s statement, that the brothers of the rich man would not believe though one rose from the dead, was in some sense paralleled by the desire of the Jews to put Lazarus to death; but the reason given is that by reason of Lazarus "many of the Jews went away from them, and believed on Jesus". (Joh_12:11; cf. also Joh_11:45, "Many of the Jews, when they beheld what he did, believed on him
Vers. 1-16. The raising of Lazarus.
This event, a third good work, hastened the final crisis.
I THE BETHANY FAMILY. "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
1. Their home. It was a small village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem. It is familiar to us in the earlier Gospels as the place to which our Lord resorted from time to time for happy retirement. It remains the sweetest spot in the memory of the Christian Church.
2. The members of the home.
(1) Lazarus.
(a) It is a suggestive circumstance that the parable of Dives and Lazarus was spoken about the time of the Bethany miracle. Yet there is no ground for believing that this Lazarus was the beggar of the parable.
(b) He was stricken with a mortal disease, perhaps the fever so common in the country. Though specially dear to our Lord, as well as his sisters, he enjoyed no exemption from the ordinary afflictions of life.
(2) Mary. "It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair." Her name is mentioned before Martha"s, on account of this touching incident.
(a) The incident here recorded was "to be told for a memorial of her wheresoever this gospel had been preached". (Mat_26:13) The other evangelists do not give her name. Her act marked at once her true faith and her abiding affection.
(b) Mary was distinguished from her sister by her contemplative religious spirit. She sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to his words, while Martha was busied with practical duties. (Luk_10:40)
(3) Martha. She was probably the eldest of the family.
(a) She had evidently the chief care of the house.
(b) She was of a practical turn, full of resource, and less given to emotion than Mary.
II THEIR MESSAGE TO JESUS. "Lord, he whom thou loves is sick.
1. It was a message full of delicacy; for it did not urge him to come. The sisters knew that, even from Peraea, it was possible for Jesus to put forth his power of healing; while they could not but know of the perils of an immediate return to Judaea.
2. It emphasized the tender affection with which Jesus regarded Lazarus, and which made it right that he should be informed at once of his friend"s danger.
III OUR LORD"S REMARK UPON THE MESSAGE OF SORROW. "This sickness is not unto death, but it is for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
1. Our Lord did not signify that Lazarus would not die, but that death would not be the ultimate result of this sickness.
2. The sickness had a double aspect.
(1) It was to be borne by Lazarus "for the glory of God.
(2) With an ultimate design of glorifying his Son.
(a) Our Lord reiterates the oneness of the work of the Father and the Son.
(b) The raising of Lazarus would bring to a head that hostility of the Jews which would involve his death, and, through death, his glorification.
IV THE MYSTERIOUS DELAY OF JESUS IN PERAEA. "When then he had heard that he was sick, he remained yet two days in the place where he was.
1. This delay, in so urgent a crisis, is all the more mysterious, because "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." Yet Lazarus had already died when the messenger arrived from Bethany. Our Lord"s instant departure could not, therefore, have averted death.
2. His delay might be caused
(1) by the necessities of his work at Peraea;
(2) but, more probably, by the necessity of making the miracle more striking and the result more fruitful. The delay of two days could make no difference to the surviving sisters in respect of their brother"s death.
3. His departure for Judaea was the proof at once of his affection, his courage, and his knowledge. "Then after that he saith to his disciples, Let us go again into Judaea." The word recalls at once the region of hostility and unbelief from which he had just escaped.
V THE REMONSTRANCE OF THE DISCIPLES AT HIS RESOLUTION. "Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
1. They think of the danger to him, and are not regardless of the danger to themselves. (Ver. 16)
2. Men often allow their fears to stand in the way of duty.
VI OUR LORD"S ANSWER TO THEIR REMONSTRANCE.
1. Every man has his twelve working hours of life. "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" The work must be (tone in this time, or not at all. Each hour ought to be brimming over with work.
2. While the daylight of life lasts, the worker will not stumble. "If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world." The malice of men or devils cannot destroy him fill his work is done.
3. Every man has his night coming when work must end. "But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him." The work, therefore, must be done in the day of work.
VII THE DISCIPLES" MISUNDERSTANDING OF OUR LORD"S WORDS. "He saith, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go to awake him. Then they said unto him, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
1. Our Lord knew Lazarus was dead. This proved his omniscience.
2. Our friends must die, however dear to us or essential to our comfort.
3. Death is a sleep; for it implies an awakening out of sleep.
4. Christ has transformed death into a new phase of life. The familiar description in the catacombs is "Dormit sleeps.
5. The observation of the disciples implied that the sleep of Lazarus rendered it unnecessary for him to expose himself to peril; for their friend was already on the way to recovery.
VIII OUR LORD"S FRANK STATEMENT OF THE TRUTH AND THE LOVING RESOLUTION OF THE DISCIPLES. "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.
1. Jesus is glad, not for the death of Lazarus, but for its future issues.
2. He implies that if he had been at Bethany, Lazarus would not have died. He has the assured consciousness of power over death.
3. The cause of his gladness. It was on account of the disciples" faith.
(1) They were believers already.
(2) But he contemplated the increase of their faith as a necessity in view of their coming trials. The disciples themselves once asked, with one voice, Lord, increase our faith". (Luk_17:5)
4. The loving resolve of Thomas. "Then said Thomas, who is called Didymus, unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
(1) Thomas"s name is mostly coupled with Matthew, whose twin-brother he possibly was.
(2) He regards the journey with the gloomiest apprehensions. He judges rightly that the death of Jesus will be the end of it.
(3) Yet his love to the Lord nerves him to share in the risks of the Judaean journey. He will follow his Master even unto death.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of…
Joh_11:1-6
Now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany
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Lazarus
The English reader would at first sight hardly recognize the New Testament Lazarus as identical with the Old Testament Eleazar.
The two words are, however, the same. In the dialect of the Jerusalem Talmud, words that begin with an aleph (in English, say, an unaspirated initial vowel, like a or e) often drop that initial. Eleazar (ALAZR) thus becomes Lazar (LAZR); and so the name occurs, in point of fact, more than once in the Talmud. When the word Lazar, again, was taken into the mouth of any person speaking Greek, he naturally added to it the Greek termination os (Latin, us), and so by gradual stages the Old Testament Eleazar became the New Testament Lazarus. (S. S. Times.)
Bethany
From the plain of Esdraelon southward to Hebron, and nearly parallel to the Mediterranean coast line, there extends a range of mountainous table land, in some points reaching an elevation of three thousand feet, and varying in breadth from twenty to twenty-five miles. Toward the south of the range, like a diadem on the head of the mountains, is the city of Jerusalem. East of the city, just across the deep and narrow valley of Jehosaphat, which forms the bed of the storm brook Kedron, rises the Mount of Olives. It is the most pleasant of all the mountains that are round about Jerusalem; in pilgrim language the Mount of Blessing; and travellers are frequently surprised by the beauty which still haunts it. It consists of a ridge a full mile long, curving gently eastward in its northern part, and rising into three rounded summits, of which the central and highest is more than twenty-six hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and more than a hundred above the highest part of the neighbouring city. In a well-wooded and terraced ravine, high up on the eastern slope of the mount, screened from the summit by an intervening ridge, nestled the sweet village of Bethany. It is reached from Jerusalem (from which it is distant two short miles) by a rough bridle path, winding over bare rock and loose stones. Its name, the place of dates, seems to hint that it stood originally in the midst of palm trees. These trees, emblems of strength and victory, once so numerous that, in the coins of the Roman conquerors, Judea Capta appears as a woman weeping under a palm, have now disappeared from this neighbourhood as from Palestine generally. The modern hamlet (El-Azariyeh, or the village of Lazarus, the old name not being locally known)
is inhabited by twenty or thirty thriftless Arab families. Into the walls of many of the houses large hewn stones are built, some of them beveled, which have evidently belonged to more ancient edifices. Though itself squalid and poverty-stricken, the village is very beautifully situated, looking out from a cloud of fruit trees, chiefly fig, almond, olive, and pomegranate, and with abundant pasturage around. It is sheltered from the cold north and west, and produces the earliest ripe fruit in the district, On the whole, it may claim to be regarded as one of the sweetest spots in Palestine, though greatly changed in the course of long ages of misrule from what it must have been when the land nourished a free and noble people; and to one who loves quiet beauty and peacefulness combined with a certain mystery, it commands one of the most striking landscapes in the southern part of the country. The house of Martha, that of Simon the leper, and the tomb of Lazarus, are still pointed out to visitors. The last is a deep vault, hewn out of the solid rock, in the very edge of the village. Dr. Robinson (followed by many) rejects the tradition which names this as the tomb; while others, relying on the notices in the Jerusalem Itinerary (A.D. 333), and by Eusebius and Jerome, are disposed to accept it, affirming that the vault has every characteristic of an ancient Jewish tomb both in form and construction, and accounting for its being so close upon the present village by the tendency of Jewish towns to advance, in the course of ages, toward spots reputed sacred. Most beautiful is the way in which Bethany is here named. In celestial geography, which counts places according to the saints who inhabit and beautify them, it was known to Jesus, it is known forever as the town of Martha and Mary and Lazarus. This man was born there. (J. Culross, D. D.)
The family at Bethany; or, natural varieties in religion
1. The facts of this chapter are a sufficient answer to the objection that there is no recommendation of friendship in the Bible. The Incarnate One Master and Model of man was a friend. Needing all the succours of our nature He sought and found those which friendship yields. Hence among His apostles there was an inner circle of three, and one of these especially loved; and among His general followers there was the family of Bethany.
2. It is delightful to think of Jesus there. It often happens that great men have some home where they may unbend, and where they need not be other than men, with the certainty of being loved. To Bethany Jesus betook Himself after the labours of the day, and there He felt at home.
3. Who would not like to have seen Him there? Home is the best sanctuary of the heart. It is an evil sign when it ceases to attract. We could have missed many scenes in Christs life rather than this.
4. There were three dwellers in that house. I do not know that He would or could have found, apart from female society, what He wanted and craved. The greatest men have always a feminine element, and have always pleasure in female fellowship. The household which Jesus loved presents religious varieties
I. IN ACTUAL EXISTENCE. We meet with them also in Luk_10:38-42 Joh_12:1-13.
1. These passages bring before us three types of character. Martha and Mary answering to Peter and John. On each occasion Martha is in action; while Mary is hearkening, sitting still, or pouring out her affection in unselfish homage. Of Lazaruss works and acts we know nothing; but as Jesus loved him, we cannot imagine that there was nothing in him, or that what was in him was not good; and therefore conclude that it was of a kind which does not seek publicity. So we have here specimens of the three great departments of our nature--thought, feeling and action. They all loved Jesus after a natural manner, and Jesus loved them all and gave their characteristics immortal honour.
2. Men are naturally different in soul as in flesh. Had not man sinned we have no reason to suppose it would have been otherwise. There is endless variety in nature. There is difference in the Church. As man is not made alike, so he is not remade alike. This is true also of our minor parts and separate powers; not only of thoughts, but kinds of thinking, so of emotions and actions. Why not then in religion? In the case before us, in their quiet common life the presence of Jesus brings out their characteristic qualities, and so it does in their great woe and social feast.
II. AS MANIFESTED IN CONNECTION WITH CHRIST.
1. The practical in Martha honours Jesus. It has been a question whether the world is more indebted to men of action or of thought. Both are best, and both are necessary. Strong coupling chains are as needful as good engines, and the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee. Martha was the hand. Christ needed refreshment and she prepared it. I fancy her the bustling housewife, of robust health and good spirits, clear, but not deep in mind; warm-hearted, but not profound in feeling; ready to help, but judging help by coarser tests; honestly wishful for Marys help, but not displeased to have it known that she was doing alone; a woman who had no idea of letting the grass grow under her feet, and could express a bit of her mind. There are people of this sort in the Church: men of practical genius and active habits. I have known some never cool but when in hot water, and who never slept but as a top--on the spin. Like Martha, they serve and feed the body. They are the sappers and miners of the army, the Levites of the congregation. Let none usurp their office, and let them not themselves neglect it. But Martha warns them against two dangers
(1) Of putting external activity in the place of the heart and essence of religion.
(2) Of depreciating and interfering with the fitting and, it may be, better sphere of others. One thing is needful, which in the fuss and flurry of such spirits is liable to be forgotten, and which alone can make their labour of any value.
2. Mary represents the quiet, tender, sentimental disciples. Gentle, retiring, with a deep power of emotion, she preferred listening to labouring, privacy to publicity, worship to work, while yet her heart could well up on occasions in acts of unwonted love that would never have entered into Marys brains. There are Marys still, and they are not always feminine; as the Marthas are also often masculine; persons in whom the heart is the head. They are not good at general action, and are more remarkable for the fervour than the efficiency of their labours. As a rule their conception of ends is too high, and their conception of means too low. They work by impulse, and then they do more than others or nothing. They contribute to the gracefulness of religion, which requires whatsoever things are lovely. They add taste to its talents. Marthas supply the business-like prose, Marys the poetry of religion. Marthas rear the needful things in the garden of the Lord. Marys cultivate its flowers. Marthas serve the meals of the household of faith, Marys bring the costly spikenard. But this temperament is preeminently the temperament of devotion. The prayers of some speed the toil of others, returning like the rain, and blessing other scenes than those from which they rose. The Marthas little think, when in the full swing of their engagements, how much of their security and success is due to the prayers of the Marys.
3. Lazarus is a type of the more reflective, recipient, passive class. Had he been a man of much speech or action something of his as well as something about him would have been preserved. He had a heart open to Christs influence, pondered His discourse and deeds, and enjoyed a feast of wisdom and love while many were only being fed. There are such men still; they know more than they say, and feel more than they know. They are too sensitive for the rude friction of common life, and their retiring ways prevent their being appreciated or understood. They on whom Christ works may honour Him as well as those by whom He works.
III. HOW CHRIST TREATED THESE VARIETIES.
1. He recognized and honoured them. He sat at Marthas table; He proclaimed His pleasure in Marys offering; and on Lazarus He wrought His most wondrous work. Special qualities, even when in excess, He did not reject. He looked at the motive. Whatever may be our native characteristics, love to Jesus will make them acceptable, and without that they will be an offence.
2. He guards them. When Martha would intrude on Marys sphere, He forbad her. And when the apostles censured Marys offering He reproved them. And still He looks with no kindly eye on those who are impatient of their brethrens different excellences. There is a bigotry of character as well as of creed. On the other hand, there is a tendency in some to despond when conscious of the want of qualities which others exhibit. But you are called to be yourselves and to cultivate your own gifts. If you try to imitate others, you will spoil yourselves and caricature them.
3. He controls them. He gently chastened Marthas anxious mind though He approved of Marys apparently wasteful offering; as much as to say--If there be any extravagance let it be in honouring Me. Marthas activity was in danger of becoming worldliness; but Mary might go a great length in her affection without equal peril of losing her soul. The world reserves its praise for the devotees of Mammon, and the world is wrong. (A. J. Morris.)
Family disharmonies
What can be more irksome than to hear two sisters continually setting each other right upon trifling points, and differing from each other in opinion for no apparent reason but from a habit of contradiction? This family fault should be watched against; for it is an annoyance, though but a petty one, never to be able to open your lips without being harassed by such contradictions as, Oh no! that happened on Tuesday, not Wednesday; or if you remark that the clouds look threatening, to be asked in a tone of surprise, Do you think it looks like rain? I am sure there is no appearance of such a thing. Narrate an incident, every small item is corrected; hazard an opinion, it is wondered at or contradicted; assert a fact, it is doubted or questioned; till at length you keep silence in despair. (G. S. Bowes, B. A.)
He whom Thou lovest is sick
Christs love the comfort in sickness
A faithful, pious preacher was once lying dangerously ill, and the members of his church were praying earnestly at his bedside that the Lord would raise him up and preserve him to them; in doing so, among other things, they made mention of his tender watchfulness in feeding the lambs of the flock, making use of the expression, Lord, Thou knowest how he loves Thee. At this the sick man turned to them and said, Ah, children, do not pray thus I when Mary and Martha sent to Jesus, their message was not--Lord, he who loveth Thee, but--Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is sick! It is not my imperfect love to Him which comforts me, but His perfect love to me. (R. Besser, D. D.)
The sisters message and the Lords response
The message contained no request. To a loving friend it was quite enough to announce the fact. Friends are not verbose in their descriptions. True prayer does not consist in much speaking, or fine long sentences. When a mans child falls into a pit it is enough to tell the father the simple fact in the shortest manner possible. How useful it is to have praying sisters! As for our Lords reply, there was something very mysterious about it. He might of course have said plainly, Lazarus will die, and then I will raise him again. Yet there is a wonderful likeness between the style of His message and many an unfulfilled prophecy. He said enough to excite hope, and encourage faith and patience and prayer, but not enough to make Mary and Martha leave off praying and seeking God. And is not this exactly what we should feel about many an unfulfilled prediction of things to come? Men complain that prophecies are not so literally fulfilled as to exclude doubt and uncertainty. But they forget that God wisely permits a degree of uncertainty in order to keep on watching and praying. It is just what He did with Martha and Mary here. (Bp. Ryle.)
The appeal and the answer
I. THE COURSE THE SISTERS TOOK.
1. We need not doubt that they used all the means in their power for their brothers restoration. But they looked to the Great Physician. This is one of the marks of a believer, that while he uses means he does not depend upon them.
2. They sent to Jesus. Their message was
(1) Short. This should encourage our applications in sudden emergencies when long prayer cannot be offered. This is frequently the case with the sick and their attendants. It is not the length, but the faith and sincerity of the prayer that makes it effectual. The most powerful prayers have been the shortest. God be merciful to me a sinner. Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. What wilt Thou have ms to do?
(2) Confident. They did not ask Him to come, or to heal their brother. All we ask is Behold--his languid eye, faltering breath, sufferings; we have confidence in Thy love and wisdom, and leave the matter in Thy hands.
(3) Humble. They send no panegyric, nor mention any quality that might interest Christ. All they remind Him of is His love. This is the only ground on which we can build our faith and shape our prayers.
II. THE GRACIOUS ANSWER. This was sent for present support until a complete answer could be given; and is so worded as to put their faith and patience to a severe test. The way by which Christ leads His people is that of simple confidence in Him. He directs them not to judge Him by the outward appearances of His providence at a dark and unfavourable moment; but by His sure word of promise (Isa_50:10). This answer may be viewed as the Lords general answer to His people--for the glory of God. The sorrow of the world has a different tendency Rev_16:10-11). How mysterious must it have seemed after this message that their brother should die; but the mystery was afterwards unravelled, and the affliction, instead of terminating in death, was the occasion of giving physical and spiritual life. (J. Haldane Stewart, M. A.)
The test of discipleship
To whom do we go first in the time of our extremity? What is our resource in the day of trouble? Can we say with David, From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee when my heart is overwhelmed? or do we betake ourselves to some other helper? The answer to these questions will determine whether we are the friends of Jesus or not. Travelling once upon a railroad ear, I had among my fellow passengers a little laughing child who romped about and was at home with everybody, and while she was frolicking around it might have been difficult to tell to whom she belonged, she seemed so much the property of everyone; but when the engine gave a loud, long shriek, and we went rattling into a dark tunnel, the little one made one bound and ran to nestle in a ladys lap. I knew then who was her mother! So in the day of prosperity it may be occasionally difficult to say whether a man is a Christian or not; but when, in time of trouble, he makes straight for Christ, we know then most surely whose he is and whom he serves. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The appeal to Christs affection
The man who was healed at the pool of Bethesda, the blind man who was sent to wash in the pool of Siloam, were merely suffering Jews; the bread at Capernaum was given to 5,000 men gathered indiscriminately; the nobleman at Capernaum seems to have heard for the first time of Jesus; the guests at the marriage feast may have been His neighbours, or even His kinsmen, but we are not told that they were. This message is the first which directly appeals to the private affection of the Son of Man, which calls Him to help as a friend because He is a Friend. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
The friendship of Jesus
I. THE REALITY OF CHRISTS FRIENDSHIP. That Jesus should have passed His life in solitude was impossible; how could it be that His Spirit, wrapped up within itself, should be alien to all human impulses. This friendship grew as do others. There may have been some restraint at the first interview, but this soon melted into respectful familiarity, and then into reciprocal union. Christ must have endeared Himself to many, but it did not always mature into friendship. To love another as a sinner, as a Jew, a townsman, a relative, was altogether different from His affection for this family. They were His friends. We may not be able to tell all the reasons of this friendship, but we doubt not it was founded on mutual esteem and like-mindedness.
II. THE FRIENDSHIP OF JESUS IS NOT AFFECTED BY VARIETIES OF INDIVIDUAL TEMPERAMENT. Such varieties as existed in these people have existed in all ages. Divine grace does not produce uniformity in human nature. It left in their own prominence the valour of David, the genius of Isaiah, the pathos of Jeremiah, the fervour of John, the reasoning powers of Paul. So there are some believers in whom intellect predominates, in others emotion; others ruminate on what God has done for their soul, and others look forward with the full assurance of hope. I feed on doctrine says one; I live in practice responds another. The nature of one excites him to battle as a missionary, that of another fits him to endure as a martyr. Every gift is useful in its place.
III. THE FRIENDSHIP OF JESUS DOES NOT EXEMPT ITS POSSESSORS FROM AFFLICTION. Jesus might easily have ordered it otherwise, and even the appeal to His friendship did not move Him. His religion does not free us from, but often leads us to, suffering. Its object is to train the mind, and it takes advantage of suffering to aid it in the process of tuition. The stars appear as the gloom falls; so the promises assume new lustre and power to the spirit lying under the shadow of suffering. I may rejoice in the attachment of my friend, though I have never put it to a severe trial; but if I am suddenly brought to ruin, and he as promptly rescues me at great sacrifice, I may safely say that I never knew the value of his friendship. It is therefore in the period of suffering that the soul is brought into nearer contact with God, and finds His grace sufficient. In this case the event proved that Gods ways are higher than mans, and are not to be judged of in human weakness. They might have questioned His friendship during those four mysterious days, but afterwards they saw, as they could not have seen otherwise, how He loved them.
IV. While the friendship of Jesus does not exempt from affliction IT DEEPENS INTO SYMPATHY WITH THOSE WHO ENDURE IT. Even during His absence Christs soul was in Bethany. Once and again did He refer to it, and at last said Lazarus is dead. His mind thus brooded over the scene, and now, though His life was in peril, He did not hesitate to go. As He met Martha He could speak in a firm tone of assurance, but when He saw Mary weeping bitterly He was deeply moved. And as He took the first step to the tomb His emotion could no longer be restrained. There was no stoicism in His constitution. Try not to be above the Saviour.
V. THE FRIENDSHIP OF JESUS IS NOT INTERRUPTED BY DEATH. What breaks up all other ties has no such effect on it. Friends walk arm in arm till they come to the tomb, and then one of them resumes his solitary path. Our Lord said of him who died, He sleepeth, recognizing the friendship as still existing. The objects of Christs affection, when taken out of the world, are brought into closer union with Himself. So it was with Enoch: today he walked with God on earth, tomorrow he walked with Him in heaven. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
Beloved and yet afflicted
The disciple whom Jesus loved is not backward to record that Jesus loved Lazarus too; there are no jealousies among those who are chosen by the well beloved. It is a happy thing when a whole family lives in the love of Jesus. They were a favoured trio, and yet as the serpent came into paradise, so did sorrow enter their quiet household.
I. A FACT. He whom Thou lovest is sick. The sisters were somewhat astonished; behold, we love him and would make him well directly. Thou canst heal him with a word, why then is our loved one sick? We need not be astonished, for the sick one
1. Is only a man. The love of Jesus does not separate us from the common necessities and infirmities of life. The covenant of grace is not a charter of exemption from consumption or rheumatism.
2. Is under a peculiar discipline. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. If Job, David, Hezekiah must each one smart, who are we that we should be amazed if ill?
3. Is thereby benefited. How far this was so with Lazarus we know not, but many a disciple would have been of small use but for affliction. Strong men are apt to be harsh, imperious, and unsympathetic, and hence need to be put into the furnace and melted down. There are fruits in Gods garden as well as in mans which never ripen till bruised.
4. Is a means of good to others. Throughout these nineteen centuries all believers have been getting good out of Lazaruss sickness. The Church and the world may derive immense advantage through The sorrows of good men; the careless may be awakened, the doubting convinced, the ungodly converted, the mourner comforted through their testimony.
II. A REPORT OF THAT FACT. The sisters sent and told Jesus. Let us keep up a constant correspondence with Him about everything.
1. It is a great relief. He is a confidant who can never betray, a friend who will never refuse.
2. He is sure to support us. If you ask Him, Why am I sick? He may be pleased to show you why, or He will make you willing to be patient without knowing why.
3. He may give healing. It would not be wise to live by a supposed faith and cast off the physician, any more than to discharge the butcher and the tailor and expect to be fed and clothed by faith; but this would be far better than forgetting the Lord altogether, and trusting to man only. Some are afraid to go to God about their health; and yet surely if the hairs outside our head are all numbered it is not more of a condescension for Him to relieve throbs inside.
III. AN UNEXPECTED RESULT. No doubt the sisters looked to see Lazarus recover; but they were not gratified. This teaches us that Jesus may be informed of our trouble, and yet act as if indifferent. We must not expect recovery in every case, for if so nobody would die who had anybody to pray for him. Let us not forget that another prayer may be crossing ours. Father, I will that they also, etc. But Jesus raised him, and will raise us. Some want to live till the Lord comes, and so escape death; but so far from having any preference such would miss one point of fellowship in not dying and rising like their Lord. All things are yours, death included.
IV. A QUESTION. Does Jesus in a special sense love you? Many sick ones have no evidence of it because they do not love Him. If Jesus loves you and you are sick, let your friends, nurses, etc., see how you glorify God in your sickness. If you do not know this love, you lack the brightest star that can cheer the night of darkness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The sickness of Lazarus
I. A PRIVILEGE OF INCOMPARABLE VALUE--to be loved by Christ. To be loved by some is no advantage; their love is carnal, selfish, fickle. But Christs love is
1. Tender--so tender that in all our afflictions He is afflicted. We are as dear to Him as Himself.
2. Constant. It is not founded on any mistakes as to our characters; as to what we have been, are, shall be. Men sometimes withdraw their love because they discover imperfections never anticipated.
3. All-sufficient. It has at command ample resources to supply all our wants, ample power to sustain, guard, and bless us, and that always.
II. A TRIAL STRIKINGLY SUGGESTIVE. Why did Christ permit His beloved friend to be sick?
1. Not because it was agreeable to Him. The sufferings of those whom we love are always painful to us. He doth not afflict willingly.
2. Not because He could not have prevented it. He who hushed the storm and raised the dead had power to keep off disease.
3. It was for some useful end. The afflictions of Lazarus were a blessing to himself and his sisters. It strengthened this faith and intensified their joy.
III. A FAITH OF REMARKABLE POWER. So assured were they of the genuineness and strength of His love that they felt that the mere statement of Lazaruss sickness was enough. True love requires no persuasion. The appeals to benevolence that stream from the press and pulpit imply a sad lack of faith in the philanthropy of the land. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The uses of affliction
God often lays the sum of His amazing providences in very dismal afflictions, as the limner first puts on the dusky colours on which he intends to draw the portraiture of some illustrious beauty. (S. Charnock.)
Affliction, not destruction
I feel that repeated afflictions come, not as lightning on the scathed tree, blasting it yet more and more, but as the strokes of the sculptor on the marble block, forming it into the image of beauty and loveliness. Let but the Divine presence be felt, and no lot is hard. Let me but see His hand, and no event is unwelcome. (Power of Illustration.)
Affliction makes fruitful
Every vessel of mercy must be scoured in order to brightness. And however trees in the wilderness may grow without cultivation, trees in the garden must be pruned to be made fruitful; and cornfields must be broken up, when barren heaths are left untouched. (J. Arrowsmith.)
The benefit of severe affliction
When Mr. Cecil was walking in the Botanical Gardens of Oxford, his attention was arrested by a fine pomegranate tree, cut almost through the stem near the root. On asking the gardener the reason of this, Sir, said he, this tree used to shoot so strong that it bore nothing but leaves; I was therefore obliged to cut it in this manner; and when it was almost cut through, then it began to bear plenty of fruit. The reply afforded this inquisitive student a general practical lesson, which was of considerable use to him in after life, when severely exercised by personal and domestic afflictions. Alas! in many cases, it is not enough that the useless branches of the tree be lopped off, but the stock itself must be cut--and cut nearly through--before it can become extensively fruitful. And sometimes the finer the tree, and the more luxuriant its growth, the deeper must be the incision. (J. A. James.)
Gods love to His own people in a afflicting them
An invalid of twenty years, whose sufferings were extreme, was one night thinking of the reason of this long-continued affliction. Suddenly the room filled with light, and a beautiful form bent over her, saying, Daughter of sorrow, art thou impatient? No; but I am full of pain and disease, and I see no end; nor can I see why I must suffer thus. I know that I am a sinner; but I hoped that Christs sufferings, and not mine, would save me. Oh! why does God deal thus with me? Come with me, daughter, and I will show thee. But I cannot walk. True, true! There, gently, gently! He tenderly took her up in his arms, and carried her over land and water, till he set her down in a far-off city, and in the midst of a large workshop. The room was full of windows, and the workmen seemed to be near the light, and each with his own tools; and all seemed to be so intent upon their work, that they neither noticed the newcomers, nor spoke to one another. They seemed to have small, brown pebbles, which they were grinding and shaping and polishing. Her guide pointed her to one who seemed to be most earnestly at work. He had a half-polished pebble, which was now seen to be a diamond, in a pair of strong iron pincers. He seemed to grasp the little thing as if he would crush it, and to hold it on to the rough stone without mercy. The stone whirled, and the dust flow, and the jewel grew smaller and lighter. Ever and anon he would stop, hold it up to the light, and examine it carefully. Workmen, said the sufferer, will you please to tell me why you bear on, and grind the jewel so hard? I want to grind off every flaw and crack in it. But dont you waste it? Yes; but what is left is worth so much the more. The fact is, this diamond, if it will bear the wheel long enough, is to occupy a very important place in the crown we are making up for our king. We take much more pains with such. We have to grind and polish them a great while; but, when they are done, they are very beautiful. The king was here yesterday, and was much pleased with our work, but wanted this jewel, in particular, should be ground and polished a great deal. So you see how hard I hold it down on this stone. And, see! there is not a crack nor a flaw in it! What a beauty it will be! Gently the guide lifted up the poor sufferer, and again laid her down on her own bed of pain. Daughter of sorrow, dost thou understand the vision? Oh, yes! but may I ask you one question? Certainly. Were you sent to me to show me all this? Assuredly. Oh! may I take to myself the consolation that I am a diamond, and am now in the hands of the strong man, who is polishing it for the crown of the Great King? Daughter of sorrow, thou mayest have that consolation; and every pang of suffering shall be like a flash of lightning in a dark night, revealing eternity to thee; and hereafter thou shalt run without weariness, and walk without faintness, and sing with those who have come out of great tribulation. (Dr. Todd.)
Trouble in the family
Note
I. A HAPPY FAMILY. It consisted of a brother and his two sisters. They were happy because Jesus loved them. The essence of real happiness is not riches or any temporal distinction, but an interest in Christs favour. His love is no empty sentiment. Whom Jesus loves He blesses. How rare are families whom Jesus lovest Individual believers are numerous, but households of faith are rare. Why? Is it because there is so little of family worship?
II. A GRIEVOUS TRIAL WHICH BEFELL THEM. This is no new thing. The children of God have never been promised a smooth life of it (Acts Rev_3:19; Heb_12:7-8). The afflictions of believers are quite another thing from Gods ordinary visitations. God visits them in mercy not in judgment, for the best purposes (Rom_5:3-5). Better is it to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb_11:25-26; Job_5:17-18).
III. THE REMARKABLE CONDUCT OF OUR LORD WHEN HE WAS TOLD OF IT. There was nothing strange in a friend of Christs falling sick (1Pe_4:12), but Christs conduct was very strange. Doubtless they expected Him as soon as the distance would admit of it. How we hasten at such a summons, and the consciousness of being able to do something quickens our steps. Yet Jesus, who had all power as well as all love, tarried. How trying this delay to the afflicted sisters--how heartbreaking when all was over that Jesus was not there. But stranger still Christ delayed out of love. No love is so high as that which prefers the real interests of its object before his present comfort, which aims at permanent good rather than momentary satisfaction. We often seek to gratify anothers feelings rather than to promote his good. But Christ is not a parent who gives His children everything they cry for, but everything that is best for them. He withholds a lesser mercy that He may impart a greater. Instead of raising Lazarus from a bed of sickness He raised him from the grave. Conclusion: The great lesson here is the duty of waiting patiently for the Lord in regard to answers to prayer--blessings--success. (A. Roberts, M. A.)
Affliction
I. THE SOURCE OF AFFLICTIONS. Not spontaneous (Job_5:6-7). Godappoints (Psa_66:10-11; Amo_3:6). God regulates their degree Isa_9:1; Jer_46:28). God determines their duration Gen_15:13-14, Isa_10:25). Not willingly sent Lam_3:33; Eze_33:11). Consequent on sin Gen_3:16-19).
II. AFFLICTIONS OF THE SAINTS. Saints must expect them (Joh_16:33; Act_14:22). Tempered with mercy (Psa_78:38-39; Psa_106:43-46). Comparatively light (Rom_8:18; 2Co_4:17). Are but temporary (Psa_30:5; 1Pe_1:6; 1Pe_5:10). Are joyfully endured Rom_5:3-5; Jam_5:11). Are shared with Christ (Ro 1Pe_4:13-14). Express Gods care (Heb_12:6-7; Rev_3:19). God with afflicted saints (Psa_46:1; Psa_46:5; Isa_43:2). God preserves them (Psa_34:19-20; Ro
8:37). Christ with them (Mat_28:20; Joh_14:18). Christdelivers them (2Ti_4:17; Heb_2:18). They secure a Jam_1:12; Rev_2:10).
III. AFFLICTIONS OF THE WICKED. Sent as judgments (Job_21:17; Jer_30:15). Sent for impenitence (Pro_1:30-31; Amo_4:6-12). Are multiplied (Deu_31:17; Psa_32:10). Come suddenly (Psa_73:19; Pro_6:15; Pro_29:1). Sometimes humble them (1Ki_21:27). Sometimes harden them Exo_9:34-35; Neh_9:28-29). Consummated in the judgment (Mat_25:41; Luk_13:27; Luk_13:23). (S. S. Times.)
The uses of sickness
1. The message was not needed, nor was it immediately regarded. With the sisters nothing was more serious than their brothers sickness, and the little chamber was the centre of the world. The Saviour took other views of the matter. The sickness and death of Lazarus were not ends in themselves, but means to a far higher end. It was more important that they should learn patience than that Lazarus should not be sick; that they should be taught a quiet and strong faith than that He should not die; that God and Christ should be glorified.
2. The uses of an illness is not a common topic. Men may live and die without considering it. This lack of consideration is due to the fact that sickness is unwelcome; and to ask what is the use of it is like asking what is the use of a hindrance, indeed, of uselessness. This, however, is a disheartening conclusion; for think of the vast amount of sickness there is. There is not a house to which the struggle does not come sooner or later. It ought to, and must be incredible to any man who believes in a heavenly Father that so much of human emotion should flow away without benefit. It does not require inspiration to teach us that there must be some light in these dark facts. Shakespeare says, Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head; and There is a soul of good in things evil, if men would but observingly distil it out. The uses of sickness are
I. TO INQUIRE AS TO ITS SOURCE. This is the first duty with respect to any derangement of machinery whether mechanical or vital.
1. It would be a serious mistake to trace it all to the Divine hand. This may save thought, but at the cost of reason and reverence. Many afflictions bear no Divine mark.
(1) Some arise through indolence. The forces of life have not been kept in active flow--they have rested and rusted. There has been leisure for getting into moods and moodiness, and so the nerves become shaken and shattered.
(2) Some arise through overwork whether bodily or mental. Here there are difficulties which each must settle for himself--how long he can put forth power with safety; how he can pull in when he loves his work; but still retribution stands darkly behind the overworker, and will strike some day.
(3) The same result may be produced by the care which gnaws the fine strings of the soul first, and then the nerves of the body.
II. TO LEARN THAT WE ARE NO EXCEPTION TO THE FRAILTY OF THE RACE. Men think all men mortal but themselves. Long continued health has its snares. It engenders a spirit of boasting which forgets God and sympathy with others. Humanity is like a mighty tree, always flourishing and always in decay. Never for two moments together has it the same leaves upon it; always there are some bursting their sheath, or in their tender green, or in their full glory, or slipping from their hold. All come down at length leaving behind as rich a foliage. Thus each leaf learns its frailty in turn. And so it is with man who at his best estate is altogether vanity. He begins to receive strange hints of difference between what he is and what he was. The eyes will give intimation that they are not as clear as they were, and would be all the better for artificial help. As we walk hills seem more formidable than they were, limbs loose their nimbleness, and lungs and heart the freedom of their play. And the chariot of sickness seems to wheel a man nearer to the presence of death; and to familiarize him with the fact that for him as for others, there is no discharge in this warfare. Not to learn this is to leave the sick chamber with one of its most serious instructions unheeded.
III. TO TEACH US THAT WE ARE NOT INDISPENSABLE TO THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE WORLD. This, like our best lessons, is humiliating because true. It seems impossible at times to conceive of the world without some men being in it; they have been here so long, hold such office, and render such service. So many seem absolutely needful--the father, pastor, statesman, monarch. When sickness comes and one is withdrawn, it is a salutary admonition to him and to the world that the world goes on, and will go on, when he is no more.
IV. TO HELP US TO REVISE OUR VIEWS OF LIFE. No one can live wisely without times of pause and quiet thought; and yet men are often too busy to think. They live either without plan, or their plan is narrow and poor, and it will never be altered to the grand dimensions it ought to assume, unless they are laid aside and compelled to think.
1. There is the sensualist with whom life has been a race after pleasure. Is there no room for him to revise his plan of life when appetite palls, and the sweetest drinks have lost their flavour?
2. May not the worldling ask, What shall it profit a man, etc. (E. Mellor, D. D.)
The benefits of sickness
By it God designs
I. TO DISCOVER TO US OUR TRUE CHARACTER--whether Christians or worldlings. Christ is like the crucible which tries the gold.
II. TO MAKE US KNOW GOD.
1. His authority and our dependence on Him. Christ tells us how easily He could crush us, and how all our safety depends on His power.
2. His faithfulness supporting His children and proving that His grace is sufficient for them.
3. His goodness in standing by us, giving us the consolations of His gospel, and letting down into our souls an anticipated heaven.
III. TO GIVE US TO FEEL THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS. Even in health the Saviour is the chief among ten thousand, etc., but His value is especially felt when sickness has brought us to look into the eternal world.
IV. TO ENABLE US TO ESTIMATE THE INFINITE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION. Then the most obdurate is constrained to feel the difference between the righteous and the wicked. The believer then feels more than he ever did, his unspeakable obligations to God for having forgiven his sins and sealed by His Spirit.
V. TO SHOW US THE VANITIES OF THE WORLD. On the bed of sickness, honours, pleasures, riches, the pursuit of which occupies the lives of so many men, to the forgetfulness of their soul, heaven, God, lose their lustre and appear but phantoms.
VI. TO BENEFIT OUR NEIGHBOUR AND GLORIFY GOD. Thousands of examples might be adduced of persons who received their first impressions from the conduct of Christians in dangerous illnesses. (H. Kollock, D. D.)
Sickness a little death
Every sickness is a little death. I will be content to die oft, that I may die once well. (Bishop Hall.)
The benefit of sorrow.
It is said that gardeners sometimes, when they would bring a rose to richer flowering, deprive it for a season of light and moisture. Silent and dark it stands, dropping one fading leaf after another, and seeming to go down patiently to death. But when every leaf is dropped, and the plant stands stripped to the uttermost, a new life is even then working in the buds, from which shall spring a tender foliage and a brighter wealth of flowers. So, often, in celestial gardening, every leaf of earthly joy must drop before a new and divine bloom visits the soul. (Beecher Stowe.)
Trial a small matter in comparison with the benefit it confers
In the ancient times a box on the ear given by a master to a slave meant liberty; little would the freedman care how hard was the blow. By a stroke from the sword the warrior was knighted by his monarch; small matter was it to the new made knight if the royal hand was heavy. When the Lord intends to lift His servants into a higher stage of spiritual life, He frequently sends them a severe trial. Be it so, who among us would wish to be deprived of the trials if they are the necessary attend ants of spiritual advancement? (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Trial and progress
One of the swiftest Transatlantic voyages made last summer by the Etruria was because she had a stormy wind abaft, chasing her from New York to Liverpool, But to those going in opposite direction the storm was a buffeting and a hindrance. It is a bad thing to have a storm ahead pushing us back; but if we are Gods children and aiming toward heaven, the storms of life will only chase us the sooner into the harbour. I am so glad to believe that the monsoons, and typhoons, and mistrals, and siroccos of land and sea are not unchained maniacs let loose upon the earth, but under Divine supervision. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Afflictions prevent worse dangers
Two painters were employed to fresco the walls of a magnificent cathedral. Both stood on a rude scaffolding constructed for the purpose, some distance from the floor. One, so intent upon his work, forgetting where he was, stepped back slowly, surveying critically the work of his pencil, until he had neared the edge of the plank on which he stood. At this moment his companion, just perceiving his danger, seized a wet brush, flung it against the wall, spattering the picture with unsightly blotches of colouring. The painter flew forward, and turned upon his friend with fierce upbraidings, till made aware of the danger he had escaped; then, with tears of gratitude, he blessed the hand that saved him. Just so, sometimes we get so absorbed with the pictures of the world, unconscious of our peril, when God in mercy dashes out the beautiful images, and draws us, at the time we are complaining of His dealings, into His outstretched arms of love.
Afflictions purifying
I remember, some years ago, when I was at Shields, I went into a glass house; and, standing very attentive, I saw several masses of burning glass of various forms. The workman took a piece of glass and put it into one furnace, then he put it into a second, and then into a third. I said to him, Why do you put it through so many fires? He answered, Oh, sir, the first was not hot enough, nor the second; therefore we put it into a third, and that will make it transparent. (G. Whitefield.)
Afflictions make us long for home
We had traversed the great Aletsch Glacier, and were very hungry when we reached the mountain tarn halfway between the Bel Alp and the hotel at the foot of the AEggischorn; there a peasant undertook to descend the mountain and bring us bread and milk. It was a very Marah to us when he brought us back milk too sour for us to drink, and bread black as a coal, too hard to bite, and sour as the curds. What then? Why, we longed the more eagerly to reach the hotel towards which we were travelling. Thus our disappointments on the road to heaven whet our appetites for the better country, and quicken the pace of our pilgrimage to the celestial city. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place
Christs special friends
The saints are all round about His throne, because He is alike near unto them for solace and tuition. Howbeit, as man, living among men, He was affected to some more than some, as to these three, and the beloved disciple. Plato commendeth his country at Athens, chiefly for this, that they were beloved of the gods. (J. Trapp.)
The everlasting Friend
Doctor, what shall I do? asked a patient of her medical adviser: my friends are all out of town. You may have one Friend, was the answer, who is never out of the way, but ever near, and ever true. Jesus is the best friend for earth or heaven. Pres. Edwards, when he came to die,--his last words, after bidding his relations goodbye, were, Now, where is Jesus, my never-failing Friend?
Love of friendship
The English word loved is ambiguous; it may apply to all kinds of love--the love of friendship, for instance, or the love of man and woman. There is not the same ambiguity in Greek. The word used here is one (agapao) which conveys delicately the meaning that the love of Jesus for Martha and her sister was not the love of man for woman, but the love of friend for friend. The ambiguity of the English word makes this explanation necessary. (S. S. Times.)
The delays of Jesus
We know the value of time to a sick man (we say) when the disease is growing and the vital energies are failing. Too late, the physician tells you: if you had called me just two days ago, I might have done something; but now the case is past my skill. But Jesus (and His heart was love itself) abode two days still in the same place where He was. The abiding on this occasion reminds us of that which took place when He was on the way to the house of Jairus, whose little daughter lay a-dying. Human love, impatient of delay, would have urged Him to make haste; yet He tarries, during the last precious moments, over the case of the woman who had touched the hem of His garment and been healed of her issue of blood. It is a most noticeable feature of all His works that they were done without hurry; with the calmness of one who stays on God; with the calmness of conscious omnipotence that can afford to wait; with the calmness of strong-hearted love that will not forego its mighty purpose of blessing by taking premature action. In this case the delay was in His plan of loving kindness, and essential, as we shall see by and by, to its full development. It was not merely that He knew what He would do, how He would take off their sackcloth, and gird them with gladness; but the delay, strange and painful as it was, and inexplicable to the sisters, formed part of the preparation He was making to give them a blessing according to His own heart, who cares more for our being rooted in God than for our present happiness. He was letting them cry out of the depths, that they might afterward cry, Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. (J. Culross, D. D.)
The delays of love
John is always particular about his use of therefore, and points out many a subtle and beautiful connection of cause and effect by it. But none of them is more significant as to the ways of Providence than this. How these sisters must have looked down the rocky road during those four weary days! How strange to the disciples that He made no sign of movement! Perhaps Johns care in pointing out that His love was the reason for His quiescence may reflect a remembrance of his doubts during this period.
I. CHRISTS DELAYS ARE THE DELAYS OF LOVE. We have all had experience of desires for the removal of sorrows, or for the fulfilment of wishes which we believed to be in accordance with His will, and no answer has come. It is part of the method of Providence that hope in these respects should be deferred. And instead of stumbling at the mystery, would it not be wiser to lay hold of this therefore, and by it get a glimpse into the very heart of the Divine motives?
1. If we could get that conviction into our hearts, how quietly we should go about our work! How encouraging that the only reason which actuates God in the choice of times is our good.
2. Sorrow is prolonged for the same reason that it is sent. Time is often an element in its working its right effect. If the weight is lifted the elastic substance beneath springs up again. As soon as the wind passes over the cornfield the bowing ears raise themselves. You have to steep foul things in water for a good while before the stains are cleansed. Therefore, the same love which sends must protract the discipline.
3. The grand object and highest blessing is that our wills should be bent until they coincide with Gods, and that takes time. The shipwright knows that to mould a bit of timber into the right form is but the work of a day. A will may be broken at a blow, but it will take a while to bend it. Gods love in Jesus can give us nothing better than the opportunity of saying, Not my will, but Thine be done.
II. THIS DELAYED HELP COMES AT THE RIGHT TIME. Heavens clock is different from ours. In one day there are twelve hours; in Gods a thousand years. What seems long to us is to Him a little while. The longest protraction of the fulfilment of a desire will seem but as a winking of an eye when we estimate duration as He estimates it. The ephemeral insect has a still minuter scale than ours, but we should not think of regulating our measure of long and short by it. God works leisurely because He has eternity to work in. But His answer is always punctual though delayed. Peter is in prison. The Church keeps praying for him day after day. No answer. The last night comes, and as the veil of darkness is thinning, the angel came. Mark the leisureliness of the whole subsequent procedure. God never comes too soon or too late. Take again the case of Sennacheribs army.
III. THE BEST HELP IS NOT DELAYED. The preceding principle applies only to the less important half of our prayers, and Christs answers. In regard to spiritual blessings the law is not He abode still two days, but Before they call I will answer. The only reason why people do not get the blessings of the Christian life lies in themselves. Ye have not because ye ask not, or ask amiss, or having asked you go away not looking to see whether the blessing is coming or not. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The apparent neglect of self-denying love
John is the only evangelist who speaks of the friendship between Christ and this family, who gives us in fact the picture of Christ in social life, Christ unbending, Christ in the intimacy, the freedom of tender, personal affection, Christ as a friend; just as He only gives the social miracle at Cana. The apostle of love, the disciple whom Jesus loved, he only gives us this aspect of Christs nature and history. How natural and beautiful! Note
I. THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING. Evil in connection with love in one who could remove it. Whatever may be said to lessen this mystery the facts are so. There was no doubt about the malady of the man, none about the mercifulness of the Master. And so we say still. Christianity is not responsible for the difficulty, for as Sir W. Hamilton observes, No difficulty emerges in theology which had not previously emerged in philosophy. Looked at alone the facts are not consistent but opposed. A God of love and a world of woe regarded as bare facts are a moral contradiction; and no wonder if through the veil of tears we cannot always see His goodness. Pain is evil in itself, and suggests evil. The consciousness of sin interprets it as the token of the Fathers frown; and the Bible teaches that suffering came by sin; but it also says, Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and makes suffering the necessary evidence of love and the choicest instrument of profit.
II. THE RESOURCE OF SORROW.
1. They sent to tell Jesus. It was natural even if they thought only of telling Him. True love will always tell what befalls it from natural dictate, because it likes to tell it, and because reciprocal affection has a right to know it. When John was killed the disciples went and told Jesus, and so should we, whenever our hearts are full, even if nothing come of it. Our words are modes of receiving as well as communicating. God hears best our prayers when we can hear them too; we pray best for ourselves aloud.
2. They merely informed Jesus. They must have meant and expected more. Both sisters exclaimed, Lord, if Thou hadst, etc. Was it not then to prevent his dying that Christ was told. But they did not know He knew. We do. Our prayers are not to inform God; He wants to know our prayers--the expression of our feelings, not the instructions of our wisdom.
3. They did not ask the boon they expected. Was it modesty or faith? We cannot tell; but the more we approach to this mode of prayer the better, at least, as to things of a temporal kind. The more we leave them to God, and remember that we are to ask according to His will, and that only spiritual blessings, are blessings always, the better. Many a parent has prayed the life of a child, whom afterwards he had wished had found an infants tomb. Many a merchant has craved the success of a venture, whose success has been the beginning of soul-destroying prosperity. But there is no danger or excess when we ask for salvation and holiness.
4. Note the way in which they said what they did say. They do not mention themselves, nor Lazaruss love for Jesus, but Jesus love to him. They might have put it as the afflicted mother did--Have mercy upon me, or, Him we love is sick, or, He who loveth Thee. They thought Christs love was the best argument, and as there was no need to mention his name, verily it was. We always prevail with God when we make Him our plea, for Thy names sake.
III. THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE. Why did He not hasten to Bethany. Even if He did not chose to prevent Lazarus dying, He might have soothed him and his sisters. He did not go because He wished him to die, and intimates (verse 15) that if He were at Bethany He could not let him die. He delayed because He meant to raise him. Herein is a picture of Providence.
1. The transformation of evil into good.
2. The material made instrument of the spiritual.
3. Fellowship. One sickening and dying for the health, joy, and higher life of many. Conclusion: We have talked of Christs love and mans sorrow. Here only can the two be found together. There are two states before us, one, in which there will be sorrow without love, and another in which there will be love without sorrow. Suffering without Christ--this is hell. Love with no trouble or death--the love of Christ ever present, filling the heart with joy unspeakable--that is heaven. (A. J. Morris.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 23
Chapter 23
JESUS THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE.
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Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. But when Jesus heard it, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore He heard that he was sick, He abode at that time two days in the place where He was. Then after this He saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. The disciples say unto Him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone Thee; and goest Thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. These things spake He: and after this he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. The disciples therefore said unto Him, Lord, if he is fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that He spake of taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. Thomas, therefore, who is called Didymus, said unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with Him. So when Jesus came, He found that he had been in the tomb four days already. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him; but Mary still sat in the house. Martha, therefore, said unto Jesus, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. And even now I know that, whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give Thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith into Him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, even He that cometh into the world. And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is here, and calleth thee. And she, when she heard it, arose quickly, and went unto Him. (Now Jesus was not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.) The Jews then which were with her in the house, and were comforting her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going unto the tomb to weep there. Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was, and saw Him, fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The Jews therefore said, Behold how He loved him! But some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die? Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. And I know that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the multitude which standeth around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me. And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.- Joh_11:1-44.
In this eleventh chapter it is related how the death of Jesus was finally determined upon, on the occasion of His raising Lazarus. The ten chapters which precede have served to indicate how Jesus revealed Himself to the Jews in every aspect that was likely to win faith, and how each fresh revelation only served to embitter them against Him, and harden their unbelief into hopeless hostility. In these few pages John has given us a wonderfully compressed but vivid summary of the miracles and conversations of Jesus, which served to reveal His true character and work. Jesus has manifested Himself as the Light of the World, yet the darkness does not comprehend Him; as the Shepherd of the Sheep, and they will not hear His voice; as the Life of men, and they will not come unto Him that they might have Life; as the impersonated love of God come to dwell among men, sharing their sorrows and their joys, and men hate Him the more, the more love He shows; as the Truth which could make men free, and they choose to serve the father of lies, and to do his work. And now, when He reveals Himself as the Resurrection and the Life, possessed of the key to what is inaccessible to all others, of the power most essential to man, they resolve upon His death. There was an appropriateness in this. His love for His friends drew Him back at the risk of His life to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem: it is as if to His eye Lazarus represented all His friends, and He feels constrained to come out from His safe retreat, and, at the risk of His own life, deliver them from the power of death.
That this was in the mind of Jesus Himself is obvious. When He expresses His resolve to go to His friends in Bethany, He uses an expression which shows that He anticipated danger, and which at once suggested to the disciples that He was running a great risk. Let us go, not to Bethany but into Judæa again. His disciples say unto Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again? The answer of Jesus is significant: Are there not twelve hours in the day? That is to say: Has not every man his allotted time to work, his day of light, in which he can walk and work, and which no danger nor calamity can shorten? Can men make the sun set one hour earlier? So neither can they shorten by one hour the day of life, of light, and toil your God has appointed to you. Wicked men may grudge that Gods sun shine on the fields of their enemies and prosper them, but their envy cannot darken or shorten the course of the sun: so may wicked men grudge that I work these miracles, and do these deeds of My loving Father, but I am as far above their reach as the sun in the heavens; until I have run My appointed course their envy is impotent. The real danger begins when a man tries to prolong his day, to turn night into day; the danger begins when a man through fear turns aside from duty; he then loses the only true guide and light of his life. A mans knowledge of duty, or Gods will, is the only true light he has to guide him in life: that duty God has already measured, to each man his twelve hours; and only by following duty into all hazards and confusion can you live out your full term; if, on the other hand, you try to extend your term, you find that the sun of duty has set for you, and you have no power to bring light on your path. A man may preserve his life on earth for a year or two more by declining dangerous duty, but his day is done, he is henceforth only stumbling about on earth in the outer cold and darkness, and had far better have gone home to God and been quietly asleep, far better have acknowledged that his day was done and his night come, and not have striven to wake and work on. If through fear of danger, of straitened circumstances, of serious inconvenience, you refuse to go where God-i.e., where duty-calls you, you make a terrible mistake; instead of thereby preserving your life you lose it, instead of prolonging your day of usefulness and of brightness and comfort, you lose the very light of life, and stumble on henceforward through life without a guide, making innumerable false steps as the result of that first false step in which you turned in the wrong direction; not dead indeed, but living as the very ghost of your former self on this side of the grave-miserable, profitless, benighted.
John apparently had two reasons for recording this miracle; firstly, because it exhibited Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life; secondly, because it more distinctly separated the whole body of the Jews into believers and unbelievers. But there are two minor points which may be looked at before we turn to these main themes.
First, we read that when Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in spirit and was troubled, and then wept. But why did He show such emotion? The Jews who saw Him weep supposed that His tears were prompted, as their own were, by sorrow for their loss and sympathy with the sisters. To see a woman like Mary casting herself at His feet, breaking into a passion of tears, and crying with intense regret, if not with a tinge of reproach, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, was enough to bring tears to the eyes of harder natures than our Lords. But the care with which John describes the disturbance of His spirit, the emphasis he lays upon His groaning, the notice he takes of the account the Jews give of His tears,-all seem to indicate that something more than ordinary grief or sympathy was the fountain of these tears, the cause of the distress which could vent itself only in audible groans. He was in sympathy with the mourners and felt for them, but there was that in the whole scene with which He had no sympathy; there was none of that feeling He required His disciples to show at His own death, no rejoicing that one more had gone to the Father. There was a forgetfulness of the most essential facts of death, an unbelief which seemed entirely to separate this crowd of wailing people from the light and life of Gods presence. It was the darkness between God and His creatures that gave room for, and was filled with, their weeping and wailing over their dead. It was the deeper anguish into which mourners are plunged by looking upon death as extinction, and by supposing that death separates from God and from life, instead of giving closer access to God and more abundant life,-it was this which caused Jesus to groan. He could not bear this evidence that even the best of Gods children do not believe in God as greater than death, and in death as ruled by God.
This gives us the key to Christs belief in immortality, and to all sound belief in immortality. It was Christs sense of God, His uninterrupted consciousness of God, His distinct knowledge that God the loving Father is the existence in whom all live,-it was this which made it impossible for Christ to think of death as extinction or separation from God. For one who consciously lived in God to be separated from God was impossible. For one who was bound to God by love, to drop out of that love into nothingness or desolation was inconceivable. His constant and absolute sense of God gave Him an unquestioning sense of immortality. We cannot conceive of Christ having any shadow of doubt of a life beyond death; and if we ask why it was so, we further see it was because it was impossible for Him to doubt of the existence of God-the ever-living, ever-loving God.
And this is the order or conviction in us all. It is vain to try and build up a faith in immortality by natural arguments, or even by what Scripture records. As Bushnell truly says: The faith of immortality depends on a sense of it begotten, not on an argument for it concluded. And this sense of immortality is begotten when a man is truly born again, and instinctively feels himself an heir of things beyond this world into which his natural birth has ushered him; when he begins to live in God; when the things of God are the things among which and for which he lives; when his spirit is in daily and free communication with God; when he partakes of the Divine nature, finding his joy in self-sacrifice and love, in those purposes and dispositions which can be exercised in any world where men are, and with which death seems to have no conceivable relation. But, on the other hand, for a man to live for the world, to steep his soul in carnal pleasures and blind himself by highly esteeming what belongs only to earth,-for such a man to expect to have any intelligent sense or perception of immortality is out of the question.
2. Another question, which may, indeed, be inquisitive, but can scarcely be reprehended, is sure to be asked: What was the experience of Lazarus during these four days? To speculate on what he saw or heard or experienced, to trace the flight of his soul through the gates of death to the presence of God, may perhaps seem to some as foolish as to go with those curious Jews who flocked out to Bethany to set eyes on this marvel, a man who had passed to the unseen world and yet returned. But although no doubt good and great purposes are served by the obscurity that involves death, our endeavour to penetrate the gloom, and catch some glimpses of a life we must shortly enter, cannot be judged altogether idle. Unfortunately, it is little we can learn from Lazarus. Two English poets, the one fitted to deal with this subject by an imagination that seems capable of seeing and describing whatever man can experience, the other by an insight that instinctively apprehends spiritual things, and both by reverential faith, have taken quite opposite views of the effect of death and resurrection upon Lazarus. The one describes him as living henceforth a dazed life, as if his soul were elsewhere; as if his eye, dazzled with the glory beyond, could not adjust itself to the things of earth. He is thrown out of sympathy with the ordinary interests of men, and seems to live at cross purposes with all around him. This was a very inviting view of the matter to a poet: for here was an opportunity of putting in a concrete way an experience quite unique. It was a task worthy of the highest poetic genius to describe what would be the sensations, thoughts, and ways of a man who had passed through death and seen things invisible, and been exalted above measure, and become certified by face to face vision of all that we can only hope and believe, and had yet been restored to earth. The opportunity of contrasting the paltriness of earth with the sublimity and reality of the unseen was too great to be resisted. The opportunity of flouting our professed faith by exhibiting the difference between it and a real assurance, by showing the utter want of sympathy between one who had seen and all others on earth who had only believed,-this opportunity was too inviting to leave room for a poet to ask whether there was a basis in fact for this contrast; whether it was likely that in point of fact Lazarus did conduct himself, when restored to earth, as one who had been plunged into the full light and thronging life of the unseen world. And, when we consider the actual requirements of the case, it seems most unlikely that Lazarus can have been recalled from a clear consciousness and full knowledge of the heavenly life-unlikely that he should be summoned to live on earth with a mind too large for the uses of earth, overcharged with knowledge he could not use, as a poor man suddenly enriched beyond his ability to spend, and thereby only confused and stupefied. Apparently the idea of the other poet is the wiser when he says:-
Where wert thou, brother, those four days?
There lives no record of reply,
Which, telling what it is to die,
Had surely added praise to praise.
From every house the neighbours met,
The streets were filld with joyful sound,
A solemn gladness even crownd
The purple brows of Olivet.
Behold a man raised up by Christ!
The rest remaineth unrevealed;
He told it not; or something seald
The lips of that Evangelist.
The probability is, he had nothing to reveal. As Jesus said, He came to awake him out of sleep. Had he learned anything of the spirit world, it must have oozed out. The burden of a secret which all men craved to know, and which the scribes and lawyers from Jerusalem would do all in their power to elicit from him, would have damaged his mind and oppressed his life. His rising would be as the awaking of a man from deep sleep, scarcely knowing what he was doing, tripping and stumbling in the grave-clothes and wondering at the crowd. What Mary and Martha would prize would be the unchanged love that shone in his face as he recognized them, the same familiar tones and endearments,-all that showed how little change death brings, how little rupture of affection or of any good thing, how truly he was their own brother still.
To our Lord Himself it was a grace that so shortly before His own death, and in a spot so near where He Himself was buried, He should be encouraged by seeing a man who had been three days in the grave rise at His word. The narrative of His last hours reveals that such encouragement was not useless. But for us it has a still more helpful significance. Death is a subject of universal concern. Every man must have to do with it; and in presence of it every man feels his helplessness. Nowhere do we so come to the limit and end of our power as at the door of a vault; nowhere is the weakness of man so keenly felt. There is the clay, but who shall find the spirit that dwelt in it? Jesus has no such sense of weakness. Believing in the fatherly and undying love of the Eternal God, He knows that death cannot harm, still less destroy, the children of God. And in this belief He commands back to the body the soul of Lazarus; through the ear of that dead and laid-aside body He calls to His friend, and bids him from the unseen world. Surely we also may say, with Himself, we are glad that He was not with Lazarus in his sickness, that we might have this proof that not even death carries the friend of Christ beyond His reach and power.
There is no one who can afford to look at this scene with indifference. We have all to die, to sink in utter weakness past all strength of our own, past all friendly help of those around us. It must always remain a trying thing to die. In the time of our health we may say,-
Since Natures works be good, and Death doth serveAs Natures work, why should we fear to die?
but no argument should make us indifferent to the question whether at death we are to be extinguished or to live on in happier, fuller life. If a man dies in thoughtlessness, with no forecasting or foreboding of what is to follow, he can give no stronger proof of thoughtlessness. If a man faces death cheerfully through natural courage, he can furnish no stronger evidence of courage; if he dies calmly and hopefully through faith, this is faiths highest expression. And if it is really true that Jesus did raise Lazarus, then a world of depression and fear and grief is lifted off the heart of man. That very assurance is given to us which we most of all need. And, so far as I can see, it is our own imbecility of mind that prevents us from accepting this assurance and living in the joy and strength it brings. If Christ raised Lazarus He has a power to which we can safely trust; and life is a thing of permanence and joy. And if a man cannot determine for himself whether this did actually happen or not, he must, I think, feel that the fault is his, and that he is defrauding himself of one of the clearest guiding lights and most powerful determining influences we have.
This miracle is itself more significant than the explanation of it. The act which embodies and gives actuality to a principle is its best exposition. But the main teaching of the miracle is enounced in the words of Jesus: I am the Resurrection and the Life. In this statement two truths are contained: (1) that resurrection and life are not future only, but present; and (2) that they become ours by union with Christ.
(1) Resurrection and Life are not blessings laid up for us in a remote future: they are present. When Jesus said to Martha, Thy brother shall rise again, she answered, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day,-meaning to indicate that this was small consolation. There was her brother lying in the tomb dead, and there he would lie for ages dead; no more to move about in the home she loved for his sake, no more to exchange with her one word or look. What comfort did the vague and remote hope of reunion after long ages of untold change bring? What comfort is to sustain her through the interval? When parents lose the children whom they could not bear to have for a day out of their sight, whom they longed for if they were absent an hour beyond their time, it is no doubt some comfort to know that one day they will again fold them to their breast. But this is not the comfort Christ gives Martha. He comforts her, not by pointing her to a far-off event which was vague and remote, but to His own living person, whom she knew, saw, and trusted. And He assured her that in Him were resurrection and life; that all, therefore, who belonged to Him were uninjured by death, and had in Him a present and continuous life.
Christ, then, does not think of immortality as we do. The thought of immortality is with Him involved in, and absorbed by, the idea of life. Life is a present thing, and its continuance a matter of course. When life is full, and abundant, and glad, the present is enough, and past and future are unthought of. It is life, therefore, rather than immortality Christ speaks of; a present, not a future, good; an expansion of the nature now, and which necessarily carries with it the idea of permanence. Eternal life He defines, not as a future continuance to be measured by ages, but as a present life, to be measured by its depth. It is the quality, not the length, of life He looks at. Life prolonged without being deepened by union with the living God were no boon. Life with God, and in God, must be immortal; life without God He does not call life at all.
In evidence of this present continued life Lazarus was called back, and shown to be still alive. In him the truth of Christs words was exemplified: He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. He will doubtless, like all men, undergo that change which we call death; he will become disconnected from this present earthly scene, but his life in Christ will suffer no interruption. Dissolution may pass on his body, but not on his life. His life is hid with Christ in God. It is united to the unfailing source of all existence.
(2) Such life, now abundant and evermore abiding, Christ affords to all who believe in Him. To Martha He intimates that He has power to raise the dead, and that this power is so much His own that He needs no instrument or means to apply it; that He Himself, as He stood before her, contained all that was needful for resurrection and life. He intimates all this, but He intimates much more than this. That He had the power to raise the dead it would, no doubt, revive the heart of Martha to hear, but what guarantee, what hope, was there that He would exercise that power? And so Christ does not say, I have the power, but, I am. Is any one, is Lazarus, joined to Me? has he attached himself confidingly to My Person: then whatever I am finds exercise in him. It is not only that I have this power to exercise on whom I may; but I am this power, so that if he be one with Me I cannot withhold the exercise of that power from him.
They who have learned to obey Christs voice in life will most quickly hear it, and recognise its authority, when they sleep in death. They who have known its power to raise them out of spiritual death will not doubt its power to raise them from bodily death to a more abundant life than this world affords. They once felt as if nothing could deliver them; they were dead-deaf to Christs commands, bound in bonds which they thought would hold them till they themselves should rot away from within them; they were buried out of sight of all that could give spiritual life, and the heavy stone of their own hardened will lay on their ruined and outcast condition. But Christs love sought them out and called them into life. Assured that He has had power to do this, conscious in themselves that they are alive with a life given by Christ, they cannot doubt that the grave will be but a bed of rest, and that neither things present nor things to come can separate them from a love which already has shown itself capable of the utmost.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 1. A certain man … named Lazarus. He is…
1. A certain man … named Lazarus. He is not named in the other Gospels, though his sisters are. Bethany. About two miles east of Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of Mount Olivet. The town of Mary, etc. John speaks of the sisters as well known in the church. They had been named by Luke, who wrote before him.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Joh_11:1-2. The various theories as to the reason why…
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
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Joh_11:1-2. The various theories as to the reason why this great miracle is not recorded by the other Evangelists need not be fully discussed in this commentary, nor the rationalistic theories which seek to explain it away. But see note, pp. 70–72. Lazarus.—I.e. לַעְוָר, a shortened form of אֶלְעָוָר, Eleazar. Bethany.—See note, Joh_12:1. Town (κώμη).—I.e. village. Mary and her sister Martha.—They are thus mentioned as people whose names were familiar to those for whom this Gospel was first written (Luk_10:38-42). This is further shown in Joh_11:2. The attempts made to connect this narrative with the parable in Luke 16 are not convincing; nor are those which seek to identify Mary with Mary Magdalene, and the latter with the woman who was a sinner, who anointed Jesus’ feet at the house of a Pharisee (Luk_7:36-50).
Joh_11:3. Therefore the sisters, etc.—They felt sure of Christ’s sympathy and help. Thou lovest (δν φιλεῖς).—I.e. lovest with a personal affection.
Joh_11:4. For the glory of God.—This crowning miracle, the last and greatest of the series of seven recorded by St. John, had the same end as the first miracle and all the others (Joh_2:11). For (ὑπέρ).—“The preposition marks the notion of ‘sacrifice on behalf of.’ … There was some mysterious sense in which the sick man suffered in behalf of God’s glory, and was not merely a passive instrument” (Westcott).
Joh_11:5. Jesus loved (Ἠγάπα).—“ἀγαπάω is equivalent to diligo, and means the love of choice, of sentiment, of confidence and esteem” (Reynolds). This verse in a measure explains the one that follows. It shows that there was some special reason which prevented Him immediately setting out for Bethany.
Joh_11:6. He abode two days, etc.—Lücke, Neander, and others suppose that His work detained Him in Peræa (Joh_10:40). Was it now as at Cana: “His hour was not yet come” (Joh_2:4)?
Joh_11:7-8. Master (Rabbi).—The Aramaic word gives perhaps some idea of the reverential spirit the disciples displayed toward Jesus; but it may be said also to hint at that imperfection of their knowledge of His character and mission which still characterised them.
Joh_11:9-10. Jesus answered, etc.—He had left Jerusalem because the time of His departure had not come; and also that a further opportunity for repentance might be given to His enemies. Now the time is at hand, and He will not draw back from the conflict.
Joh_11:11. Lazarus, our friend, hath fallen asleep.—Death does not dissolve friendships to the good. Fallen asleep.—Act_7:60, etc.
Joh_11:12-13. Lord, if he sleep, etc.—How natural is this! The disciples mistook our Lord’s meaning, and were ready with the common observation that sleep at the crisis of a sickness often gives hope of recovery. The disciples thought that now there would be no need that Jesus should rash into danger.
Joh_11:14. Lazarus is dead.—When the death actually took place does not appear. It would most likely take at least two days to go from where Jesus was to Bethany. It is a fair day’s journey on horseback from Bethany to the Jordan, i.e. going at a walking pace most of the way, as the roads do not admit of anything else. So that Lazarus had died perhaps the day after the message came to our Lord.
Joh_11:15. I am glad, etc.—He was glad He was not there (not glad that Lazarus was dead), as the issue of His going now would be the strengthening of their faith.
Joh_11:16. Thomas.—Hebrew תָאוֹם, from תָּאַם Greek δίδυμος, Didymus. Probably the latter name was that by which he was best known to those among whom this Gospel was first circulated. Thomas represents, among the disciples, those whose minds have a pessimistic cast (Joh_14:5, Joh_20:25).
Joh_11:18-19. Now Bethany, etc.—The circumstantiality of the details of this miracle shows the deep impression it made on the Evangelist. The nearness of Bethany to Jerusalem explains why so many of the Jews were able to be present to comfort the sisters.
Joh_11:20-27. Martha.—Evidently she was first informed of the approach of Jesus, as she was the elder of the sisters, and thus mistress in the house. She is true to her character as portrayed in Luke 10, etc.
Joh_11:21. If Thou hadst been here.—There is no shadow of reproach in the words; they are not, If Thou hadst come at once, not tarried, etc. They are simply the regretful utterance of an imperfect faith.
Joh_11:22. Ask.—αἰτήσῃ is not the word Jesus Himself uses when He speaks of supplicating His Father (Joh_14:16, etc.) Martha’s ideas concerning our Lord’s relation to the Father were not yet full-rounded. But, remembering Christ’s wonderful works at Nain and in other places (Luk_7:11, etc.), she still cherished a faint hope.
Joh_11:23-24.—Martha may have expected a somewhat different reply. Her words seem to indicate some disappointment. A general resurrection she believed in—a friend of Christ could hardly have done otherwise—but it was something more immediate she had hoped for.
Joh_11:25-27. Jesus said, etc.—The reply of Jesus, He is the resurrection because He is the life, brings back to Martha the feeling of hope. Her words imply her faith, that because Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah, then all things will be well.
Joh_11:28-32. Evidently the conversation with Martha is not fully reported. Here, as elsewhere in this Gospel especially, we find evidence of the inspired wisdom with which the narrative was composed. Only what is of universal spiritual import is related.
Joh_11:28. Secretly.—So that Mary’s interview with Christ might be uninterrupted by the crowds of sympathisers.
Joh_11:30. Into the town, or village (Joh_11:1).—Jesus evidently knew there was a crowd of mourners, and wished to see His friends alone first.
Joh_11:31. The Jews, etc.—After the manner of Orientals, they followed the usual custom. Saying, She goeth, etc.—The best MSS. read “supposing,” or “thinking (δόξαντες) she was going.” To weep, etc.—The verb is κλαίω, to wail, and is used to express the loud and passionate utterance of grief.
Joh_11:32. Fell at His feet, etc.—Mary, as we gather from all the narratives, was in most things unlike her practical sister. Mary’s nature was emotional and sensitive. The crowds gathering round interrupted her interview with the Saviour, and she could only sob out the words Martha had already spoken (Joh_11:21). We seem thus to learn the thought that had been uppermost in the minds of the sisters, and which they had often expressed to each other.
Joh_11:33. He groaned, etc.—I.e. He was indignant, expressed indignant emotion in the spirit, and troubled Himself, i.e. reflected in outward physical movement the inward emotion. This seems to be the clearest and best interpretation of the original. Various explanations of the passage have been given, according as τῷ πνέυματι is taken as the dative of the object, or as signifying the sphere of His indignation (see Homiletic Note, p. 325).
Joh_11:34. Where, etc.—Equivalent to an invitation to lead the way to the tomb.
Joh_11:35. Jesus wept.—ἐδάκρυσεν, “shed tears.” Bengel: lacrymatus est, non ploravit, He shed tears, He did not cry aloud. This is the shortest verse in Scripture, but it reveals more than many the tender human heart of our great High Priest (Heb_2:17; Heb_4:15). He wept in sympathy with those weeping friends. This reveals His true humanity, as the miracle shows His divinity.
Joh_11:36. Loved (ἐφίλει).—See Joh_11:3.
Joh_11:37. And some of them, etc.—Probably these were of the number of the unbelieving (Joh_11:46), and their words indicate a feeling of doubt as to the power of Jesus. Being natives of Jerusalem, and siding, it may be, with the enemies of Jesus, they had not heard of His raising the dead. The greatest work of His they were acquainted with was the miracle wrought in the man born blind
(9). If it were a reality, might Christ not also have prevented the death of Lazarus? The idea of raising the dead was evidently beyond them.
Joh_11:38. Jesus therefore.—The trouble was now caused, in part, by the suspicions of those Jews. Cave.—The sepulchres were excavated in the rock in the hillside. Such tombs are seen to-day about Bethany and Jerusalem, and witness to the graphic touch of the eye-witness in this narrative. The slab or stone covering the mouth of the sepulchre might be laid flat if the grave were a pit, or might be laid against the opening if the tomb were simply a chamber in the hillside. That the latter seems to have been the form of the cave at Bethany will appear from a comparison of Joh_11:44; Joh_20:6 with the “rolled back” of Mat_28:2, etc.
Joh_11:39. Martha, etc.—The “touch of nature” is here most graphically brought before us. Martha is not looking for a present raising up of her brother, and she naturally shrinks from seeing the ravages death has made on that form, and from others seeing it with the evident stamp of death upon it. Four days.—Perhaps there is here an allusion to the Jewish tradition that after three days the spirit, which has hovered about the tomb, finally leaves the changing body.
Joh_11:40. Jesus saith.—A gentle rebuke of Martha’s “slowness of heart” to believe.
Joh_11:41. Jesus lifted up His eyes, etc.… I thank Thee that Thou didst hear Me.—This is a thanksgiving for a prayer or request which Christ knew was already granted. In what was to be done both Father and Son should be glorified (Joh_11:4). But to show His oneness with the Father, and the perfect accord of His will with the Father’s, Jesus uttered these words, so that men might see that He was the “Sent of God.”
Joh_11:43. Loud voice.—Comp. Rev_1:10; 1Th_4:16; 1Co_15:52. Lazarus, come forth.—δεῦρο ἔξω, here, out! Death does not destroy individuality. Death does not change the relationship to Christ of His own, or their relationship to each other (comp. Joh_11:23 : Thy brother shall rise, etc.).
Joh_11:44. And he that was dead came forth, etc.—All the details reveal the eye-witness. “The word rendered ‘grave-clothes’ … means properly the bands or straps by which the linen sheet was fastened to the body, and which kept the spice from falling out”—comp. Joh_19:40 (Watkins). Loose him, etc.—The bystanders may be thought of as standing petrified by astonishment, so that this command was needed to stir them into action to do what was needful, by unloosing the “bands or straps” (see above) that impeded free motion to Lazarus.
Joh_11:45. Many … which came to Mary.—Those most friendly with the family at Bethany would not likely be evil-disposed toward Jesus, who would be a frequent topic of conversation there.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_11:1-45
The raising of Lazarus.—“Let holy awe touch us at the threshold of this holy place which we are now to enter! All things are possible to the Almighty, are equally so to the Creator of all; but we call the one greater than the other. We call that the greatest which is the most impossible to us. This work of Jesus, the raising of Lazarus, is the greatest when we compare it with what is possible to men” (Lavater). Our Lord, when this history opens, was sojourning beyond Jordan. The enmity of the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem led Him to withdraw for a time from the city, and it was to Peræa that He turned His steps. Even there He was engaged in doing good. Great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there (Mat_19:1; Mar_10:1)—healed them physically and spiritually. But He was soon to be called thence to perform the greatest of His signs, and thus to manifest the glory of God and His own glory.
I. The entreating message and the delay of Jesus.—
1. This wonderful history introduces us to a house where Jesus was willingly and lovingly received while on earth, and in which He was pleased to dwell. It was a small household that dwelt there, but their house was a home of peace and piety, and therefore full of the sunshine of love.
2. But now the day in the house was darkened. Trouble had crossed the threshold; sore sickness had laid hold on a loved brother. It was no mere passing or temporary ailment; and as the two loving sisters of Lazarus saw the disease rapidly progressing, and threatening to lay the sufferer low in death, with one accord they sent an entreating message to Jesus: “Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.”
3. It was a considerate and gentle message, as much as to say, Thou wilt know what to do. They did not call Jesus away from His work; they did not even ask that a message of healing should flash through space, as between Cana and Capernaum when the nobleman’s son was healed (Joh_4:46-54). They left the matter to Jesus, believing that He knew what was best; but the note of entreaty is there notwithstanding. The sickness of Lazarus was evidently severe; nay, more, was dangerous.
4. When Jesus heard, He said, “This sickness is not unto death,” etc.; and He remained still two days in Peræa, probably completing some work that lay to hand. Then, in spite of the remonstrances of His disciples (who must have been glad to hear His declaration that the sickness of Lazarus was not unto death, for they would think there was thus no need for Him to go to Bethany), He declared His intention of going into Judæa.
5. Then on the way He told the disciples plainly that Lazarus was dead; and although words of hope were added to the announcement, its effect on the disciples was to cause depression, deepening in the case of one of them into a melancholy resignation. Lazarus is dead; Jesus is going into the very jaws of death; “let us also go, that we may die with Him” (Joh_11:16).
6. The disciples were “men of like passions as we are.”
(1) They would have shrunk, and had their Master shrink from His work, because danger lay in the path. The path of duty is the path of day, and even when it leads through what seem dark and dismal regions, light shall ever arise on the darkness.
(2) How weak was their faith, even after the wondrous works wrought in their presence by Him! How slowly the consciousness of their Master’s true nature and greatness dawned upon them!
II. Christ’s coming with comfort to sorrowing hearts.—
1. As Jesus tarried, hope died out in the house at Bethany. The weary hours of waiting were sorrowfully ended. Death had entered and claimed its victim, and the mourners were going about the streets. The wistful message it seemed, had been in vain; and when the news came to the desolated home that Jesus was near, the joy of seeing Him was absorbed in the heavy grief that bowed down the bereaved sisters.
2. Jesus had come! But to those mourning ones He seemed to have come too late. “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” But the sorrow is not hopeless; a ray of hope’s light shines through the darkness of sorrow. “I know that even now,” etc. (Joh_11:22).
3. The reply of Jesus to Martha does not quench her hope, but it seems to remove it from the present to the future. But still there is comfort in the thought which, if it does not at once dry up all tears, yet lightens the burden of sorrow, and points to the hour when the tears shall be wiped “from every weeping eye.”
4. But there is also a foundation for the blessed assurance of this faith and hope in the words of Jesus, in which He declared Himself the Prince of life (Joh_11:25-26). Martha could not yet grasp this truth fully, as the great personal proof had not yet been given by the Lord; but she knew enough of Him and His love and power to believe, though she could not fully understand that He was the Son of God, the Life of men.
5. “Believest thou this?” Then it will prove a source of true comfort in every hour of trouble and sorrow. The Son of God, the Life of men, is near; and though you cannot understand His delay to help, although your prayer has been unanswered apparently, and the calamity has fallen, the loved ones have gone hence, still they are not lost, they shall come again; they are safe in the hands of God—and the Christ, the Son of God.
III. Christ’s manifestation of the divine glory at the grave of Lazarus.—
1. At first it appeared as if He would show only impotent human grief, as He wept in sympathetic sorrow with His sorrowing friends, and evidenced the signs of a conflict in His breast. But silence fell on the multitude as He looked up in loving confidence to His Father, and amazement and awe as, in response to His word of power, “Lazarus, come forth,” the loved friend came forth, rescued from death and the grave.
2. Three times during His ministry on earth the Lord raised the dead—the child, the young man on his bier, and Lazarus from his tomb. They were all mighty signs of His power, and must have impressed unprejudiced men that here was One in whose presence death itself must die. And thus their belief in a life beyond death, and that death is but temporal, not eternal, must have been immeasurably strengthened.
3. What would many men not give to see before their eyes such a proof of death vanquished! Nay, but there is given them a greater proof. “Jesus is the resurrection and the life.” His rising is the sure foundation on which the Church rests, on which our hopes for eternity rest. It was not the raising of Lazarus that the apostles preached, great and wonderful as was that sign; it was the rising again of Jesus.
4. And He comes with comfort as the Prince of life to all who sorrow not without hope in Him, and says to each, “If ye believe, ye shall see the glory of God.” Ye shall experience the power of Christ here to give the most blessed consolation, to bring joy with the thought that the departed spirit has indeed been called forth to the Father’s house, called to larger rooms and higher service, and that we too shall soon rejoice in meeting those gone before. “There is but a step betwixt us and death; nay, there is a bridge between us and life! To the irremissible prayer, Teach us to remember that we must die; add this other, Teach us to remember that we shall live.”
Joh_11:5; Joh_11:11. The love and friendship of Christ in the home.—It is the Redeemer’s public ministry, and His intercourse as the Master with His disciples, that the Evangelists record. They give only incidental glimpses of what may be termed His domestic life. There is in this a divine purpose which makes the gospel history unique as the record of a life. Still those incidental glimpses are fruitful for the Church, furnishing example and precept for the home life; and Christ’s people should come to the consideration of them with feelings of lively gratitude. They show that our Lord in social intercourse acted on those principles afterward shown by His apostles to be necessarily present in Christian conduct in the domestic sphere. Especially interesting are the hints we gain from our Lord’s intercourse with the family at Bethany, where He was a frequent and welcome guest. In thinking on this notice—
I. The Saviour was practically homeless on earth during His public ministry.—
1. He Himself said, “The foxes have holes,” etc. (Mat_8:20). Until His baptism He seems to have resided at Nazareth or near it. From that time, however, He appears rarely to have resided in His former home.
2. Nor did He make any special place His home on earth thenceforward. His mission was to found a spiritual house, to raise up a spiritual family.
3. And yet our Lord had human feelings and affections, and His relinquishment of the comforts and domesticities of home must be regarded as an example of His self-sacrificing love, of His willingness to forgo and to endure for the sake of men. Out of pure love to men He laid aside for a time the blessedness of the eternal home, took upon Him our nature, dwelt on earth among men, was weary, hungry, thirsty, etc., so that He might live the life of willing obedience to the Father, as our example, and might die as our propitiation. And His example emphasised His teaching, in which He showed that there are higher objects than earthly joy, and things more important than those of sense and time. But—
II. The Saviour rejoiced in the intercourse of social life.—
1. Human nature calls for this. Men, as a whole, do not delight in the hermit’s solitary life. And as our Saviour was truly human, we may believe that it was a delight to Him to have intercourse with men.
2. Although, in prosecuting His work on earth, He went everywhere, mixed with all classes of society, endeavouring to “save the lost,” yet we may believe He found special delight in homes where piety was predominant.
3. Such a home was that of Lazarus at Bethany (also that of Simon). Thither after His labour in Jerusalem, and when His spirit was grieved by rejection and unbelief, He resorted for rest and refreshment, finding these under the roof of those humble, devoted disciples.
4. It was a typical home. The members of the household were of different dispositions and temperaments. It was, like all the homes on earth, not a perfect home; yet it was one where love reigned above all differences, because love to God was the rule in it. Jesus rejoiced in the social intercourse with Lazarus and his sisters, and counted them His friends. In their love and devotion to Him, in their faith and piety, He found solace and joy.
III. He brought blessing with Him to those who received Him lovingly.—
1. The joy of having Him as a guest, even, would be great beyond measure. Think on the conversations concerning heavenly things in which the family at Bethany were privileged to join. We have brief reports given us of such conversations (e.g. Joh_3:1-21; Joh_4:9-26; John 13-16., etc.). How delightful must it all have been!
2. And the influence of the Saviour tended to bring peace into that home. Where there are people of different temperaments and tastes living together there will be occasions when these will clash, and sometimes even good people may have “sharp contentions” (Act_15:39). So was it at Bethany. Martha seems to have looked with impatience, if not with some little touch of scorn, on Mary’s quiet, thoughtful ways. But Jesus showed Martha that there was a devotion which was higher than that even of hospitable entertainment. And Martha seems to have recognised the justice of His words. The jars were silenced and peace reigned.
3. He brought blessed comfort to the sisters in their time of deepest sorrow. His very presence brought comfort, even though He had delayed a little after their modest message reached Him. His tears of sympathy must have been most blessed, and more so His promise that they need not sorrow as having no hope.
4. He brought to the home at Bethany a bright morning of joy after a night of bitter weeping. No wonder that thankful adoration and love joyfully served Him, and poured on His sacred head and feet their costly offering (Joh_12:2-3).
Lessons.—
1. Earth would borrow more from heaven were the Saviour welcomed in Christian homes as He was at Bethany.
2. There peace will abide, because there love reigns.
3. There He will bring comfort and richest consolation in time of trouble or sorrow, even though our prayer may for the moment seem unanswered, and He delays to come to our aid. At the last He will come blessing-laden, bringing joy out of sorrow, making light arise in the darkness.
Joh_11:9-10. Walk in the day.—In these verses Jesus points out the true way in which we are to view life. It should be lived in the light of duty. When it is thus lived all fear passes away; for nothing but what shall ultimately lead to the highest good can befall those who thus pursue their course. They may be confident that their life is not unnoticed from heaven, that their course is marked out, and the end certain. And consider:—
I. The period in which our work must be accomplished.—“Are there not twelve hours?” etc.
1. Of course this language is figurative. The reference is to the Jewish day, the hours of light from sunrise to sunset. This day was divided into twelve hours, and again into four divisions. And consequently its hours were longer or shorter according to the period of the year.
2. It is an apt emblem of human life—childhood, youth, manhood, and age. But in the case of many the day is short; it is eclipsed at morn or noon; the winter of death shortens its hours and brings it quickly to a close.
3. But it is a full day. Its full hours—all that are needful—are given to each, be they shorter or longer. Each has time to do his work.
4. But it consists of twelve hours only—no more. Therefore if work is to be done it must be within the compass of that day.
II. How is this allotted period to be used by men?—
1. They are to walk in the day, not to sleep. The period of rest will soon come. But in the day they must be up and doing. The day is for labour and action. Then our talents must be used, our powers employed, if when night comes there is to be any reward for our labour.
2. And in and through all, our heavenly calling should engage our thought, and to it we should give our energy. All the rest must be subordinated to it, and must contribute to it, if the hours of light and labour are to be used to the full.
3. Yes; and even when the evening shadows begin to fall, when “those that look out of the windows are darkened,” when “the grasshopper is a burden” (Ecclesiastes 12), by patient enduring, by wise direction, by giving the weighty counsel of experience, the hours of light may be used “till the last gleam fadeth.”
III. In what spirit are men to walk in the day?—They are to be fearless and confident.
1. Only those who walk in the murk of sin, who turn aside into its dark and deathful ways, need fear. They assuredly shall stumble, and unless they return shall utterly fall.
2. But they who walk in the right way, under the light of duty, cannot fail. Danger, and death even, cannot conquer them. Even tribulation will prove to have been not for evil, but for good. They fear not the judgments or condemnations of men, nor will be turned from their path thereby. Above them is the light of truth—before them the strait and narrow way. All that meets them on that path will in the end prove no hindrance. “Good shall be the final goal of ill” to them. On the way of duty they are rising ever nearer to God, even though amid the press and hurry of life they seem to be making little progress.
3. But they know that all shall be well. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” And when the day is ended shall come the time of rest. This Christ has taught us by precept and example.
Joh_11:11. Death a sleep.—This is an image common in other writings than the Scriptures, and is used by our Saviour as shadowing forth one of those universal truths already in a measure grasped by men, but which He came to make clearly known. He showed that the longing for another life beyond this scene had not been implanted in vain in the hearts of men. “Has nature, who quenches our bodily thirst, who rests our weariness and perpetually encourages us to endeavour onward, prepared no food for this appetite of immortality?” (L. Hunt). No; our Lord has declared it by His teaching and resurrection. But it is only those who are in Him, His friends, who can look on death as a sleep.
I. The Christian is freed from the fear of death.—
1. The fear of death is caused by sin (1Co_15:56). Sin hides from us the love of God and the sense of His continual presence. The dread of meeting the eternal Judge haunts the thoughts of the impenitent and makes death to them terrible.
2. But Christ has removed for all His own this fear. Those who have been seeking to live according to the Father’s will do not fear to enter into the presence of His glory.
3. The fear of the anguish, etc., of dissolution is also removed. For to the believer Christ, who bore these pangs of dissolution in an extreme form, is with His people to comfort them. So that even a Stephen (and many a martyr since), going hence by such a stormy path, “lying on so stony a bed,” could be said to fall asleep.
4. As Christ Himself has slept and risen from this sleep, His people are strengthened and cheered by His promise through the apostle that those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him (1Th_4:14).
II. The Christian looks on death as rest from labour.—
1. As the labourer, tired in the fields, lays down at eventide the implements of his toil, so the Christian labourer, wearied in these fields of time, lays aside his toil when it becomes a burden.
2. In our present state it is a natural ending of physical life. Had there been no sin, the exit from life might have been different, a translation (like that of Enoch), or, at least, a euthanasia. And Christ has made this possible.
3. This image is true to nature in the case of the good. It is a calm and tranquil passage. Some “fall on sleep” more slowly than others—in some cases there is protracted disease; but one and all at last sleep.
4. Yet, as when men sleep they have not abandoned life, so believers live on, life and thought endure, unless we are “magnetic mockeries, wholly brain.” And would Christ have deceived us as to this?
III. The Christian regards death as a state of refreshment and renewal.—
1. It is a time of refreshment for the spirit, freed from the bondage of the present, when in the presence of the Lord (Luk_23:43) it shall await the final regeneration.
2. It will be a time of renewal for the body, preparatory to the hour when that which is “sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption,” and thus fitted to be reunited to the waiting, perfected spirit (Heb_12:23).
3. It will be prepared for the “eternal weight of glory” (2Co_4:17); for it will rest to rise in a new and bright day, prepared and quickened for a higher labour.
IV. The Christian remembers that death has an appointed end.—
1. The night is for sleep; when the sun rises man goes forth to labour. The night of death will also have an end. The Lord shall come and awaken all His own.
2. And as when men awake at morn, refreshed and strengthened, they raise thankful hearts to God, so on that resurrection morn shall rise songs of gratitude and praise, never to cease eternally.
Joh_11:16. Dark forebodings.—This word of Thomas was the expression of his character. He was ever looking on the dark side of things. He was hungering fully to believe, but was yet haunted by doubt. He is a type of many. And it is comforting to remember that Jesus included such a one among His apostles—one whose faith was so imperfect. The gospel is thus seen to be fitted for men of all temperaments. Thomas had forecast the probable issue of this journey to Judæa. His mind was filled with the gloomiest apprehensions. Yet he would not hold back; he felt bound to Jesus, and resolved to follow Him to the death. His words show—
I. A melancholy and pessimistic temperament.—
1. The speech is characteristic of Thomas. The same dark way of looking at things was brought out later, when in the upper chamber he said, “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest,” etc. (Joh_14:5).
2. A spirit of dejection seized him at the thought of what lay before them in Judæa. They had hoped so much from Christ. They had been convinced that He was the Messiah, that He had only to show Himself for men to recognise Him. But it had all turned out so different from what they expected. But if He were not to bring deliverance, who would or could? And now that hope had vanished it would be better that their shattered hopes should be buried in oblivion with Him.
3. Not unlike this is the pessimistic spirit in the case of some even in the Christian Church. The gospel does not seem to be making progress. Is it destined to pass away like other religions? Where, however, can a better be found? Therefore they will cling to it in a manner, hoping against hope. Thomas’ words further show—
II. Weakness of faith.—
1. The faith of Thomas seems to us miserably weak when we reflect on all that he had seen and heard with Jesus.
2. But this disciple was like those whom Jesus met on the way to Emmaus. They had heard His teaching concerning the spirituality of His kingdom—His warnings as to what would befall Him and them. But they had refused thoroughly to believe what they had heard. They put their own interpretation on His words. Consequently when the hour of darkness came their feeble faith and hope for the time failed them.
3. And so it is now. In view of the troubles that arise within and the storms that rage around the Church many are discouraged. The seeming loss of hold of the Church on the masses, and also on many of the cultured class, the rise and spread of socialistic and secularistic opinions and systems, the spreading abroad of sceptical ideas and the attacks of rationalism, have all alarmed them. The doubts of the age have found congenial soil in their pessimistic temperament.
4. Yet they cannot think of losing or forsaking the Church entirely. The fall of the Church they realise will mean the fall of hope for the world. Therefore they remain in it: yet often as those troubles accumulate they almost wish the conflict were past and the rest begun. But these words are also—
III. An expression of deep affection.—
1. Love to the Saviour was very real in the heart of this melancholy and desponding disciple. “To whom shall we go,” whether He shall lead to life or death? is the feeling of his heart.
2. And this is the hope in his despairing utterance, this is the bright ray that lightens up his sombre character—personal love to the Saviour.
3. Those who have this love—a love that is true unto death—shall not be left in their darkness. The light shall arise upon them. Thomas was led to the light, and rejoiced in it. The Evangelist who tells of his darker experiences tells also of his noble confession (Joh_20:28).
IV. There is a spiritual sense in which these words may be echoed.—
1. All Christ’s true disciples are called to follow Him, to die with Him.
2. They must accompany Him to Gethsemane and Calvary. Spiritually they are to die, spiritually to be buried with Him, in order that they may rejoice in His risen life. They die with Him, but it is unto sin; they rise with Him, unto newness of life.
Joh_11:25-26. Jesus, the resurrection and the life.—Turn where we will in our speculations, let our thoughts be actively concerned with many things in heaven and in earth, let us be immersed as deeply as it is possible to be in the many occupations and busied with the thousand distractions of every-day life, there is one subject which ever and anon presents itself to us in our hours of quiet contemplation, or is forced upon our view in the intercourse of common life. This is the thought of the end of life and what shall come after. Now one, now another, is snatched almost from our side and passes from our view. Now it is one on whom age has set its stamp, and to whom the threescore and ten years are a burden; but anon it is one who is young and vigorous, who might have hoped to see many days, that is called to pass into the invisible by accident or disease, thus warning us that no season, no period of life, is exempted from the assaults of disease and death. And mostly all of those departed ones leave those behind who mourn their absence and their loss, who cry out in their hours of loneliness—
“Oh for the touch of a vanished hand,
For the sound of a voice that is still!”
Tennyson.
And what comfort have we to give these bereaved ones, to whisper to ourselves, in view of this fact so universal yet so awful for humanity? We could have none, or but a mere shadow of any, were it not for Christ and His gospel, but for the revelation God has given us of Himself and His love. The light of nature and the speculations of philosophy might from analogy have given men a more or less vivid hope of a life beyond, a hope, however, subject to frequent fluctuations, and oftentimes apt to be altogether shattered and dissipated. Consider what life would have been had at the close the curtain of death fallen on it for ever, never to rise revealing it in new scenes beyond, if over the tombs of the loved, the good, the true, men should have had to write, Here hope ends—this is the kingdom of despair. And it is not wonderful that men who believe that it is so should be found asking, “Is life worth living?” But we are not so shut up in despair. Every Sabbath morning, every Easter season, speaks of resurrection, tells us that the dead shall come again. The hope is founded simply—
I. On the word of Jesus.—
1. This was one of the great truths our Lord came to reveal fully—a truth of the highest importance to men—one of the foundation truths of this gospel, to reveal and confirm which He became incarnate and endured.
2. He made known this great truth by direct statement, and in the whole tenor of His teaching. These direct statements need not all be recalled. They are all summed up indeed in this memorable utterance, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” The whole tenor of His teaching also showed how close He held the relation between the visible and the invisible to be—that spiritual and intellectual life here and hereafter form a continuity, and that to the eye of faith the spiritual world is as real, nay more real, than the material present.
3. And the teaching of Jesus on this theme came with authority, because He evidently lived so closely in union with the higher spiritual sphere, so that it could be said of Him, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven” (Joh_3:3). For the spiritual life is not a locality, but a state or condition; and it is possible for those who have grown spiritually to live in continual communion with the invisible. This Christ was able to do perfectly as the divine Song of Solomon 4. And the truth of this was not shown by His miracles only, although these are impressive proofs of His union and communion with the Father; it is evident as well in the whole course of His life and teaching. His life on earth imaged the divine holiness; His teaching bore the impress of heavenly wisdom. It was so simple, yet so authoritative, satisfying the yearnings of the soul after God and eternal things. His spotless life confirmed His teaching. It is here that the best of earth’s teachers fail—their lives and their doctrine often disagree. Not so with Jesus. That divine life was realised even by His enemies to be far above the highest of earth. “Never man spake like this man.” Therefore His words had all the authority of a demonstration. And when He says, “If it were not so, I would have told you,” we feel that these are the words of eternal truth.
II. But His teachings on this great truth and this Christian hope are confirmed by His power over death.—
1. This He showed by, on at least three occasions and in the presence of many witnesses, raising those who were dead. Each of these wonderful works seems typical of His power over death in its every aspect. The first was the case of the child just passed away, the little maid who lay as if asleep, whose form the destroyer had scarce touched with corroding finger, when the word of power, “Talitha cumi,” brought her again into these realms of time. Next the youth in the flower of his manhood at Nain. Here death had more fully wrought his will. They bore the lifeless body to the tomb, when the word, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise” (Luk_7:14), anew demonstrated Christ’s power over the last enemy, and brought joy to the heart of the weeping mother. And in the case of Lazarus death seemed to have wholly gained the mastery, until Christ came and showed that He had power to “bind the strong man” and to despoil him of his goods. And in this last case, as if more completely to show His authority, Jesus had permitted the event to occur, as if He desired to show Himself stronger than this dark power, even when the victim had lain in its fetters four long days. At Christ’s word the fetters were burst asunder and the prisoner set free. Those spirits were recalled from their “golden day” to testify to Christ’s glory as ruler in all the realms of being, able to satisfy the deepest needs of humanity.
2. And more convincing still was His own resurrection. This great event, of such universalimportance, was “not done in a corner.” So numerous were the witnesses thereof, and so convincing is the chain of evidences in its favour, that one of the greatest rationalists, when near the close of his life, declared that “the historical proof of this great event cannot be overturned” (De Wette). It is the truth on which the Church is founded; and since the days of the apostles all true Christian teaching and preaching have been concerned with “Jesus and the resurrection from the dead” (Act_4:2).
III. Therefore in Christ His people rise.—
1. Nothing need be said here regarding the two resurrections: “They that have done good participating in the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil in the resurrection of judgment” (Joh_5:29). Here it is the resurrection of life that is being considered. Union with Christ is the believer’s hope.
2. When men become Christ’s disciples, they have in themselves a strong proof of His ability to save to the uttermost. He hath redeemed them, rescued them from spiritual corruption, put a new song into their mouth. And He who hath done this is able surely to do more.
3. Living union with Christ is the believer’s hope amid conflicting doubts and fears, amid the conflicts and trials of the present, in view of death and eternity. Christ did not come to earth to mock men, to entice them to follow truth, holiness, and every heavenly gift, only that they might be engulfed at last in darkness and the dust of death. No! He has issued the blessed promise, “He that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” He is the resurrection because He is the life. “He is the resurrection of those who die, and the life of those who live” (Bengel). “Death is no more death, but life. Moses says the opposite. For if you will listen to the law, it will say to you, as the old spiritual song has it, ‘In the midst of life we are with death encompassed.’ But that is a song of the old covenant—the law. The gospel and faith, however, reverse this song and say, In the midst of death even we are in life. We praise Thee, O gracious Lord God, that Thou art our Redeemer. Thou hast awaked us from death and given us salvation” (Luther).
4. This is our comfort amid the uncertainties of the present, when those dearest are taken from us, when we think of lonely graves far away perhaps in distant lands or islands of the sea, and in the great deep itself, where the relics of humanity hurtle on its lonely, silent plains. The graves shall give up their dead. As the Redeemer rose, so shall His people arise. “Christ has risen” means the Sun has risen, the Light of life; and the flowers of hope and resurrection are seen blooming on the Christian’s grave.
Joh_11:32-45. Sympathy in sorrow.—Jesus is ever near to His people in their sorrow; and though He had delayed to come immediately to Bethany, when told of the sickness of Lazarus, it was only in order that the glory of God might be more fully manifested. But when the time had come He hastened with sympathetic feeling to comfort His sorrowing friends, “to give the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Meeting with Martha beyond the village confines apparently, He strengthened her weak faith, and sent her to call her sister to Him, in order that He might comfort her also. And as we view Mary coming weeping to Him, followed by a wailing crowd of friends, and Jesus Himself becoming troubled at the sight of this grief, and the thought that death should have such hateful power, we derive lessons of comfort and peace.
I. The grief of the mourners.—
1. It was natural, and Jesus did not rebuke it. He does not forbid His people to mourn in their hours of bereavement and sorrow. He bids them not sorrow as those who have no hope (1Th_4:13).
2. Relief to the burdened comes with the tears of sorrow. “As the gentle spring breezes and warm spring sunshine melt the ice that binds up the earth, so the bonds of heaviness that bind up the heart are dissolved by gentle tears.”
3. Sad is it when in the midst of heavy sorrow the relief of tears is denied, and the burdened heart is nigh to breaking. Therefore should men be thankful for this gift of tears, constituted as they now are. “Tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair” (Leigh Hunt).
II. The sympathy of friends in time of sorrow.—
1. After the manner of the East, many friends and acquaintances had come from Jerusalem to comfort the sorrowing sisters. The most part were, doubtless, sincere in their sympathy. But how little can friends do in such an hour, although often their presence soothes the feelings of the mourners and distracts their thoughts!
2. But some of those present were apparently merely formal in their sympathy (Joh_11:38-46). At the feigned sorrow of these the Saviour’s spirit was troubled. All “shams” were hateful to Him; and where are shams more hateful than in the presence of death, and in the light of eternity?
3. From such feigned sympathy sensitive natures shrink away wounded. Hypocritical sympathy wounds in place of healing. So in part the outward expression of grief, the formal wailing and crying peculiar to the East, is often merely formal. Such was the grief of a section of the mourners in the house at Bethany.
4. But sympathetic sorrow soothes the hearts of the bereaved ones. The silent pressure of the hand, the tender, consoling word, the eye moist with heart-felt grief, bring comfort to bereaved hearts.
III. The sympathy of Jesus.—
1. The tenderest and sincerest human sympathy, however, cannot bring highest or lasting comfort to bereaved ones. It cannot remove the chief cause of grief. It cannot call back the departed.
2. But the sympathy of the Saviour can do what human sympathy is unable to effect. For when we can go to Him or call Him to us when bereavement brings deepest sorrow, He can tell us with authority that those prison doors of death that have closed on our loved one shall one day be broken open and the prisoners set free.
3. He can tell with authority of the welcome awaiting those who have known and lived in the Father’s love, and have gone to a place in the house of many mansions. He can assure the mourner that the loved ones are safe now, and that even their dust is in safe keeping, and that at last we shall meet again those
Whom we “have loved long since and lost awhile.”
4. And even although He does not yet wipe away our tears, and bring back at once radiant joy as He did at Bethany, yet He points to His own empty tomb and recalls His promises, that are yea and amen, of that coming hour when the dead “shall be raised incorruptible,” when at His word of power from the field of death an exceeding great army shall come and death shall be no more.
“O Thou that dry’st the mourner’s tear!
How dark this world would be,
If, when deceived and wounded here,
We could not fly to Thee!
“But Thou wilt heal the broken heart,
Which, like the plants that throw
Their fragrance from the wounded part,
Breathes sweetness out of woe.
“Then sorrow, touch’d by Thee, grows bright
With more than rapture’s ray,
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We could not see by day.”
Thomas Moore.
Joh_11:32. Christ’s delay to interpose against death.—With this faith of Martha (and Mary) there is wonder at the absence of Christ which verges almost on reproach. ‘Surely there must have been reason for my Lord’s delay, while we wept and prayed for His coming, while every morning, and through the long day, our eyes sought the hills where His steps might be first descried. Why so late when this dead brother of mine, and friend of Thine, was sinking to his grave? Oh, the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldst Thou be as a stranger in the land?’Such thoughts as these have since passed through many a heart, and will do till the world’s close. What sore strokes befall us, in this matter of death, from which the Son of God could easily save us, if His power and His pity be as we are told! They are very natural thoughts—natural, above all, when we watch by the deathbed and weep over the dead.
I. The strangeness of Christ’s delay to interpose against death.—Let us turn our thoughts to the circumstances around us, as Mary and Martha might to the state of their home in the absence of Christ.
1. Consider what death is to the sufferer! The token of God’s displeasure against sin is on it. Man’s heart recoils from its accompaniments—the rending asunder of the dearest ties of affection, and of those closest friends, body and soul—the dismissal of our nature to the corruption of the grave and to a mysterious eternity.
2. Consider what a bereavement death is to the survivors! “Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.” How often has the old wailing cry burst from human hearts! how often the death-scene at Bethany been renewed in the homes of men! The childless mother and the orphan, the wife and sister, lover and friend, have wrestled in agony over the dying and moaned over the dead, and none seemed to listen.
3. Consider what a ground of reproach death has furnished to the enemies of Christ! There was no want of unbelieving Jews in Bethany to take advantage of Christ’s absence in this crisis.
4. There is still another way in which the strangeness of the delay may strike us—when we turn our thoughts from our own circumstances to Christ, as the sisters of Bethany did, and when we consider the just expectations we have of interposition from Him. We believe that Christ is fully aware of our need. When a friend fails us through innocent ignorance, we do not blame him. What pains us is his persistent absence when he knows our extremity. We believe, further, that Christ has full power to interpose. That He should be so slow to put His authority into exercise, when such tides of suffering would be rolled back, and such a flood of overwhelming joy set in, must occasion to many Christians strange thoughts.
5. We cannot doubt the desire of Christ to interpose. But if He felt so deeply for His friends, why did He not come sooner to comfort them and interpose in their behalf? Our very confidence in Christ’s ability and willingness to help us thus becomes the occasion of bewildering doubts, and our faith passes through that painful struggle, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.”
II. Some of the reasons for Christ’s delay which may be found in this history.—Other reasons may be found in the whole divine plan, as it is revealed in the Bible.
1. The reasons why Christ delays to interpose against death are, that His friends, when dying, may learn confidence in Him, and have an opportunity of showing it.
2. Christ permits death that the sorrowing friends may learn entire reliance on Him.
3. In the midst of death the union of sympathy between Christ and His friends is perfected.
4. By delaying to interpose against death God makes this a world of spiritual probation.
5. A last reason for Christ’s delay to interpose against death is that He brings in thereby a grander final issue. It is in this interval of delay that our life is cast. The world is represented by this home of Bethany before Christ reached the grave, and all the phases of character and all the stages of Christ’s progressive advance may be seen in the hearts of men around us. But at whatever step of his journey man’s faith may discern Him, He is surely on His way.
6. One thing connected with all these reasons, and impressed upon us by the present narrative, cannot be omitted—that there is a fitness in Christ being absent from the world while death reigns. Mary felt this. “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Meantime He gathers the fold of His cloud over His countenance, that we may not think He looks with cold indifference on our anguish, until He shall withdraw the veil fully and for ever. Happy those to whose eye of faith the cloud is already pierced and who feel in the heart that sunshine of His face, which shall give life and light at last to all the dead in Christ.—Dr. John Ker.
Joh_11:35. The tears of Jesus.—Everywhere over the earth there is weeping. Death, and a sorrow that is often worse than death, bring tears to many eyes. The surface of the river of life smiles and sparkles; but there is ever a deep undercurrent of sadness. And a Saviour who could not draw near to men with a fellow-feeling for their sorrows were no Saviour to whom they could eagerly turn. Thrice in the gospel history we read that Jesus wept. He wept bitter tears over doomed Jerusalem. In Gethsemane He wrestled with “strong crying and tears” in His great spiritual conflict. But here He appears as the divine human friend, not wailing like a formal mourner, but shedding tears of sympathy with His bereaved friends. Those tears of Jesus at Bethany are:—
I. An expression of the Redeemer’s oneness with humanity.—
1. “It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren.” As the perfect Son of man He felt for human suffering more keenly than any merely human friend could do. But as man He expressed His sympathy in truly human fashion. And as true-hearted men are ever touched by the sorrows of their fellows, so Jesus wept with those who weep, sincerely, compassionately, etc., in all this proving Himself a “brother born for adversity.”
2. And in the grief of His friends, as He drew near the grave of Lazarus, He saw no doubt vividly reflected the world-wide grief, the sorrow, crying, and tears, which have followed sin and death in their hateful course on earth. Who does not feel his heart moved at the contemplation of this? No wonder then that He “who bare our griefs and carried our sorrows” was troubled in spirit, in part at this epitome of human misery.
3. The thought of all the sorrow and suffering caused by sin and death to humankind affected the Saviour’s heart, and the pressure of His grief found relief in tears.
II. An expression of sympathy with those friends of the Redeemer.—
1. The heart of Jesus was moved by the grief of those sorrowing sisters of Lazarus, whom He viewed with such regard.
2. Martha and Mary had lost a kind and loving brother. Heart-broken they waited the Master’s coming until all hope had fled, while Jesus still delayed. Jesus felt for all this sorrow, even though He knew it was soon to be turned into joy. The grief of the sisters was real; they had been prostrated by the awful blow. To loving hearts such grief is contagious; and their divine Friend, as truly man, was touched at the view of their affliction.
3. Nor was the thought of Lazarus absent from the mind of Jesus. He sorrowed that death should have such power, to break up homes, to sunder friends, to chill the heart, and make the life dark. All the pains and pangs of dissolution which His friends must endure, His martyrs and faithful followers, to the end of time, who must submit to this awful spoiler, moved His heart as He went to the grave of His friend. Further, those tears of the Redeemer are—
III. An expression of the divine love bringing heavenly comfort to men.—
1. He who wept with the sisters of Lazarus was the Man of sorrows, the incarnate Son of God. His mind and will were at one with the mind and will of His Father. So that we are here assured of the divine sympathy in our sorrows. The Father does not weep. There are no tears in heaven. Only by becoming man, and tabernacling here, could the Son taste the cup of human woe.
2. But there are sympathy and love in the heart of the divine Father; and the sympathy of Jesus with human sorrow, and those tears at Bethany, are the visible expression of the Father’s heart.
3. And the divine sympathy is the forerunner of the divine help. Jesus raised Lazarus and restored him to his sorrowing sisters and friends. But this was only a pledge and prophecy of the coming time when sin, sorrow, and death shall pass away, “and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev_21:4).
Lessons.—
1. Men may, and if true and loving must, sorrow when loved ones are taken away. At such times genuine human sympathy is most comforting and valuable. But when that fails, and above and beyond it even when it exists, there is the assurance that in Jesus His people have an ever-present friend who will comfort them in hours of sorrow.
“Thou, Saviour, mark’st the tears I shed,
For Thou didst weep o’er Lazarus dead.”
2. Jesus can do more than sympathise and comfort: He can infuse into bereaved and sorrowing hearts a “lively hope,” a greater hope, than could be given to Martha and Mary ere their brother was raised. For He Himself has risen from the grave, that all His own might have an assured, hope.
3. While the thought that Jesus sympathises with His people in their sorrow brings heavenly comfort, not so the thought that He mourns for some who have gone back from Him. His feeling for such, so far as it can find expression in the heavenly places, is like that which moved Him to weep over Jerusalem.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh_11:1-27. Help from the Lord.—
I. As help sought (Joh_11:1-5).—
1. The inducement to seek this help is an external one, and is found in the sickness of a brother (Joh_11:1).
2. The true way in which to seek Christ’s help is this—to be prepared to acquiesce that it should come according to His will. They simply sent the message that Lazarus was sick.
3. The deeper reason why help is sought from Jesus is faith, by which we are united to Him (Joh_11:3). He whom Thou lovest.
4. The issue and final result of it is (Joh_11:4), that all should redound to the glory of God and of Jesus Christ, because Jesus loves us (Joh_11:5).
II. As help delayed (Joh_11:6-16).—
1. Jesus does not always at once hurry to our help (Joh_11:6).
2. But unknown to us He prepares to help us (Joh_11:7-10).
3. The consequence of the delay is that the necessity for help rises to extremity (Joh_11:11-14).
4. The design of Jesus in such delay is the strengthening of the faith of His people (Joh_11:15), however despairing they may be (Joh_11:16).
III. As help drawing near (Joh_11:17-27).—
1. Help comes when it seems almost impossible that it should (Joh_11:17-19).
2. Still there remains a glimmering of hope in the hearts of His people (Joh_11:20-22).
3. And Jesus’ precious word of promise powerfully quickens this hope anew (Joh_11:23-27).—Lisco.
Joh_11:28-46. The Lord as the helper of His people.—
I. The drawing nigh to Him as helper (Joh_11:28-32).—
1. It was occasioned by the notification of His arrival (Joh_11:28-30).
2. It took place concealed from the eye of the world (Joh_11:31).
3. It was accompanied by the outpouring of the heart before Him (Joh_11:32).
II. The love of this mighty Helper (Joh_11:33-37).—
1. It revealed itself in the form of tender and lively sympathy (Joh_11:33-35).
2. It was recognized by many (Joh_11:36).
3. By others it was regarded as a sign of impotent weakness (Joh_11:37).
III. The help accorded by this loving Helper (Joh_11:38-46).—
1. It went far beyond every human conception (Joh_11:38-39).
2. It revealed the glorious power of God (Joh_11:40).
3. It redounded to the divine glory (Joh_11:41-42).
4. It could not be denied or doubted (Joh_11:43-44).
5. It was not followed in the case of all who witnessed it by the same result (Joh_11:45-46).—Lisco.
Joh_11:1-45. What can bring us comfort at the graves of our loved ones?—
I. The sympathy of Christ with our sorrow.—
1. Jesus saw the grief of the sisters of Lazarus and their friends. He understood their sorrow and was Himself moved by it.
2. The world sees our affliction, but remains cold, and even friends underestimate our grief sometimes, because it may be that on account of our loss our outward condition is not greatly altered. Jesus understands our sorrow better, He sees what our soul has suffered, when a loved one is taken hence, that not alone a material but a spiritual portion is, as it were, broken from us. He is moved with compassion thereat.
II. The words of Jesus bring comfort to our hearts.—
1. The words of Jesus to Martha, “Thy brother shall rise again: I am the resurrection,” etc., brought comfort, although she did not fully realise what Christ was to do.
2. The world has surface comfort to offer, and never shows its emptiness more than at the grave, where all its wisdom cannot rise above the thought, We must submit, we cannot do anything here. But the words of Christ open to us a glimpse of what is beyond, and bring to all who believe on Him most blessed promises. Sorrow is turned into joy, weakness into strength, the transitory life becomes unfading in the skies. Such considerations teach us to look beyond this earthly life, and make earthly sorrow retreat behind the hopes of the blessed eternity.
III. Christ’s authority over the power of death.—
1. Christ commanded the bystanders to take away the stone from the grave. He spoke the word of power, and Lazarus, who had been dead four days, heard that word and came forth.
2. True, our Lord does not now in this present time awaken our dead. His wisdom has reserved this mighty act of His power for the future. The raising up of the dead by Jesus during His ministry on earth is, however, our warrant that He will assuredly fulfil all His promises, and awake all the dead in the end of the days. Then shall there be no more death: the fashion of it shall be changed; the faithful dead shall inherit immortal life.
IV. The love of Christ in restoring to us our own.—
1. The Lord brought back Lazarus to His sorrowing sisters and friends, renewed in body, and also spiritually strengthened to show forth Christ’s praise.
2. The Lord will give back to His people their loved ones (who have gone hence in faith), freed from all earthly imperfections, clothed with glory, and made fit for full, undefiled, and unfading affection.—After J. L. Sommer.
Joh_11:33. Jesus troubled—Without enumerating various other interpretations of the passage, we think Augustine, Erasmus, Luthardt, Hengstenberg, and Moulton meet our difficulty by the suggestion that death itself occasioned this indignation. Though, like the good Physician in the house of mourning, He knew the issue of His mighty act, yet He entered with vivid, intense human sympathy into all the primary and secondary sorrows of death. He saw the long procession of mourners from the first to the last, all the reckless agony, all the hopelessness of it, in thousands of millions of instances. There flashed upon His spirit all the terrible moral consequences of which death was the ghastly symbol. He knew that within a short time He too, in taking upon Himself the sins of men, would have taken upon Himself their death. And there was enough to rouse in His spirit a divine indignation, and He groaned and shuddered. He roused Himself to a conflict which would be a prelibation of the cross and the burial. He took the diseases of men upon Himself when He took them away. He took the death-agony of Lazarus and the humiliation of the grave and the tears of the sisters upon Himself when He resolved to cry, “Lazarus, come forth!” and to snatch from the grasp of the grim conqueror for a little while one of his victims. Compare the toil of Hercules in wrestling with death for the wife of Admetus. Compare also chap. Joh_13:21, where moral proximity to the treacherous heart and ghastly deed and approaching doom of Judas made Him once more to shudder.—Reynolds.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Joh_11:1. Lessons from Bethany.—Bethany, thou home of peace, thou place beloved of the Lord, joyfully didst thou see Him in the midst of thee, joyfully went He in and out. Well shall it be for us when in our house and heart He finds a place beloved by Him!
“Friend, so near unto Thine own,
Here be Thy home, Thy Bethany.”
Is thy house such a Bethany? Does true brotherly love dwell there? Is the common love to Jesus the uniting bond? When afflictions come, dost thou, in union with all thine own, call the Lord to thee as the Prince of helpers? Is every period of sickness for thee and thine a time for the testing and strengthening of faith? When thou comest to the bed of languishing, what of inner willingness and receptivity dost thon bring with thee? Dost thou receive a blessing therefrom? Is Christ’s mind thy mind, that the result shall be for the glory of God? It is part melancholy, part bravado, that makes a Thomas declare. “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” But even this is governed by the spirit that rules in Bethany, the love of Jesus, and the unbearableness of life without Him. And then, is the trust of this community unchanged when He seems to withdraw His help and to delay it?… But was the Lord not present when the sickness began, and as it became ever more and more severe? Was He not present when He … in supernatural prescience declared that the sickness was not unto death—present when He said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth”?—Translated from Kögel.
Joh_11:4. God can bring good out of evil.—The fact of the existence of evil … is the mystery of mysteries. Here is the thought which baffles thought; here is, above all other spheres of exercise, “the patience of God’s saints.” It is impossible to argue against this contradiction. It is impossible to explain, even to the satisfaction of the explainer, why evil must exist, why evil must live and work, why evil must be mighty and victorious, if God be power and if God be love. Impossible, I say, to explain these things. Not impossible—blessed be His holy name—to trust Him through the darkness and silence, to say with the patriarch, “He is able to raise up even from the dead”; to say with Him once again, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Enough, if we are assured that what we see not He sees, and that which we know but in part He knows perfectly and from end to end. The man who takes God Himself into his heart by faith, knows Him as his God, and finds in Him, as revealed in Christ, present comfort and present strength, can wait for Him though He tarry. “Times of refreshing,” “times of restitution,” are promised in His word. This complicated, this perplexed, this chaotic world,—He is able to raise it up even from the dead. “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.”—C. J. Vaughan, D.D.
Joh_11:5. The spirit of love.—The spring of truth is alone the spirit of truth, the spring of love is alone the spirit of love which Christ has shed abroad on His people. That which any one is, through and for this, alone expresses his true worth. And how much soever any one has succeeded by deeds of another sort, and however much of renown he may have gained here among men, all this will fade and become invisible in the light of truth, when we contrast it with that which a spirit effects, even in the most modest positions in this our human life, when it is pervaded by the divine spirit of truth and love. Only the gifts which flow from that can effect what is true and permanent in the life of men, and what in every way should be reckoned as a common good. We know nothing more of Lazarus than this, that as he was a friend of the Lord he walked in this spirit of love and truth; and never was deeper sorrow expressed than at his death.—Translated from F. Schleiermacher,
Joh_11:5-6. Trials of faith.—There is a trial in these days not absolutely unworthy to be set side by side with that of the father of the faithful. It is that which comes to us more directly in the form of an apparent inconsistency between God and His word, between God and His promise, between God and His self-manifestation in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of this kind are all those delays and denials of the thing earnestly prayed for, which, when the spiritual life is in question—and it is of this that we speak now—are of the nature (to our own limited view) of contradiction to the great promise, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” It is, idle to dispute, it is wrong to disparage, the severity of this trial, where the desire is after God, and where the prayer is honest, humble, and importunate. Is faith strong to say under such trial, “Oh, tarry thou the Lord’s leisure.… Hath He said, and shall He not make it good?… Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”?—C. J. Vaughan, D.D.
Joh_11:9 -
10. Light on the path of duty.
Thou who art victory and law,
When empty terrors overawe,
From vain temptation dost set free,
And calm’st the weary strife of frail humanity.
There are who ask not if Thine eye
Be on them …
Glad hearts, without reproach or blot,
Who do Thy work and know it not:
May joy be theirs while life shall last,
And Thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast.
Serene will be our day, and bright
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.
And blest are they who in the main
This faith, even now, do entertain,
Live in the spirit of their creed,
Yet find that other strength according to their need.
Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead’s most benignant grace.
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,
And the most ancient heavens through Thee are fresh and strong.
Wm. Wordsworth.
Joh_11:9-10. Activity dispels doubt.—Conviction, were it never so excellent, is worthless till it convert itself into conduct. Nay, properly, conviction is not possible till then, in as much as all speculation is, by nature, endless, formless, a vortex amid vortices: only by a felt, indubitable certainty of experience does it find any centre to revolve around, and so fashion itself into a system. Most true is it, as a wise man teaches us, that “doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by action.” On which ground, too, let him who gropes painfully in darkness or uncertain light, and prays vehemently that the dawn may ripen into day, lay this other precept well to heart, which was to me of invaluable service: “Do the duty which lies nearest thee,” which thou knowest to be a duty! Thy second duty will already have become clearer.—Carlyle.
Joh_11:11. Bereavement mitigated for the believer.—Beloved brothers and sisters, our sorrow should be after a godly manner: “that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope,” i.e. as the heathen. In great sorrow, as in great joy, a man’s inner nature comes forth to the light. And thus, in the bitter sorrow of death, it will be seen on what foundation of faith we stand, whether our sorrow is a Christian or a heathenish sorrow. Immoderate grief is heathenish when we idolise our departed ones, as if with them all had gone, as if no God existed in heaven, who alone is absolutely necessary, who alone is the holy and incomparable One. A hopeless sorrow is heathenish when we grieve as if death were the annihilation of our loved ones, and that from the day of their burial nothing more remained of them than the mouldering bones in the sepulchre, and the pain in our hearts. A faithless sorrow is heathenish when we forget in our affliction that a God rules in heaven, without whose will no leaf from the tree, no hair of our head, falls—when in our woe we chide with God, as if He, the Holy One, had done us a wrong, in place of humbly bending ourselves beneath His mighty hand, which is yet a Father’s hand, and remains so even when it most afflicts us. An inconsolable grief is heathenish when we obstinately put aside consolation, and self-tormenting nurse our pain and suicidally pine away, in place of taking the burden on our shoulders trustfully in God’s name, in order to live on for the sake of our dear ones, and to work while it is day, and to advance personally in holiness and preparation for a peaceful end. Thus inordinately, hopelessly, without faith, and inconsolably may a heathen sorrow by the cinerary urn of his dead, but not a Christian at the green grave-hillock of those who sleep. Such a heathenish sorrow the apostle prohibits by the beautiful words by which he designates the dead: “Those that sleep.” The death of the Christian is a sleep. This is certainly only a figure, but in this figure lies a beautiful meaning and tender consolation.—Translated from Karl Gerok.
Joh_11:11. Similitudes of death.—There are many figures by which men have represented death in order to rob him of his terrors and accustom the mind to his appearance. He has been likened to an extinguished torch and a broken thread; to a door through which the dying one enters into the glories of heaven; to a messenger whom the Lord sends to bear His bride, the soul, out of the world, to lead her to Him and give her into His arms; to a chariot on which the soul journeys to its native home; to a ferryman who steers from Meshech to Jerusalem. But the most beautiful and comprehensive of all those similitudes is still that which Christ chose specially, which indeed had already been used before Him by Jews and Gentiles, and which is readily used at all times by believers and unbelievers alike—the figure, death is a sleep. For very striking is the resemblance between them. Sleep is the brother of death.—Translated from F. Arndt.
Joh_11:11. The figure of the sleep of death points to a sacred, divine order.—As it is according to the appointment of God that in autumn nature prepares for her winter rest—that as in the ordinary daily course of nature at eventide tired men should lie down to sleep—so to the Christian the sleep of death is a holy, divine law, to which each should reconcile himself in pious resignation with the acknowledgment, “I am not better than my fathers.” This figure of death as a sleep points further to a sweet rest. How does the labourer rejoice when at night he forgets the day’s burdens and cares in sweet slumber! So to the weary pilgrim on earth death is a rest, a sleeping away of the fatigues of this earth; and so should we rejoice when our loved ones sleep in the Lord, that they have attained to peace, resting in their silent chambers, and that no troubles and pains of earth touch them more. This image of death as a sleep points finally to a joyful awakening. As morning follows on the night, when, as if new born, men arise from sleep, so do we hope that after the night of death a more glorious morning and a blessed resurrection are awaiting all who sleep in the Lord. So shall we not sorrow as others who have no hope; so shall our woe be subdued to pious sadness; and whoever of you have, during this past year, wept in bitter anguish by the bed of death, refusing to be comforted, oh! look to-day, since the Lord hath helped you hitherto, with mitigated grief on the graves of those who sleep, and for your comfort remember—
“Christ’s people pass from place to place,
O’er ways of toil and sorrow,
And reach at last their resting-place,
Where they await the morrow.
God, when their journey’s o’er,
Receives them evermore.…
The seed-corn in the furrow thrown
Is with the hope of harvest sown.”
Translated from Karl Gerok.
Joh_11:21-24. Submission to the divine will.—There is, however, … something else to be considered in regard to those with whom God has placed us in immediate relationship in our life. For these are not given to us merely that they should help and succour us, but as much for this reason, that we should influence and help them. And when they are taken from us and depart hence, and the consciousness remains to us that we have not influenced them as we should or could have done, that we have not been for them instruments of the divine Spirit, and have not succoured and supported them with all our power in the work of the Lord, which they were carrying on, then this truly is a sorrow of a very different kind. May we so receive that true wisdom which comes only from above, that we may prepare for ourselves this sorrow less and less with every year of our life, and ever more perfectly fill the station in which God hath placed us. But may we do this in such a way that our trust shall be placed ever more unboundedly on Him who directs all, so that we shall gladly leave to Him to determine when and how He shall call hence this one and that one from among us. And truly if we only listen to His word, attend to the voice of His Spirit, honour and love men from the heart according to the measure in which His Spirit works in them, oh! then we shall not murmur when, in conformity with the divine order, now this one, now that one, is called away. But we shall firmly trust that the loss of each dear leader will be made good for the common cause and for us, if not, indeed, always by another single individual, yet certainly through the working together of those powers which make toward the same end, through the common works of love which flow from the same spiritual source. In this sense also let us think of death so that we may be wise—wise that we may view its effects on our own lives with complete submission to the will of God, and wise that we may be resigned ourselves to go hence in accordance with that will when the hour strikes, and He purposes to give us rest from earthly labour.—Translated from F. Schleiermacher.
Joh_11:25-26. The winter of death and the spring of resurrection.—This is a lofty article of our faith. Heathenish philosophers have at all times stumbled at it and rejected it. The glory of Christianity lies in this, that it universally acknowledges it. St. Augustine sought to bring it within the comprehension of simple believers by a common but popular and familiar similitude. When the cold and dark winter commences, he rages with fury in the fields and woods, in the gardens and in the meadows, in towns and villages, just as if he would subdue men and beasts and overturn in ruins universal nature. He robs the trees of their leaves, the meads of their flowers, the birds of their nests, the mountains of their verdure, the springs of their flow. Does it not appear as if all hope for these had gone, as if the sap were dried up, the roots dead? But so soon as summer appears the trees resume their leafage, the meads their flowers, the mountains their verdant pasturage, the brooks flow again. Even thus will it be with the bodies of the dead. The bones are robbed of their flesh, the flesh of its veins, the veins of blood, and all the members of sensation. But at the dawn of the great day, and at the sounding of the last trumpet, all will be retrieved as in a glorious summer. We shall proceed and add another similitude for the comfort of pious believers in this world—the similitude of the corn of wheat, which the apostle Paul himself made use of (1Co_15:36-37). A corn of wheat is cast into the earth. Soon it changes in such a fashion that it becomes a white viscid substance. Still, the particles gradually coalesce, and throw out a white point as a germ. This bores upward through the ground, and as soon as it peeps forth throws aside its white colour and takes on a green shade. Now it grows up like grass, but before this sends its roots branching out into the soil in filaments, and extends these filaments on every side, so that the plant may have a firm hold. And as carpenters know how to secure a house by strong binding beams, so God strengthens the growing haulm that it may be able to support the ascending ear. And now the wonders increase. The blooms appear in the form of tender filaments. Fine flower-dust brings about fructification. In beautiful order the grain appears, closely packed together; and each grain is set in a husk, protected as in a cell; and still more, as soon as the ear is set, prickly beards, like a stockade, are set around it, so that the grain may be protected from birds and vermin. Now behold, O children of men; see how much there is that is wonderful in an ear of corn that dies. When once it falls into the earth it rises up, bringing with it and from itself a hundred others. Now, if God can bring from a simple grain of corn a hundredfold, how much more easy will it be for Him to reawaken the body of a man! Therefore let us go with the prophet to the field, and see how at the voice of Christ there is a rustle of movement, how all begins to stir, the bones coming together to each other, “each to his bone,”—how the veins are figured out, and the flesh “comes up” and is covered with skin; how the winds from the four quarters rise and blow upon the dead, so that these may live; and how, finally, the breath enters these new-formed bodies, so that they are animated and stand up on their feet. Let us consider them! They are a great army! O Lord Jesus Christ, breathe upon me with the spirit of holiness against sin, with the spirit of wisdom, to deliver me from folly! Breathe upon me with the breath of life, so that I may be quickened from death! Breathe upon me with the breath of freedom, so that I may be delivered from the bondage of this evil world! Breathe upon me with the breath of grace, so that after this tribulation I may receive and taste of Thy mercy! Amen.—From Dr. J. M. Mayfart’s “himml. Jerus.”
Joh_11:25-26. The dead not lost.
They are not lost! they live, they live for aye;
To those rent hearts this healing hope is given:
When from our sight our loved ones pass away,
All that seems lost to earth is found in heaven.—Thomas Hill.
The blest are like the stars by day,
Withdrawn from mortal eye,
But not extinct; they hold their way
In glory through the sky.
Montgomery.
Joh_11:25-26. Types of the resurrection.—God gave a type of the resurrection to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37.). In those words God gives us a perfect parable of the rising again of the dead. He gave thereby to the Jews in Babylonian exile a promise that they would unfailingly be brought back again. But if the resurrection of the dead had been a doubtful matter to them, how could God have given to the Jews therefrom a proof of the certainty of His promise being fulfilled! Some will not believe this. They consider that it would be impossible for a body scattered abroad, it may be in different countries, to be brought together so speedily. And even if all the members were present, it would be impossible for them to be united. The old Church doctor, Gregory of Nyssa, thus spoke to the unbelieving: “You will admit that God can do as much, surely, as a potter learns from his master to do. Now, what does a potter do? He takes a piece of vile clay, and forms out of it a beautiful vessel, according to his pleasure, and places it in the sun. But when, through some mischance, the vessel is damaged, has fallen, has been broken or thrown down, and has thus lost its former shape, then the potter presses it, if he chooses, again into a lump, and makes out of it a new vessel as beautiful as the former. This the potter can do; and you believe that he can, although he is but a weak creature of God. Why, then, will you not believe God, when He has promised that He will awake the dead?”—F. Arndt.
Joh_11:25-26. Death as foe and death as friend.—A great German artist (Rethel) has graphically depicted in two companion pictures this foe, overcoming and overcome; and thus indirectly teaches us how we may best conquer all our enemies. By the one canvas the beholder is conducted in thought to a scene of gaiety—a masquerade. The fête has been proceeding merrily in a spacious apartment, at one end of which the musicians occupy a gallery. But the artist has depicted an awful pause in the revelry. The plague is raging in the city, and has reached those halls of pleasure, where men are trying to drown the thought of the destroyer. The musicians are fleeing from the gallery; and the gay company shrink with horror from a young gallant who stands with his mask fallen off in the centre of the scene. By him stands a dark spectre, whose uplifted mask tells that he is death. The terrified wretch looks round with beseeching expression, as if he would fain compromise with the unwelcome intruder who has come to mar his pleasure—but in vain, for the spectre seems to beckon him away. Death has come to him like a thief, like an avenging foe. The companion picture shows us a different scene. It is a small chamber in the belfry tower of a village church. The little square window of the room is open, and through it we look on a rural landscape. The time is eventide. All without is marked by calm and peaceful gladness, as if the old earth smiled ere night drew her curtains around. Flocks are browsing and herds returning homeward, for the sun is just beginning to dip the horizon; and a long stream of light, like a pathway to heaven, lies between the window of the little room and the setting sun. The peace without reigns within. On a rustic armchair sits the sacristan. The bell-rope hangs by his hand, as if he had just rung or were about to ring the evening bell. He seems as if peacefully sleeping. But his sleep is of the deepest; for near him stands the same figure that called the pleasure-seeker away. Into the bony face of the spectre the artist has managed to put a sad, yet pleasing expression. On the sill of the window sits a little bird, irradiated by the glow of the setting sun and trilling his evening song, as if he rejoiced with the spirit speeding heavenward on the pathway of light.
Joh_11:28. “The Master it come, and calleth for thee.”—Spinoza, the sceptical philosopher, declared that so soon as he could hold this story of the raising up of Lazarus to be true, he would break his philosophical system in pieces. But he rather left his theory whole than that he would yield his heart in thankfulness and humility. A married pair in our city had piously made an agreement with each other that when it was evident that one of them was dying the other should not conceal the nearness of the danger, but should say, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee.” Oh no, it is not dying to go forth to God! As Jesus asked for the grave of Lazarus, saying, “Where have ye laid him?” so during thy whole life the Saviour inquires concerning all conditions and places where thou art, and dost comfort thee even though thy outward man should perish. He will also concern Himself with thy last resting-place, and will write thereon: “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.” Let each of us pray in the Spirit:—
“When Thou shalt raise the dead
On the great judgment day,
Touch with Thine outstretched hand
The grave where rests my clay,
And let Thy voice be heard
Even in my silent tomb;
My body glorified
Bring to its heavenly home.’
Translated from Kögel.
Joh_11:32. The sympathy of Jesus in sorrow.—Jesus had given many convincing proofs of His love to the household of Bethany while Lazarus lived, but none with that touching tenderness in it which came forth at his grave. The fellowship of suffering brings hearts and lives together more than all the fellowship of joy. There must have been a divine compassion in the Redeemer’s look which melted Mary’s soul as she fell at His feet and felt that her grief was also His. And when His grief broke out into that trouble of spirit at the grave—when His heart was overpowered by it and Jesus wept—the mourners knew that He was one with them. Gethsemane shows us the agony of Christ’s soul for man’s sin—the grave at Bethany His agony of heart at man’s suffering. All that sad, sorrowful walk to the sepulchre where He mingled His tears with theirs was as necessary to make them feel the sympathy of His soul, as was the great deliverance when He said, “Lazarus, come forth.” Nor need we be at all stumbled by the objection that He could not feel so deeply since He knew what He was about to do. A man may pity the breaking heart of a child although he can see away beyond its short sorrow, and God pities us in the midst of our life’s troubles though He perceives the speedy end of them. Be very sure of this, that Christ’s grief was as genuine as theirs, and that the compassion of God and of His Son is as true at every step of the road to the grave as it is when it rises up at last into full redemption, and the gate of the grave is thrown wide open. To form this fellowship of suffering on the way to death is one reason why Christ permits it. He says, “When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee,” and we are brought to reply, “We did pass through the flood on foot, there did we rejoice in Him.”—Dr. John Ker.
Joh_11:33. Two classes of mourners.—There be two manner of mourners for the dead. The heathen and unbelievers mourn without hope of the resurrection; their opinion is that, seeing their near friends are dead, there is no more of them, but that they have utterly lost them for ever. This heathenish sorrow will not St. Paul have of Christians. The Christians mourn also, but with a living hope of the joyful resurrection. For like as God the Father left not Christ the Lord in death, but raised Him up again, and placed Him in eternal life; even so us that believe shall not He leave in death, but bring us out into everlasting life. For this cause doth the apostle speak of the dead as of those that sleep, which rest but from all travail and labour, that they may rise again in better case. Like as the flowers with all their virtue, smell, and beauty lie all the winter in the root, sleeping and resting till they be awaked with the pleasant time of May, when they come forth with all their beauty, smell, and virtue; even so ought not we to think that our friends which be departed are in any cumbrance or sorrow, but their strength and virtue being drawn in, liveth in God and with God. They lie and rest till the last day, when they shall awake again, fair, beautiful, and glorious, in soul and body. Who will not now rejoice at this comfort … and set aside all unprofitable sorrow for this exceeding joy’s sake?—Coverdale.
Joh_11:34-35. The gift of tears.
Be not thy tears too harshly chid,
Repine not at the rising sigh:
Who, if they might, would always bid
The breast be still, the cheek be dry?
How little of ourselves we know
Before a grief the heart has felt!
The lessons that we learn of woe
May brace the mind as well as melt.
The energies too stern for mirth,
The reach of thought, the strength of will,
’Mid cloud and tempest have their birth,—
Through blight and blast their course fulfil.
Tears at each pure emotion flow;
They wait on Pity’s gentle claim,
On Admiration’s fervid glow,
On Piety’s seraphic flame.
’Tis only when it mourns and fears
The loaded spirit feels forgiven,
And through the mist of falling tears
We catch the clearest glimpse of heaven
Lord Morpeth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain Joh 11:1-44. “And a certain one was sick: Lazarus,…
CHAPTER 9
RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS
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Joh 11:1-44. “And a certain one was sick: Lazarus, of Bethany, the village of Mary and Martha her sister.” John, who accompanied Jesus, very discreetly omits the name of the place where Jesus is at this time beyond the Jordan, in order to avoid the confusion superinduced by the reader confounding the two Bethanies. Lazarus was sick at Bethany, Judea, one and seven-eighths miles east of Jerusalem, and Jesus was preaching at Bethany, Perea, about fifty miles northeast. “And Mary was the one anointing the Lord with myrrh and wiping His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” This transaction is recorded in the twelfth chapter of this Gospel.
a. “Then the sisters sent to Him, saying, Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is sick.” The word for love is phileo, which means the love of friendship — i. e., human love — in contradistinction to agapao, Divine love. The unfallen humanity of Jesus is capable of a human love and tender affection infinitely more delicate and sensitive than any of us, hardened and darkened by the fall, can conceive. “And Jesus, hearing, said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Even after the word came to Him, He declined to pronounce Lazarus dead, but said he was asleep. Of course, the death of Lazarus had taken place before the arrival of the messengers sent by the sisters, as we subsequently see, from the fact of the four days having elapsed at the time of His arrival.
These apparent disharmonies all clear away when we remember that Jesus declines to use the word “death,” but substitutes “sleep,” setting forth the significant fact that the body is immortal as the soul, which is true, when we consider the resurrection in its normal economy. “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Here we have agapao, Divine love, thus disarming the infidel criticism that might wickedly be foisted on that statement, as there is nothing physical in the meaning of the word, but purely spiritual, and identical with the love which the Holy Ghost pours out in the heart in regeneration. (Rom 5:5.)
b. “Therefore, when He heard that he is sick, then indeed He remained in the place in which He was two days.” This was the greatest miracle wrought by our Lord during His earthly ministry, from the fact that Lazarus had been dead four days, and consequently putrefaction had set up, and really made great progress in the work of dissolution. It seems that Jesus was determined that this miracle should be pre-eminently decisive and convicting to all who should hear of it. Consequently He remains there two days after He received the word. “Then, after this, He says to His disciples, Let us go into Judea. Then His disciples say to Him, Master, just now the Jews were seeking to stone Thee, and do You again go thither?” They were all unutterably astonished when He spoke of returning to Judea, from which He had so recently fled for His life, as they were in the very act of stoning Him.
c. “Jesus responded, Are there not twelve hours of the day?” The Jews counted from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. “If any one may walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he sees the light of this world; but if any one may walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” The simple meaning of this is, that they could not kill Him till His work was done. Yet we see how He fled from place to place, in order to prolong His life till He could finish His work, illustrating the fact that we, too, are immortal till our work is done, if we abide in God’s order; but if we recklessly disregard it, then we take our lives into our own hands. Hence there is no premium here offered to careless indifference. While Jesus was immortal till His work was done, He must utilize the providence of the Father in His behalf. In this passage, God’s providence is the day, and our own depreciative indifference the night. Hence, if you walk in the light, true to God’s Word, Spirit, and providence, you’ll never stumble nor fall.
d. “He said these words, and after this He speaks to them, Lazarus, our friend, has gone to sleep; but I go that I may wake him up. Then the disciples said to him, Lord, if he is asleep, he will get well. But Jesus spoke concerning his death; but they thought that He is talking about the rest of sleep. Then Jesus said unto them boldly, Lazarus is dead; and I rejoice on your account that I was not there, in order that you may believe; but let us go to him.” We see that our Lord purposely delayed till Lazarus had been dead four days, in order that this miracle might be overwhelmingly convincing and demonstrative. He had raised the widow’s son at Nain when on the way to the tomb, having only been dead a few hours, as the Jews bury their dead immediately after expiration. He had also raised the daughter of Jairus, at Capernaum, who had been dead but a little while. Some might conclude that in these cases a spark of vitality lingered till He arrived and revived it. In the case of Lazarus, putrefaction and disintegration had made such progress that the miraculous feature of the transaction actually beggared all criticism, and silenced all possible cavil.
e. “Then Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples, Let us go also, that we may die along with Him.” Some have thought that Thomas meant that they should die with Lazarus, which is utterly implausible and untenable. Thomas was peculiar in his make-up for taking the dark side of every question. This is the reason why he refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead till the most thorough and indubitable evidence was furnished, after which he never again hesitated nor doubted. Notwithstanding his predilection to take the blue side of everything, he was one of the grandest men called to the apostolic office. In the distribution of the world, pursuant to the Gentile Commission (Mat 28:19), he received India as his field of labor. Though his territory was so very large, and occupied by countless multitudes, he not only went to it and labored heroically, but he traveled through Ethiopia and Persia, preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, and finally being cruelly martyred by the Brahmin priests in India, who interpenetrated his body with a cruel iron bar, as they sag, that his influence would utterly undermine and defeat their religion. In this case, when they had all remonstrated with Jesus not to go back to Judea, whence He had so recently fled from a cruel, stony massacre, and He persisting in His determination to go anyhow, Thomas, feeling now that He is going back to expose Himself to His enemies, they will kill Him to an absolute certainty. “So now, brethren, let us all go back and die with Him.” Thomas was true as steel, and heroic enough to lay down his life with Jesus but his prevailing peculiarity to take the dark side of every problem here crops out.
f. “Then Jesus, having come, found that he is in the tomb four days.” Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs. It is on the Jericho road, just beyond the summit of Olivet, on a southeastern slope. “Many of the Jews had come to Mary and Martha, that they may comfort them concerning their brother.” The Jews mourn for the dead seven days. Consequently, Jesus arrived in the midst of the mourning. “Then Martha, when she heard that Jesus comes, went to meet Him; but Mary was sitting in the house.” Jesus and His disciples arrived on the Jericho road. It is said that they had halted and were resting a little, and were enjoying a drink at Jeremiah’s Fountain in the suburbs. “Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if Thou wast here, my brother had not died. And now I know that as many things as Thou may ask God for, God will give unto You. Jesus says to her, Your brother shall rise again. Martha says to Him, I know that He will rise in the resurrection in the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he may die, shall live, and every one that liveth and believeth on Me can never die; do you believe this? She says to Him, Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who cometh into the world.” Our Savior’s responses to Martha are thrillingly consolatory. O the inestimable premium the Bible sets on faith in Jesus, reaching out, and not only appropriating eternal spiritual life, but that of this mortal, fleeting body, in the glorious resurrection, leaping from the dust, triumphant over death, hell, and the grave, invested with immortality, and dynamited with eternal life, soaring away to join the unfallen angels, explore celestial worlds, range the fenceless fields of glory, contemplate the ineffable beauty of the unfallen heavenly worlds, and magnify the glory of Omnipotence through the flight of eternal ages!
g. “And saying this, she went away and called Mary: her sister, speaking secretly, The Teacher is come, and calls thee. When she heard it, she rises quickly, and comes to Him. Jesus had not yet come into the village: but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews, who are with her in the house and comforting her, seeing Mary, that she arose up quickly and went out, followed her, thinking that she goes to the tomb to weep there.” On both of my tours in Jerusalem, I was frequently at Bethany, and visited the house of Mary and Martha, and entered the tomb of Lazarus; i. e., a stone tomb, excavated out of the rock, in the side of Mount Olivet, designated the Tomb of Lazarus. Of course, Mary did not receive the first news which reached Martha, or she would have gone with her to meet Jesus. Now, Martha, darting in stealthily, whispers to Mary the thrilling news that Jesus has come. During the four days, while the broken-hearted sisters mourned the death of their only brother, on whose faithful labor they depended for temporal support, having sent for Jesus, somehow they entertained a thrilling anticipation that He will come, and, in some mysterious way, a forlorn hope lingers with them that He will actually bring their brother back. Consequently when Mary, the more hopeful and trustful of the two, hears the glad nears of His arrival, instantly rising from her prostrate attitude of deepest grief, she runs away to meet Him, the Jewish mourners thinking that she had gone to the tomb to weep. As Jesus came from the direction of Jericho, the Tomb of Lazarus, shown to travelers as above mentioned, is in the same direction, corroborating the conclusion of the mourners that she had gone thither. “Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was, seeing Him, fell at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if Thou wast here, our brother had not died. Then Jesus, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her weeping, groaned in spirit, and afflicted Himself, and said, Where have you placed him? They say to Him, Lord, come and see.” O how the hope of Mary leaps into reality when Jesus asked them to escort Him to the tomb! A strange sensation has swept over Bethany since He arrived a hall hour ago. All the people have heard it, and are on tiptoe with excitement and anticipation of something wonderful and extraordinary.
Now He starts away to the tomb, led by the two sisters on either side; meanwhile all the people are crowding along the streets and alleys from all parts of the village. The neighbors round are hearing of it. The news, on the wings of the wind, in some mysterious way has traveled out, and every one
— the old, the young; the great, the small; the rich, the poor — come pouring in, swelling the crowd into a multitude. A mysterious awe, a holy hush, is on the people; somehow the anticipation of a wonderful and extraordinary miracle has taken hold of them. The idea that a man, dead four days, is to be raised is unheard of in all the ages. “Jesus wept.” What vivid, beautiful, and sublime juxtaposition of the human and the Divine!
The more you get filled up with the sweet, perfect love of God, evil tempers having been consumed by the refining fires of the Holy Ghost, the more sympathetic you become. If you have a clean heart, and filled with the Holy Ghost, how quickly do your tears spontaneously pour out when you enter the house of mourning, and see the broken-hearted kindred and friends of the deceased weeping all around! Your sympathy is a good test of your religion. If your heart is clean, tender, and sweetened by the perfect love of God, the presence of sorrow and mourning will bring sympathetic tears in copious affusion quickly. This weeping of Jesus was pure, tender sympathy with Mary and Martha and the mourners, as Jesus well knew that He was going to raise him from the dead, and turn all this mourning into joy. How vividly do the two natures of Jesus mutually show up in this notable transaction! Here we see the tender, unfallen humanity of Jesus, weeping as if His heart were broken; meanwhile, His Divinity reveals creative omnipotence in the restoration of life and health to the putrescent corpse; meanwhile, He calls back the soul of Lazarus from Abraham’s bosom, again to inhabit his body. “Then the Jews continued to say, Behold, how He loved him! And some of them said, Was not He who opened the eyes of the blind able to bring it to pass that this one may not die? Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, comes to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone was laid upon it.” Caves, in those days, and at the present in that country, are not only used as habitations for the living, but sepulchers for the dead — as a rule, augmenting and modifying them artificially.
h. “Jesus says, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who is dead, says, Lord, already he smelleth; for he is dead four days.” This was about the first of April, when the weather is quite warm in Palestine. Consequently a young, fleshy man, like Lazarus, would mortify with great rapidity. “Jesus says to her, Did I not say to thee, That if thou mayest believe, thou mayest see the glory of God?” This remark of Martha indicated the staggering of her faith; while we hear nothing of the kind from Mary, whose type of spirituality was that of sanctification, Martha being on the plane of justification. “Then they took the stone away; Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. But I knew that Thou dost always hear Me; but on account of the multitude standing by, I spoke, in order that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” Jesus here prayed orally to His Father for the benefit of the multitude who stood by. We would all do well to follow His example. A prayer which people can hear is always more efficient with them than the inaudible cry of the heart to God. Hence, if you want your family, friends, and neighbors saved, be sure that you let them hear you pray for them. It is all right to pray for them in secret; but that is not enough. Be sure that, like Jesus, you lift up your voice, and let the people in your home Church and community hear you pray for them.
i. “And speaking these words, He cried, with a great voice, Lazarus, come forth. The dead man came out, bound, as to his feet and hands, with grave- clothes, and his face was bound around with a napkin.” The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead is a grand and glorious symbolism of spiritual regeneration, in which the Omnipotent Savior calls the dead soul into life. Lazarus had once lived like the multitude moving upon the earth. Physical life had evanesced away, leaving him a corpse. Jesus put forth His creative fiat, by whose omnific sweep He tossed revolving worlds from the effulgent throne, giving each other its appointed track in the ethereal void, to go singing on its way forever, — the very same power He brought into availability when He restored physical life to the dead body of Lazarus. We were all created in Adam, and had spiritual life before the fall. This life our wonderful Savior graciously restores in regeneration. Interceding priests may grant a thousand absolutions; clergymen may administer water baptism, eucharist, and other Church rites indefinitely till doomsday, — unless Jesus speak, “Lazarus, come forth,” not a soul will ever be saved.
j. “Jesus says to them, Loose him, and let him go.” This is a beautiful and vivid symbolism of entire sanctification. Lazarus was really raised from the dead; life and vigor again coursing through his veins and arteries; his heart having again wheeled into normal activity; his brain flashing out electrical thoughts, recognitions, apprehensions, and moving forward into all the complicated work or ratiocination; his limbs electrified with vitality; his nerves, like a grand galvanic battery, again charged with vital electricity, — still his hands and feet were encumbered with the long, strong fabric of the winding-sheet, so he could neither move rapidly nor labor with much efficiency; meanwhile the napkin, bound round his face, rendered his utterances difficult and his speech broken. He was neither in fix to fight the devil, run for glory, witness for Jesus, sing the sweet songs of Zion, nor preach the everlasting gospel. Jesus says, “Loose him, and let him go.” Hence you see that our Savior wants all the people whom He raises from the dead loosed from all the chains, fetters, and grave-clothes; i.e., all the cumbersome habitude which characterized them before they were converted, when they sojourned in the land of death, and had the habits of the spiritually dead, — Jesus wants all these swept away, and all the men, women, and children whom He has raised from the dead, disencumbered and turned loose, to fight the armies of the pandemonium, not only like soldiers, but heroes, brave enough to run through a troop or leap over a wall, swift as eagles and strong as lions, fearless of men and devils; so one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. O how quickly could the Church bring the millennium, if loosed and let go! Our pulpits are filled with preachers, tied up with their grave-clothes, some of them even using tobacco, encouraging Church frolics, winking at theater-going, card- playing, dancing, etc.; meanwhile the pews are occupied by people decked off in the phantasmagoria of the world, thus invested in the grave-clothes.
O how few are free to talk for Jesus! Will you not go and take the napkin off their faces, and let their tongues loose, to speak like apostles, testify like martyrs, and shout like angels?
k. “Then many of the Jews, who had come to Mary, and seeing those things which He did, believed on Him; and certain ones of them departed to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus did.” This stupendous miracle, unprecedented in the history of the world, sends an earthquake shock through all the multitude, so that the people fall in platoons on all sides, and with adoring wonder confess their faith in Jesus. This miracle shook all Jerusalem as fast as they could hear of it, and sent an electric shock throughout all Israel, confirming many whose faith had been much mixed with doubts, and arousing multitudes who had not hitherto believed to seriously and candidly investigate the matter, the result being a rolling tide of popular belief in His claims to the Christhood.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain The Christian Uses of Sickness
Joh 11:4
The Christian Uses of Sickness
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I. We do not sufficiently consider sickness in a Christian light. Undoubtedly, the failure of health is, and will ever be, esteemed a misfortune to any man. It would be going counter to the current of nature to attempt to think of it otherwise. But at this point comes in the difference between the man of the world and the Christian. The man of the world looks upon sickness simply as a misfortune—nothing more. The Christian regards sickness as a misfortune—true, but it is only his infirmity that he thus regards it. He may speak thus, but his faith corrects him as he speaks, and the stronger it becomes, and the more prevalent, the more it will correct him, till he almost ceases to speak and think of sickness as a misfortune; till the current of nature is turned, and the sacred fountain of his thoughts tends upward and flows not with the world.
II. The blessed uses of adversity have been sung and spoken, even by the thoughtful ones of this world, and how much more of them do we Christians know. How often have we seen a man enter into sickness, a giant in the strength of nature, but a babe in grace, and how often has the same man come out of it prostrated indeed, shattered for the world and its uses, but mighty in spiritual achievement, victor of himself, victor of the world. For wonderful are the remindings at such a time, of things lost, past words whose sound has long gone out of mind; the bringing up out of the depths of the memory of hidden knowledge; the life with which dead formalities suddenly become clothed; the divinity which begins to stir amongst long laid up texts; the real conflict with self-deceit and pride in one who has been only talking about such a conflict all his life; the dropping away of exaggerated phrases of self-loathing; and of confidence in God, and the coming, like the flesh of a little child, of real utterances of self-abasement and the first genuine whisperings of Abba Father. To how many of us sickness may be the sanctuary of earth; to how many the vestibule of heaven.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. v., p. 95.
References: Joh 11:4.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 232; R. Tuck, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 113. Joh 11:5.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 230; W. Braden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p.. 417; A. Mursell, Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 259; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, Part ii., p. 299. Joh 11:6.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 290. Joh 11:7, Joh 11:8.—Parker, Hidden Springs, p. 348.
Joh 11:9
I. The first and most obvious thought which the text presents to us is that of the predestination of life. God has marked out beforehand the length of the life. This was true, first and foremost, of the life of Christ. His day had its twelve hours. In the way in which He walked, He was in daylight till the twelfth hour. It is true of us. God knows exactly the length of our day, and therefore of our hour. The day shall run its course, whether the season be winter or summer, whether the hour be of thirty minutes or sixty. It is an encouragement—a call to confidence. Be not afraid to go hither or thither at the summons of duty. Be not afraid of snare or terror, of accident or infection. Thy day has its twelve hours. Thou wilt neither add thereto, nor diminish from them.
II. It is a second, and perhaps a less obvious thought, the completeness of life. We must cast away, as Christians, the common measurement of time. Christ’s life on earth was a short life. His hour was but of the length of two or three years. God counts not, but weighs the hours. Christ’s three years of speech had in them the whole virtue for the world of two eternities. Christ’s thirty years of listening were not the prelude only, they were the condition of the three.
III. A third thought, lying not far from the last, is that of the unity of life. God sees the day as one; when God writes an epitaph, He does so in one line, in one of two lines. "He did that which was evil, or, He did that which was good," and his mother’s name was this or, that; the indentification is complete, and the character is one, not two, and not ambiguous. There were twelve hours in the man’s day, but the day was one.
IV. The distribution of life. God sees it in its unity; He bids us see it rather in its manifoldness; in its variety of opportunity and in its capacity and capability of good. Economise—determine to economise time. Give up something, some fragment, some particle, of one of these twelve hours, to God and Christ, to thy soul and eternity. Do it in the name of God; do it for thy soul’s health’s sake; it shall not lose its reward.
C. J. Vaughan, Temple Sermons, p. 145.
Joh 11:11
There seems to me to be contained in these few words one of the most powerful charms in the world to lull the bitterness of death, and to make us anxious to become such as that we may humbly venture to apply them to ourselves. What would we, each of us, give, when our last hour was come, to feel that Christ would so speak of us? "Our friend sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Yet this is the language in which Christ does speak of every one who has died in His faith and fear—in which He will speak of us, if we do not so live as to shut ourselves out from His salvation.
I. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." The disciples could not understand that by this gentle term He could possibly mean a thing so fearful as death. And in this we are all of us very like the disciples. We talk of another life, when we think of it at a distance, but we have really got but a very little way towards overcoming our fear of death. We fear it very nearly, if not quite as much, as the heathen do. And this is so natural that no mere words will ever get the better of it, unless we put ourselves in time into such a state of mind as may help us to see that the words are really nothing else but simply true. Christ does call the death of His friends a sleep; and we may learn to make our own death such as to deserve the name.
II. Christ comes to awake us out of sleep. The time will seem no longer than the four days which passed before He awakened Lazarus: a thousand years are in His sight as but one day; and when we have once done with earthly time, we may, perhaps, be able in some degree to reckon time as He does. But assuredly, whatever be our state in the interval, we shall have no consciousness of His tarrying; the weariness of expectation, the longings of hope deferred, will have ended then for ever. He comes as in a moment, to awake us out of sleep: to a waking which it is our best wisdom to endeavour humbly to dwell upon, however infinitely our highest aspirations may fall short of its reality. We may now make Christ our friend; nay, He entreats and calls upon us to suffer Him to be so. We may yet so fall asleep in Christ, that we shall assuredly share in the promise which He made to Lazarus. He will come and awake us out of sleep, that we may be where He is for ever.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 198.
Thoughts of death are suited to do us good. It is well that we should consider now, while yet life may be granted us, our latter end. It is well, when by any cause, either in the outward look of nature, or from what may happen within our homes, we are called off from taking thought only of present things—of what we shall eat, what we shall drink, wherewithal we shall be clothed—and constrained to face the most distant future; constrained to look into the darkness of the grave, and to question ourselves, each for himself, as to our preparation and as to our readiness to die.
I. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." That is the way in which Jesus spoke of death. He called it by no harsher word than sleep. Christ cannot mislead us, and He calls the death of His friend sleep. Let us not fear to lean upon His words for ourselves, for our companions; let this henceforth be the idea which we attach to death, "Our friend sleepeth." His toil is ended, his sorrows are ended, his pains are ended; he is out of the reach of the miseries of the sinful world. And when we say this, let us carry on our thoughts further. Death is sleep, but sleep implies an awakening. And this awakening, what is it to the Christian but the resurrection—the rising again of our body, the going back of the spirit; the fitting of the whole man to be an inheritor of everlasting life?
II. Note here a lesson (1) of warning, and that is, to be prepared for death and judgment—to live now, so that we may be ready at any moment to depart. Be no more putters off, but performers of your Lord’s will. Think how any day, any hour, His words may be heard. Think how soon that night cometh in which no work may be done, in which to repent and amend will be no longer possible. (2) A lesson of comfort. At the appointed time Christ will come and awaken His friends, that where He is there also may His true servants be.
R. D. R. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 4th series, p. 81.
References: Joh 11:11.—L. Tyerman, Penny Pulpit, No. 815. Joh 11:13-15.—G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, p. 129. Joh 11:14.—Bishop Thorold, The Yoke of Christ, p. 205. Joh 11:14-15—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 585.
Joh 11:15
Five Paradoxes
In the single verse of our text we find no less than five paradoxes. They are disclosed in the words, but interpreted in the deeds of Jesus Himself. If their force and significance be carefully studied, they will help our understanding of many a mystery in the providential dealings of God.
I. In the life of an intelligent believer gladness sometimes grows out of grief. This is the lowest form of true Christian experience. It means no more nor less than that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, will work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
II. One’s advantage is sometimes hid under another’s trials. Two inferences may be suggested here. (1) When we are in deepest affliction, it is quite possible our sorrow is sent in some measure for another’s advantage. (2) When others are afflicted, it may possibly be they are suffering for our sakes.
III. Increase of a Christian’s sorrow sometimes alleviates it. Lazarus’ illness may be taken for a mere annoyance or a vexation; but Lazarus’ positive death, especially after we discover that the Lord knew all about it forty-eight hours before, opens our eyes to see Divine wisdom has unflinching hold of the reins. A great sorrow, with a purpose in it, is easier to bear than a smaller one which seems to have no aim now, and promises no benefit hereafter.
IV. In the true believer’s experience doubt is sometimes employed to deepen trust. Earthly perplexity is a heavenly discipline. The way to make a careless Christian careful is to increase His cares. The way to render faith confident and unbroken is to make large demands upon it by onsets of trying doubt.
V. Absolute hopelessness and helplessness are the conditions of hope and help. In all our bewildering experiences, while sorrow keeps increasing, Jesus intentionally keeps away, so that our entire reserve of human reliances is used up. When the case becomes utterly desperate, we may be sure He has started for Bethany, and will soon be here for our relief.
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 90.
References: Joh 11:15.—T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 220. Joh 11:16.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 295; J. Foster, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 24; W. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 206. Joh 11:21.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 140; W. Simpson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 312; J. E. C., Welldon, Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 280.
Joh 11:21
(with Joh 11:32)
The Reason of Christ’s Absence
It seems to me that the language of the two sisters, confirmed as it is by our Saviour’s own words, gives us a wonderful glimpse of His human character, and a great insight into the meaning of His miracles of healing.
I. "If Thou hadst been here, our brother had not died." It was quite true, for He could not have helped healing him; He could not possibly have resisted the silent appealing glance of the sick man upon his bed of pain, nor the lowly confident entreaties of the anxious sisters. Far less faith than they possessed had made thousands whole, and He would have been other than Himself if, being there, He had refused to go and see the sick man, or, if seeing him, He had failed to make him well. So He was obliged to stay away in order that He might not feel obliged to heal him there and then. What a lesson this teaches us as to the use He made of His miraculous powers. What a holy necessity of blessing and healing lay upon Him.
II. If Christ were here, as of old, sickness and bereavement would not be allowed to do their painful necessary work upon us, and death itself would not have liberty to open the gate of paradise to God’s beloved. Believe me, this is the secret of human sorrow and bereavement; when your dear ones sicken and die before your eyes, it is not that the Master does not know, it is not that the Saviour does not care for His servant’s trouble, His children’s grief; it is that, as He was made perfect through suffering, so should we be purified by that chastening of the Lord of which we all stand in need. He stays on purpose at a distance, that we may have the discipline of sorrow now, and that He may work a greater miracle of resurrection for us hereafter.
R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 267.
The Sorrowful "If."
Notice:—
I. That the friends of Jesus are not exempted from affliction in the world. If such immunity might have been expected in any case, it surely would have been in that of the members of the Bethany family who so often received and entertained the Lord. In the highest sacrificial sense of the word, no one ever suffered for others as Christ did; but in a lower sense it is true that believers often do suffer for others; and when their benefit is secured thereby, the afflicted ones discover that their sickness has really been for the glory of God, so that they enter in a very real way into the fellowship of the Saviour’s sufferings.
II. The friends of Jesus in their affliction turn directly and immediately to Him. In the day of prosperity it may be occasionally difficult to say whether a man is a Christian or not; but when, in time of trouble, he makes straight for Christ, we know then most surely whose he is and whom he serves. Take a note of it, then, and when affliction comes, observe to whom you flee for succour—for that will tell you whether you are, or are not, a friend of Jesus.
III. The response of the Lord comes often in such a way as seems to aggravate the evil. Christ loved the family at Bethany, therefore He did not come immediately at their call. That looks like a non-sequitur, but it is the sober truth. He had in store for them a greater kindness than they could have dreamed of; and therefore He delayed till He could confer that upon them. There is nothing for us at such a time but to wait in patient, trustful expectation; but when we get to the end we shall see that there was love in the discipline.
IV. The friends of Jesus have different individualities but a common danger in their sorrow. In all our trials we are prone to lose sight of the universality of God’s providence, and to torment ourselves with this unbelieving "if." It proceeds on the principle that the providence of God is not concerned in everything, and it gives to secondary causes a supremacy that does not belong to them. When calamity comes upon you, be sure that it is not because this or that accident prevented relief, nor because the Saviour was not with you, but because it was His will, and His will only, to bring about that which shall be better for you and others than your deliverance would have been.
V. The friends of Jesus have a blessed end to all their sorrows. "Rest in the Lord, therefore, and wait patiently for Him," for the day is coming when you shall be constrained to say, "Because the Lord was with us our trials came upon us, and He brought us safely through them into His wealthy place."
W. M. Taylor, Contrary Winds, p. 292.
References: Joh 11:21, Joh 11:32.—R. S. Candlish, Scripture Characters and Miscellanies, pp. 197, 210. Joh 11:23.—A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 84. Joh 11:24-26.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1799.
Joh 11:25
This Divine name is a pledge to us of many joys; but chiefly of three Divine gifts.
I. The first is a perfect newness of body and soul. This is a thought of wonder almost beyond conception or belief. Death and the forerunners of death have so fast a hold upon the body; sin and the soils of sin pierce so deep into the soul, that the thought to be one day deathless and sinless seems to be a dream. People believe, indeed, that they shall rise again, not disembodied, but clothed in a bodily form; but do they realise that they shall rise again with their own bodies, in their very flesh, healed and immortal? And yet this is pledged to us. This very body shall be deathless and glorious as the body of His glory when He arose from the dead. And so, too, of the soul. It shall be still more glorious than the body, even as the Spirit is above the flesh. To be ourselves the subject of this miracle of love and power, to be personally and inwardly restored to a sinless perfection ami raised to the glory of an endless life, as if death and sin had never entered, or we had never fallen, is among those things which we almost "believe not for joy." This is the first Divine gift pledged to us by the resurrection of our Lord.
II. Another gift also pledged to us is the perfect restoration of all His brethren in His kingdom. We shall be with Him. We shall behold Him as He is; He will behold us as we are; He in the perfect sameness of His person; we in ours. And they who knew Him after He rose from the dead, and knew each other as they sat in amazement before Him in the morning at the sea of Tiberias, shall they not know each other in the light of His heavenly kingdom? O dull hearts, and slow to believe what He has Himself spoken! "God is not the God of the dead,"—of nameless, obscured, obliterated spirits, of impersonal natures, beings robbed of their identity, spoiled of their consciousness, of blinded eyes, or marred aspects. The law of perfect recognition is inseparable from the law of personal identity.
III. And lastly, this title pledges to us an immortal kingdom. "There remaineth a rest for the people of God." When the happiness of this life burns down, who can re-kindle it? The joy of today sinks with the sun, and is remembered with sadness tomorrow. All things are fleeting and transient; to see them, we must look behind us. Old friends, old homes, old haunts, old faces, bright days and sweet memories, all are gone. Such is the best the old creation has for man. But the kingdom of the resurrection is before us, all new, all enduring, all Divine; its bliss has no future, no clouds upon the horizon, no fading, no instability. All that we are, by the power of God, we shall be, without cloying or change or weariness for ever.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 342.
We learn from the text—
I. That this life and the life to come are not two, but one and the same. Death is not the ending of one, and the resurrection the beginning of another, but through all there runs one imperishable life. A river which plunges into the earth is buried for awhile, and then bursts forth more mightily and in a fuller tide, is not two, but one continuous stream. The light of today and the light of tomorrow are not two, but one living splendour. The light of today is not quenched at sunset and rekindled at tomorrow’s sunrise, but is ever one, always burning broad and luminous in the sight of God and of holy angels. So with life and death. The life of the soul is immortal, an image of God’s own eternity. It lives on in sleep; it lives on through death; it lives even more abundantly and with fuller and mightier energy. When we put off our sinful flesh we begin to live indeed. The one endless life of the soul comes forth from its restraint and passes onward to a wider and more kindred world.
II. Another great law here revealed is, that as we die so we shall rise; as there is no new beginning of our life, so there is no new beginning of our character. The stream which buries itself cloudy and turbid shall rise clouded and foul. The waters that pass clear and bright into the earth shall rise from it clear and bright again.
III. We learn further that the resurrection will make each one perfect in his own several character. Our character is our will; for what we will we are. Our will contains our whole intention; it sums up our spiritual nature. Now this tendency is here imperfect; but it will be there fulfilled. The sinful soul which has here been curbed by outward check, will there break forth into an intensity stretched to the utmost by despair. As lights, when they pass into an atmosphere akin to fire, burst forth into a volume of flame, so the soul, charged with sin, issuing into the abode of anguish, will break forth into the full measure of its spiritual wickedness. So likewise with the faithful; what they have striven to be, they shall be made. Let this, then, teach us two great truths of practice. (1) How dangerous is the least sin we do. Every act confirms some old tendency or develops a new one. (2) How precious is every means of grace as a step in the heavenly stair.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 356.
In these words Christ says to us: there is in Me a life which, by dying, rises to its perfection; and therefore death is no more death, but resurrection to the fulness of life. In three ways this is true.
I. Our life in Christ is a battle; through death it rises into a victory.
II. Our life in Christ is a hope; by death it rises into its consummation.
III. Our life in Christ is a spiritual fellowship; by death it becomes perfect and eternal.
E. L. Hull, Sermons, vol. i., p. 1.
Joh 11:25-26
I. There is in this text something far beyond the general lot of man, or of man’s world; here is a conscious act of man’s spirit spoken of as the condition of life with Christ, and that state asserted to place a man superior to death and all its power. And this conscious act of man’s spirit is faith; believing on Him. This expression "believeth on Me" is one of much depth of meaning. It is quite distinguished from "believing me" merely; I may believe a fellow-man, but I never can believe on a fellow-man. There is involved in the expression, receiving and resting on Christ; believing what Christ says, but so believing it as to cast a man’s whole being and energies and sympathies and hopes on and into Christ and His words; so receiving Him, as to live on Him, and to wait on Him, and to hope on Him, and to look for Him, and to have Him for the soul’s centre and the chief desire and object in life. Now to those who thus receive Christ, He is the Resurrection and the Life. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die," i.e., they who believe on Me here on earth, in them is begun a glorious life, which, though they must pass through natural death by the common sentence of all flesh, shall not by that be interrupted or brought to an end, but shall continue through in spite of that natural death, so that they shall never die, but live for ever.
II. What kind of life is this of which these glorious words are spoken. Is it the life of the body? Doubtless it is. These frames, so fearfully and wonderfully made, shall not perish. They shall moulder away into dust, but God shall build them up again; freed from sin and sorrow and pain, they shall live for ever. Is it the life of the mental faculties, the judgments, the feelings, the affections? Doubtless it is. But above all, this life here spoken of is the life of the Spirit. The life of the body the natural man lives; the life of the mind and affections the worldly man lives; but the life of the Spirit no man lives, but they who have been born again by the operation of the Holy Spirit of God working in them through faith in Christ. The resurrection life inherent in our risen Saviour is imparted to all who believe in Him, so that through death they shall live; and even though subject to what men call death, they shall never die.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. i., p. 285.
Comfort for Mourners
The intention of our Lord in this passage was so plainly to to make an immediate comfort out of that which is generally held as a prospective joy, the expressions are so strong, and the idea is so exceedingly high and wonderful, that it is as important as it is difficult to get at the exact sense of the passage. Life and death are both very deep mysteries. We can only go a very little way; but both the language which our Lord used, and the mighty words by which He illustrated, have a meaning, and we must try to read it.
I. Christ, then, lays down two great bases, "I am the resurrection,"—whatever rises, rises in Me. That is the first. And then I am more than the resurrection; I am that which follows the resurrection, that which makes the resurrection; I am the life. The life is greater than the resurrection, even as the end is greater than the means by which that end is attained. Of the resurrection, properly so-called, the resurrection of the body, Christ does not say any more. But he follows on and expands the word "life" as the higher and conclusive thought. When a man really believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, an act of union takes place between Christ and his soul. That union is life. Over that life death has no power; because there is no dividing principle, there is no death. And so we arrive at it, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."
II. Now let us see how this affects those whom we call, but who are not, dead. Say they were once joined to Christ, and say that you are joined to Christ. Then, neither of the great relationships in which they once stood can be severed. They cannot die to God; they cannot die to you. Otherwise, Christ’s words are extravagant; they lead the mind astray; they mock us. What then is the death of those we love? What we make it. It may be a wretched sense of parting and absence, a severance of everything, a rending of the most sacred ties, an utter desolation. It may be as if they were only just out of sight, occupying a higher range, ever ready to appear, never far off, not a link broken, interested in us and we interested in them, doing the very same work, sunning ourselves in the very same love, living for the very same objects. Do not say they were so tender, but say they are—they are His and they are mine.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 5th series, p. 278.
References: Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26.—F. W. Hook, Sermons on the Miracles, vol. ii., p. 156; R. Lorimer, Bible Studies in Life and Truth, p. 251. Joh 11:26.—J. B. Paton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 52; F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of St. John, p. 300; L. Mann, Life Problems, p. 18; W. Brookfield, Sermons, p. 117; W. Morley Punshon, Sermons, p. 22. Joh 11:26.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1568; Homilist, vol. ii., p. 310; J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 225. Joh 11:28.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1198; W. Hay Aitken, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 179; J. Morgan, Ibid., vol. xv., p. 81; S. R. Macduff, Communion Memories, p. 151. Joh 11:29.—S. Baring Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii.; Appendix, p. 29.
Joh 11:32
There is in these words—
I. A consciousness of Divine power and mastery. There is no lingering doubt about our Lord’s Divine power. It is admitted in the term Lord, and in this unhesitating confession of His Kingship over death. The sisters realised that He was able to save, even from death. Not even the empire of the grave lay outside His royal dominion; they were sure of that.
II. A conception given us of the character of Christ. Not merely was Jesus conceived of as the powerful one, but, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, Thy love to us would not have let Lazarus die." This was no hasty supposition. They had seen no love in all human life like that of the Son of man; when He returned at evening, they would hear Him speak of the world’s sickness, disease and sorrow, and of the unrest and sadness and care of men; and how He had healed them all. Both the sisters believed in Christ’s great love, and they thought, as we too often think, that His love would give immunity from death.
III. A common mistake concerning the presence of Christ, "If Thou hadst been here." Christ is always here. No need of a priest to bring Him to an altar. In the simple meeting-place, where two or three village labourers are gathered together for prayer; in the upper room of the humblest lodging; out on the wild, melancholy sea; in the still room, where death seems for the time to be so cruel a king—there is Christ. Make not the sister’s mistake, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
IV. A conception given us of the graduation of Faith. It is a thing of degree. There are degrees in the best, the noblest, the strongest faith. And how tenderly Christ deals with us, we may learn from His treatment of these sisters. Learn that the way to have more faith is to have some faith.
V. A conception of the wisdom of Christ. Why did He wait? If consolation is delayed, there is wise reason for it, be sure of that. True life is not given without pain. If Christ had gone to the sisters at once, the deniers of miracle in every age would have raised the Sadducean cry, that it was natural strength, a sort of recuperative power in a slumbering Lazarus. Had He been there, as the sisters so ardently desired Him to be, the Church of all ages would have lost one of the richest and most glorious of testimonies, such as the resurrection of Lazarus gives, to Christ’s kingship over death.
W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 49.
Note:—
I. The strangeness of Christ’s delay to interpose against death. Consider (1) what death is to the sufferer. (2) What a bereavement death is to the survivors. (3) What a reproach death has furnished to the enemies of Christ. (4) Christ is fully aware of our need, and we cannot doubt His desire to interpose.
II. Some of the reasons for Christ’s delay which may be found in this history. (1) One reason is that His friends, when dying, may learn confidence in Him, and have an opportunity of showing it. (2) Another reason is that, in the midst of death, the union of sympathy between Christ and His friends is perfected. (3) By delaying to interpose against death, God makes this a world of spiritual probation. (4) He brings in thereby a grander final issue. The wisdom with which He chooses His time makes His delay not callous nor cruel, but considerate of our best interests in withholding for a while that He may bless us at last with an overflowing hand.
J. Ker, Sermons, p. 266.
Joh 11:34-36
What led our Lord to weep over the dead, Who could at one word restore him; nay, had it in purpose so to do?
I. First of all, as the context informs us, He wept from very sympathy with the grief of others. We cannot see God’s sympathy, and the Son of God, though feeling for us as great compassion as His Father, did not show it to us while He remained in His Father’s bosom. But when He took flesh and appeared on earth, He showed us the Godhead in a new manifestation. He invested Himself with a new set of attributes, those of our flesh, taking unto Him a human soul and body, in order that thoughts, feelings, affections, might be His, which could respond to ours, and certify to us His tender mercy. The tears of men touched Him at once, as their miseries had brought Him down from heaven. His ear was open to them, and the sound of weeping went at once to His heart.
II. But next, we may suppose that His pity, thus spontaneously displayed, was led forward to dwell on the various circumstances in man’s condition which excite pity. It was awakened, and began to look around upon the miseries of the world. What was it He saw? He saw visibly displayed the victory of death; a mourning multitude—everything present which might waken sorrow except him, who was the chief object of it. He was not—a stone marked the place where he lay. Here was the Creator surrounded by the works of His hands, who adored Him indeed, yet seemed to ask why He suffered what He had Himself made to be so marred. Here, then, were abundant sources for His grief, in the contrast between Adam, in the day in which he was created, and man as the devil had made him.
III. Christ was come to do a deed of mercy, and it was a secret in His own breast. All the love which He felt for Lazarus was a secret from others. He had no earthly friend who could be His confidant in this matter; and as His thoughts turned on Lazarus, and His heart yearned towards him, was He not in Joseph’s case, who, not in grief, but from the very fulness of his soul, and his desolateness in a heathen land, when his brethren stood before him, "sought where to weep," as if his own tears were his best companions, and had in them a sympathy to soothe that pain which none could share? Is there any time more affecting than when you are about to break good news to a friend who had been stricken down by tidings of ill?
IV. This marvellous benefit to the forlorn sisters—how was it to be attained? At His own cost. Christ was bringing life to the dead by His own death. This, doubtless, among a multitude of thoughts unspeakable passed over His mind. He felt that Lazarus was wakening to life at His own sacrifice; that He was descending into the grave which Lazarus left. Contemplating there the fulness of His purpose, while now going about a single act of mercy, he said to Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," etc.
J. H. Newman, Sermons, vol. iii., p, 128.
Joh 11:35
I. We hardly know a statement of greater comfort than that of our text, and the account of Christ’s sorrowing over the impenitent Jerusalem. The Christian mourner would be scarcely able to dry his tears if he must believe that Christ had never shed tears, and he would not comparatively be comforted by the gracious words "Weep not," if he did not find in the narrative of the raising of Lazarus, such words as these, "Jesus wept." We can hardly fail to be conscious of the testimony of the tears of the Redeemer to the human tenderness with which He was fraught. A man, with all a man’s sympathy, all a man’s compassion, all a man’s yearnings, stood revealed, so as to forbid for ever our doubts as to His fellow-feeling with us; for it was with bitter tears of sorrow that He wept as He beheld the city; so that, as He approached Jerusalem, just as when He stood at the grave of Lazarus, the record is not, Jesus was angry, Jesus was proud; but simply "Jesus wept."
II. I know nothing so appalling as the tears of Christ. They are not so much the gentle droppings of pity as evidence wrung from a disquieted spirit, that nothing more could be done for the unbelieving. He would save them if He could, but He cannot. The case has become hopeless, beyond even the power which had raised the dead, yea, built the universe. And therefore He weeps. He weeps to show that it is not want of love, but that He knew the Divine vengeance must be left to take its course.
III. We ought to learn from Christ’s tears the worth of the soul. It was not, in all probability, so much over the temporal, as over the spiritual misery which was coming on Jerusalem, that Christ bitterly sorrowed. His tears tell the mightiness of the catastrophe, to express whose fearfulness the whole of nature might become vocal and yet not furnish a cry sufficiently deep and pathetic. And whilst on earth Christ wept twice; in each case it was over the loss of the soul. Let sinners be no longer indifferent towards themselves. Throw not away as of no worth those souls which He feels to be so precious that He must weep for them, even when He cannot save them.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1740.
I. Jesus wept in sympathy with others. (1) It is not sinful to weep under bereavement; (2) The Christian mourner may always count upon the sympathy of Jesus. (3) When our friends are mourning we should, like Jesus, weep with them.
II. Turn your attention to the tears of pity dropped by Jesus over the Holy City. (1) Note the responsibility of privilege. (2) Mark the pity of the Redeemer for the lost.
III. At Gethsemane the Redeemer’s tears were those of suffering. (1) Christians should expect suffering. (2) Let us learn in suffering the benefit of prayer.
W. M. Taylor, Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 364. (See also Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 92.)
References: Joh 11:35.—D. Swing, American Pulpit of the Day, p. 271; H. Melvill, Voices of the Year, vol. i., p. 119; T. Birkett Dover, A Lent Manual, p. 104; W. Skinner, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 217; J. B. Heard, Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 67; W. M. Taylor, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 87; W. Smith, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. i., p. 434. Joh 11:35, Joh 11:36.—L. Mann, Life Problems, p. 1; F. W. Robertson, The Human Race and Other Sermons, p. 108.
Joh 11:38-39
I. The general truth which is symbolically taught through such a miracle as the raising of Lazarus, is the truth that man’s natural state is a state of moral death; and that to Christ alone must we look if we would be restored to moral life. In going towards the grave that He might summon forth the dead, our Lord exhibited Himself as appointed for the quickening of the world. The sepulchred body represented the spiritual condition of men; and the life-giving utterance betokened that through Him they might rise from their graves.
II. There can be no life communicated to the tenant of the sepulchre except through the Divine utterance, "Come forth," but there is a previous Divine command to which obedience must be rendered, "Take away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre." You cannot convert yourself; but you may be diligent in the use of means and the removal of hindrances. God requires that you take away the stone, every stone which you have power to move, though He could as easily evoke you from a sepulchre closed, as from a sepulchre opened. It is, so to speak, the test to which He puts you; and by which He determines whether or no you have any sincere desire to be brought out of darkness into marvellous light.
III. The word which set Lazarus free from the power of the grave, might also have set him free from the raiment of the grave; but the miracle was strictly confined to what was beyond natural means, and will not interfere with what was within them. Evil habits are the grave clothes, fastened with a cordage, than which there is none more difficult to loosen. The command which follows the restoration to life is still "Loose him and let him go." It is a command to those around, just as was that for the removing of the stone, seeing that believers are both required and expected to do much towards aiding the new convert to renounce all unrighteousness. But it is a command also to the convert himself. He has his part in taking away the stone, and not the less in loosening the grave clothes. Not unto the man who supposing himself converted, supposes himself therefore certain of salvation, without a struggle and a sacrifice. He cannot have life unless he is striving to free himself from the furniture of death. The great change of conversion has not passed upon anyone of you, if he be not continually endeavouring to cast off the bindings of a corrupt nature, that he may walk more freely in the service of God and look more closely towards the heaven which is above him.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1550.
Joh 11:39
We have here the Grave, the Stone, the Command
I. In the grave we are to see heathendom. Under any circumstances it is hard, and ought to be hard, to change the religion, whether of an individual, or of a race. It is hard, because it is so noble. I suppose if anything under the sun should be dear to an honest man, it is his religion. It colours his life, shapes his principles, points his motives, consecrates his actions. It is inherited from his parents; it twines round the roots of his childhood; it smiles on his bridal; it softens the shadows of his grave. And when the religion you propose to substitute is a religion with a Cross in it, with no material prosperity for its reward, and a world to come as its distant recompense, is it wonderful that one who asks what the exchange will bring to him, and is told "the reproach of Christ," is slow in giving his reply?
II. But Jesus said, "Take ye away the stone." It may be roughly observed that there are three stages in mission work, with usually a logical order of their own. Though, of course, when it pleases Him, God confounds this order, by cutting across it, or anticipating it, thereby manifesting His sovereignty and doing all the work Himself. (1) There is the work of preparation by civilisation and education, in which the stone is rolled away for light and air to come in. (2) There is the work of evangelisation by which the Word of God is spoken straight into the spirit, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." (3) There is the final work of watering and watching and maturing the young life just born by pastoral care and superior tendence. "Loose him, and let him go." We believe in the redeeming purpose of God, and that it is His will presently to gather together in one all things in Christ; and though He seems to be waiting, He knows why He is waiting; be sure, that when all things are made plain at break of day, there will be no flaw in His perfect righteousness, no speck or stain on the mercy of His heart.
Bishop Thorold, Good Words, 1880, p. 458.
References: Joh 11:39.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 281; Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 87. Joh 11:39-44.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1052. Joh 11:40.—F. Stephens, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 374; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 281; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 537. Joh 11:41, Joh 11:42.—A. Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, p. 125; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. vii., p. 141. Joh 11:43.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 193. Joh 11:43-44.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1776; Homilist, new series, vol. iv., p. 636; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 307. Joh 11:46.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 106.
Joh 11:47-48
The Retributive Character of Divine Justice
Observe:—
I. That men who set what they foolishly count their interest against their convictions—determined to stifle the latter lest they should sacrifice the former—these allow that Christ wrought miracles, but persist in rejecting Him for fear of being overtaken by temporal calamity. We are apt to regard such a case as that of the chief priests and Pharisees as standing wholly by itself, and not to be paralleled by any amongst ourselves, because the precise case can hardly recur—the case of the rejection of a prophet, whose miracles prove his claims, through dread of the consequences of acknowledging his authority; but we forget that the principle which produced this conviction may be at work in ourselves, that it may only be modified or disguised by external circumstances. Is it not a possible case—a case, which may occur among ourselves, that of a man feeling the duty of confessing and obeying Christ; but who is withheld from the performance of his duty by fears of the effect on his temporal condition? In defiance of their own convictions, men determine to conciliate the world, either fearing that religion may injure their hopes, or hoping that irreligion may advance their temporal interests. What is the resolve to do wrong, after being satisfied that it is wrong, if not the gathering of a council to resist the truth, after being compelled to confess, "This Man doeth miracles?"
II. God will demonstrate His retributive justice by bringing on men the very evil they hope to avert by consenting to do violence to conscience. The Romans, whom the Jews hoped to propitiate by rejection of Christ, came down on their land with fire and sword and took their place and nation, which they thought to preserve by acting against conscience, and they were utterly destroyed and dispersed, and that by the very power whose favour it was their object to conciliate. There is often, if not always, an analogy between what men do and the punishment they are made to suffer; so that in reference, at least, to the temporal penalties of sin, God makes a scourge of the crime, or imprints on His judgment the very image of the provocation. The lesson from the whole subject is, that in place of averting any dreaded evil, we do our best to produce it, if through fear of it we are induced to sacrifice any principle.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1503.
References: Joh 11:47-57.—Homiletic Magazine, xvii., p. 160.
Joh 11:49-50
Consider:—
I. This unscrupulous priest and his savage advice. Remember who he was: the high priest of the nation, with Aaron’s mitre on his brow and centuries of illustrious traditions embodied in his person; in whose heart justice and mercy should have found a sanctuary, if they had fled from all others; whose ears ought to have been opened to the faintest whisper of the voice of God; whose lips should ever have been ready to witness for the truth. And see what he is: a crafty schemer, as blind as a mole to the beauty of Christ’s character and the greatness of His words; utterly unspiritual; undisguisedly selfish, rude as a boor, cruel as a cut-throat; nay, he has reached that supreme height of wickedness in which he can dress his ugliest thought in the plainest words and send them into the world unabashed. This selfish consideration of our own interests will, (1) make us as blind as bats to the most radiant beauty of truth; (2) bring us down to any kind and degree of wrong-doing; (3) must sear our conscience so that we may come to view the evil and never to know that there is anything wrong in it.
II. The unconscious prophet and his great prediction. The evangelist conceives that the man who filled the office of high priest, being the head of the theocratic community, was naturally the medium of a Divine oracle. Caiaphas was in reality the last of the high priests, and those that succeeded him for something less than half a century were but like ghosts that walked after cock-crow. "Being high priest, he prophesied." The lips of this unworthy, selfish, unspiritual, unscrupulous, cruel priest were so used as that, all unconsciously, his words lent themselves to the proclamation of the glorious central truth of Christianity, that Christ died for the nation that slew Him and rejected Him, nor for them alone, but for all the world.
A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 257.
References: Joh 11:49, Joh 11:50.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of St. John, p. 321; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 40. Joh 11:49-52.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 299. Joh 11:52.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 12th series, p. 109.
John 11
In selecting this word we are struck with the frequency of its occurrence in this chapter. There is:—
I. The "If" of wisdom. Jesus answered "If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not." The Lord is laying down a great philosophy of work, he is indicating that there are times and seasons for labour; and that not only is work to be done, but done at the proper time—the light for labour, the darkness for rest.
II. The "If" of hope shadowed by fear. "Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." The disciples seem to have felt that Lazarus was dead, but hearing Jesus say that he slept, the disciples said, "Lord, if he sleep." Do we not sometimes say it is so, when we mean, we wish it were so?
III. The "If" of ignorance. "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." This is a beautiful "If" beyond doubt. It is employed for the purpose of increasing emphasis, deepening and enlarging spiritual certitude. With Jesus in the house, there can be no death. In the house of the saint bereavement itself becomes a sacrament. Death doth but enlarge the horizon, and show the greater width of the universe.
IV. The "If" that calls to faith. "If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God." God holds nothing back from faith.
V. The "If" of human despair. "If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him." Even the Pharisees must have an "If." There are people who must run down other people, depreciate them, who say "there are spots on the sun"—there will be spots on the earth as long as they live.
VI. The "If" of self-righteousness. If I might go beyond this chapter, it would be to quote two other "Ifs" full of meaning. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." We deceive ourselves—we deceive nobody else. We are liars, and the truth is not in us. Men must be faithful with themselves, right down frank with their own spirits.
VII. The "If" of confession. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Parker, Christian Commonwealth, July 21st, 1887.
References: John 11—G. Macdonald, The Miracles, p. 205; T. Birkett Dover, The Ministry of Mercy, p. 189. Joh 12:1.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 189. Joh 12:1-8. A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 300. Joh 12:1-9.—J. R. Harington, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 388; E. de Pressensé, The Mystery of Suffering, p. 211. Joh 12:1-10.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 207. Joh 12:1-19.—W. Milligan, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 275. Joh 12:2.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 328; A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 3.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Section 3. (Joh 11:1-57; Joh 12:1-50.)
Section 3. (Joh 11:1-57; Joh 12:1-50.)
Resurrection-Life; in which the Son of God is glorified.
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We have now the character of the life received as resurrection-life. For us it has necessarily sprung out of death, the death of Another: according to the Lord’s words that we find here, that, "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
For us also quickening is out of death. Dead naturally in trespasses and sins, we are quickened together with Christ, and raised up together. The first is a change of condition, an immense one, from death unto life, from a naturally hopeless state of alienation from God ("alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts,") to a state of knowledge of God which implies communion with Him, even though it be at first about our sins. "Risen with Christ" is a change of position; the place of the dead is changed for the place of the living: it is the opposite of burial, as life is the opposite of death.
Thus resurrection-life is life with the fruits of Christ’s death attaching to it; fruits into the enjoyment of which we come more or less gradually, but which belong to us from the beginning of the life itself. Here we find the removal of the hindrances which have existed to our drawing near to God, and the opening of the sanctuary: the realization upon our side of that which upon God’s side we have seen already. This shows us the unity of this third subdivision, as also we have seen.
It is Christ’s death that has delivered us from the bondage of the law, and brought us out of the fold into the green pastures into which the Shepherd leads His sheep. The sections here unite together into a perfect whole, as needs must be the case where they are realities of the Spirit’s work, and in Scripture which is everywhere a living organism.
The section divides naturally into two parts: the first, dwelling upon the presence among men of the Personal Life Himself; the second showing the death, out of which for us the life must come.
1. The presence of the Life is for those who receive Him the annulling of death, as is shown for us illustratively in the resurrection of Lazarus. Here text and sermon are interwoven throughout; the Lord’s words interpreting His works, while yet the faith of His disciples was unable to apprehend in any proper way what for full development waited the coming of the Spirit to disclose. Here again we find the anticipative character of the Gospel, and the link between John and Paul, of which I have before spoken. We must go on to Ephesians and Colossians to learn fully what it is to be quickened and raised up with Christ, though here we have the basis of the doctrine.
(1) Lazarus, whom Jesus loves, is lying sick at Bethany; and his sisters, Mary and Martha, of whom Mary is specially dwelt upon as the one who anointed the Lord’s feet with ointment, send Him word of it. They need do nothing more than let Him know.
The after-circumstances cannot but remind us of the story of Jairus, daughter in the synoptic Gospels, in which also there was delay upon the road, and when He came the child was dead; the greater miracle of resurrection followed also in this case. The typical meaning is made plain there by that other story of her who touched in faith the border of His garment, while He was on the way, and was healed of her bloody issue. Even so, while on His way to raise dead Israel, as He yet will do, He is detained by the faith of the Gentiles which claims and draws virtue from Him.
Underneath this dispensational view there lies a universal application in which the two miracles are but different sides of the one story of salvation. From the human side, faith lays hold of Christ, and finds the virtue that is in Him. From the divine side, man is seen to be dead, and must have life. Israel’s state nationally only pictures the condition of men at large.
These meanings may perhaps co-exist in the story of Lazarus (or Eleazar, "the Mighty One is helper") of Bethany (the "house of humiliation"). The names alone tell a story of where the help of the Mighty One is found. Israel will find it there in the day that is to come. But that the deeper and at the same time wider application is that which is most in the line of truth before us here needs no argument. Although there are in John, as we have seen, supplementary glances at Israel’s condition, yet the deeper and therefore universal view of man as man is what is the general truth, and that as the basis for the announcement of higher and Christian blessings.
Lazarus is sick; and, though Jesus loves him, -nay, even because He does, -Lazarus must die; yet his sickness is "not unto death," -has not that in view as its end, -"but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby." The blessing of the creature is not forgotten in this, but established; for it is in this pre-eminently that God is glorified. On the Urim and Thummim of the high priest’s breast-plate, the "lights and perfections" (typically) of God Himself, are written the names of the tribes of Israel; and these again, for us, are the typical expression of the Christian in his various characters. "I am glorified in them," says the Lord of glory; and He who is thus glorified in them will glorify them with Himself.
Mary’s anointing of Him is not forgotten here: the "exalted one," as her name denotes, is best known as that in her exaltation of Him. Wherever the gospel is preached is this told for a memorial of her. Here it is mentioned anticipatively, though it will be again given in its place historically.
(2) Jesus loves them all, these disciples of His, and remains where He is two days still, as if the news of this sickness had not affected Him. But now He says, to the surprise of those who after all knew Him so little, "Let us go into Judea again." When they object that the Jews had sought to stone Him, He simply refers them to the twelve hours of the day, in which without stumbling man could walk. He, in fact, was the light of the world while in it; full light for those that followed Him. Apart from that they might stumble; for the light was not in themselves. And then He tells them, not of His present safety from the men of Judea, but of the purpose which, without needing to think of them at all, drew Him there at this time. "Our friend Lazarus," He says, finding a motive for them also in the affection in which their hearts accompany His own, "Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." He talks so quietly they do not understand Him; for the shadow of death is upon all their souls, but the thought of sleep is not even a shadow. "Lord," they say, "if he have fallen asleep, he will be healed." Then He descends to their common language: "Lazarus hath died; and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that ye may believe:" -how little like faith was their present mood! -"nevertheless let us go to him." Thomas breaks out with a love which has not emerged yet from the shadow, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."
(3a) How monotonous and tedious in its night-like uniformity is the spirit of unbelief! specially, as we see it here, not in the outside world, which has rejected Christ, but among those who yet have, spite of all, received Him, and cling to Him. We are permitted here to see how heavily the cloud hangs before we see it lift and scatter: for the Life is come; and the Life is the Light of men.
We find the Saviour now come to Bethany, where Lazarus had been already four days in the tomb. Martha, foremost always in her activity, meets Him outside the village, with a confession at once of her faith and her disappointment: "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." In what follows, her emotion, excited by His presence, goes beyond her actual faith, as the result shows: "But even now I know that whatsoever Than shalt ask of God, God will give it Thee." The Lord tests her at once with the assurance of a joy too great for her: "Thy brother shall rise again." She sinks at once into mere orthodoxy: "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." The Lord replies in the memorable words that have comforted so many since: "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and every one who liveth and believeth on Me shall never die."
Here then is He in whom resides the power of resurrection and of a life not subject to death. Resurrection comes first, and is that which would appeal to Martha in her present condition. Of life untouched by death she could think only as a future thing, to follow this when in its full reality it should be come. But the Lord applies it to the then present time, dividing this from the past by the presence of Himself now come for the annulling of death. He that believed on Him, though having died, death should be annulled for him: he should live again, and live eternally. But for the believer now alive, this power over death would at once manifest itself; and here He makes it plain that He is speaking of no special, exceptional class: "every one who liveth and believeth on Me shall never die."
The difficulty of the passage has been such to some as to make them think of the Lord’s coming as the time when it would be fulfilled. When He comes again the dead in Him will be raised, the living believer, changed into His image, will never die. There will certainly be the most perfect fulfilment of what is said here. But on the other hand, there is nothing but such a fulfilment to make us think of such a postponement of it to the future, which is quite in opposition to the division of time which the Lord is making: "every one that liveth and believeth" -now; not shall be living and believing at My return: of which He is not saying a word here.
As for the present application the apostle does not hesitate to say that God according to His own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the age-times,* "now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, has abolished" (or "annulled") "death, and brought life and incorruption" (not "immortality") "to light by the gospel" (1Ti 1:9-10). This is the inspired application of the Lord’s words here, which it makes perfectly plain. In the past death was, -a shadow over souls, such as we see it in the previous part of the chapter, such as we find it in the wail of a Hezekiah, or in Job’s picture of "a land of darkness, as darkness itself and . . . where the light is as darkness" (Job 10:22). But now with the Life is come the Light; and the shadow of death is penetrated by it. He that had the power of death is met and vanquished, the captives are freed (Heb 2:14-15).
{*In the common version, "before the world began"; in the revised, "before eternal times," but "times" cannot be "eternal." The fact is that the word (aion) of which this is the adjectival form has two meanings: one being "age," by which in the plural it is always translated; while the other is "eternity" proper, a later use. The mere fact of its being plural in this case decides for its being rendered as I have rendered it, "the age-times."}
There is, however, in the Lord’s words here, that anticipative character which we have seen so much in John. He Himself was even then, as He is just about to show, the "resurrection and the life,"; yet this anticipates that death of His through which alone the power of death could be annulled. In Him the Eternal Life was to pass through death, not to be enfeebled even for a moment by it, but the reverse: to gain thereby a new energy for the deliverance of those now to receive it, which should make it that "abundant" life of which we have heard the glorious Giver speak. The time had not yet come to utter it fully, and we must go on to the epistles of Paul to find the doctrine in its full development. But here is the root of it. He that is quickened of God now is "quickened together with Christ, and raised up together" (Eph 2:5-6): the virtues of that death out of which alone is life attach to the life communicated. For those who have it, death in the reality of this is behind and not before them; the storm of judgment is behind and not before: that which is before is the pathway of light in which the risen Christ is ascended to glory, the Representative-Head, and Forerunner of His people. For the full development of this, as has been said, we must wait for him whose gospel is in his own description of it, "the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2Co 4:4, Gk.), whom the Spirit of truth was pleased to use for the ministry of this; but we shall find the Lord in John steadily leading us on in this direction, until He finally commends us to the Spirit of truth to teach us what as yet they could not bear (Joh 16:12-13).
Martha shows us this in her answer to the Lord here. When He asks of her, "Believest thou this she can only answer, with true faith but without understanding of the blessedness contained in the words she has just listened to, "Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world." True, and a glorious truth; but it is not that of which He has been speaking.
(b) Evidently she has the consciousness of this: for immediately she leaves Him, and goes in search of a better scholar. She who has learnt so much at the feet of Jesus, she -it seems as if she said -will understand the better what this means. So she goes and calls Mary her sister secretly, and says: "The Teacher is come, and calleth for thee." Mary, who seems to have been waiting for a positive call, thereupon rises quickly and comes to Him. The Jews, who had come out from Jerusalem to comfort as best they might the afflicted sisters, follow her, as they suppose, to the tomb, and find themselves instead in the presence of Jesus.
Mary is unconscious of them now. She falls at His feet with a stronger emotion than has been manifested in Martha, but only to repeat in her sister’s words what they had evidently often said to one another, that if He had but been there, their brother would not have died. There unlike Martha, she stops and says no more. She sees no way, and cannot speak as if she did. Let the lips she has listened to so often speak for Him and her. And here the Lord is moved as we do not read of His being before. As He looks upon the weepers round Him, He is deeply moved in spirit, and His words move on to action. "Where have ye laid him?" He asks. And when they bid Him "come and see," His tears are restrained no longer: "Jesus wept." Precious sympathy of One whose consciousness of power does not prevent His entering into the sorrows He is relieving; who in His wonders of divine power was still the Man Christ Jesus, and "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses."
The Jews take notice of His grief, and say, "See how He loved him;" while with some it wakes the inquiry, has He then, like others, nothing but His tears to give him? He opened the eyes of the blind; and could He not prevent this man dying? Then again He is deeply moved within Himself, as He feels the unbelief which everywhere follows Him. And now He is at the tomb.
(c) It is a cave; and a stone lies at the mouth of it. And now the unbelief of Martha would oppose the removal of the stone: of what use can it be to bring to light a man four days buried? of what but to turn a sweet if sad memory into an offence? But the only offence is the unbelief that will retain him in the tomb, and shut out from the soul, as the Lord reminds her, the glory of the living, omnipotent God.
He is now then face to face with death, and in view of the multitude gathered there, He thanks the Father that He has heard Him, and as One always hearing Him; expressly referring to that assemblage there in unbelief, but who may be brought to believe. In that confidence, and in attestation of such oneness always with the Father, He calls aloud for Lazarus to "come forth!"
How that multitude of eyes must have peered into the darkness; and what a hush of expectation must have fallen upon the crowd, as they strained every sense to catch the issue of such a pledging of God to a miracle like this. Jairus, daughter had but just died; the widow’s son at Nain was but on his way to burial; but here was one who in that quick southern clime must have been already far sunk into corruption, and God pledged by One professing to be always heard by Him to bring him up!
And the pledge is redeemed! Shambling forward, as one bound up yet in the habiliments of death, Lazarus obeys the call and comes -a living man. He has recrossed the boundary-line which none of himself or by mere human aid has ever come back over. He has come back a witness to the Resurrection and the Life, that the Son of God may be glorified in him. He has come back, a challenge thrown in the face of Christ’s would-be murderers, of the possibility of success against One to whom death and the grave are subject. He has come back to walk in the power of such a victory, the type and pattern of that resurrection-life which "every one that liveth and believeth on Him" is called now to enjoy. In such a life is God indeed glorified. In such a life is power over the world attained. In men taken out of the world, sanctified and sent into it again, to represent Him in it as He did the Father.
"Loose him and let him go," is now the enfranchizing word. The will of the Lord is that those who have received life from Him should enjoy it in all its blessed freedom, delivered from the grave-clothes of Judaism, meant to put on men the stamp of death, and not of life. "Loose him and let him go," is the Lord’s word now to the evangelist and to the teacher. Let the law do its work thoroughly upon the life of flesh and nature; and let the Cross confirm the lesson of the end of human strength, human wisdom, human will; but let the man in Christ be free as the light and air of heaven to which now he belongs: not in bondage but in freedom can the Son of God be glorified; and everywhere there rings through the New Testament the echo of His own words here, "Loose him and let him go."
The result of the miracle is that, on the one hand, many believe; on the other, word is brought to the Pharisees, and stirs more than ever the animosity which seeks the life of Christ.
2. (1) Here then the second part begins, in which we find the need of that Death out of which alone for us the resurrection-life can come. Anticipations of it and of its fruit start up in unlikely places. A Sadducean high-priest prophesies unwittingly, God overruling the heartless suggestion of human expediency to give testimony to the unique value of His Son’s work which then goes beyond it. On the other hand, Christ has His own feast, the anticipation of what He can find in the company of His people. Out of worst evil is going to be the bud and fruitage of fullest good; and God shall be supreme over all, His glory everywhere manifest.
(a) We find then the Pharisees in council with the chief priests, men of a different creed and interests, but with whom they could make common cause against Christ. They have to confess that He whom they are unrelentingly pursuing "doeth many signs." Their only argument from this is that if they let Him alone, all men will believe on Him, and the Romans will take away their place and nation. This brings forward Caiaphas who rebukes them for their inability to make so simple a calculation as that between the value of one man and a nation. He does not speak of right but of profit, and claims this for his own side of the account. Nor does he realize the blinding nature of self-interest, nor question the competence of his conclusion in the least. His arithmetic is so simple it can hardly be worked wrong.
Notice how, when God puts His seal upon all this, the whole character of it changes. From God’s side, this "profitable for us" becomes (of course) "profitable for you;" the self-interest that in the first case distorts and spoils everything becomes a glorious manifestation of divine love, which can then only consist with fullest righteousness. "The Son of man must be lifted up," that this profit may be realized: if it were not divine righteousness itself, Love could not give up its Beloved to it.
Thus Israel’s blessing is secured; but there is a purpose beyond this in the death of Christ that the evangelist from his standpoint cannot fail to notice. He is not going to die "for that nation only, but also that He might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." As the Shepherd had sheep not of the Jewish fold, so the Father had children not of that family. As not all in the fold were the Shepherd’s sheep, so not all the family of Israel were God’s family. The law which gendered to bondage could not mark out or gather the children of God. Adoption could not be enjoyed under it: the real children were as servants and not sons. God was saying, I am a Father to Israel," not to those born of the Spirit, and children of God indeed. The moment He acts upon this latter principle, the old distinction is given up, and the children that Judaism scattered abroad are gathered.
Thus John keeps steadily to his theme, eternal life and what accompanies its possession, now that it is manifested. Of the Church he does not speak; but of the family; unity with him is unity of life, and so in the Father and the Son.
(b) The Lord being thus rejected, and His death determined, He withdraws from those who are compassing it to a country near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and remains there with His disciples. This too seems an anticipation of what is coming, when withdrawn from Israel, and found among disciples only, He really withdraws for "double fruit," which "Ephraim" means.
Among the Jews, gathering in preparation for their passover, there is expectation with uncertainty, while the malice of His enemies is planning for His death.
(c) Six days before the passover, He is at Bethany again, in the midst of that little company who had in so remarkable a way been witnesses of His glory, and who show us that believing remnant which, while Israel rejected Him, gathered around Him. These are soon to be the commencement of that Christian gathering which in John has been already variously foreshadowed. Here they make Him a feast, as once (and only once) before, Matthew the publican had made Him a feast, though with a very different company. There as the Saviour of sinners, Matthew had put Him in company with sinners; and a feast, we may be sure, that meant for Him. Here it is with saints that He is found, the fruit of His salvation, and typically on resurrection ground; and here service, communion, worship, have their representatives. Martha still serves; Lazarus is at table with Him; while Mary, entering more deeply into what is before Him, anoints Him for His burial. John alone names Mary here, as he alone points out the traitor as raising the murmuring against her and that which moved him in it. John too, speaks of the anointing of His feet, the other Gospels of that of His head. Here she is like the woman in the Pharisee’s house, as in the wiping them with the hair of her head. John also tells us how the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Thus deeper appreciation on the part of the beloved disciple seems to flow from deeper communion with the Lord’s own estimate (comp. Luk 7:44; Luk 7:46). How sweet to Him was that lavish expenditure of love which others counted waste. In the Synoptists the memorial of it goes out with the gospel; in John the odor abides in the house. Glorious testimony to a woman’s act, such as we find recorded of no other. But she had learnt at His feet what she poured out there.
(d) This act of love brings out the traitor; and we have a glance at His previous history. What the other was pouring out on Him, he would have filched from Him. When he could do this no longer, he sold himself.
(2) Now we have the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem as King of Israel. It naturally occupies in John a much smaller place than in the other Gospels. The elaborate preparation for it that we see in the others John has nothing of; nor is there the detail of the entry itself, the purification of the temple, nor the strife with Him on the part of the heads of the people, nor His solemn arraignment of them all. Nor have we the Olivet prophecy following. On the other hand, we have the effect of the resurrection of Lazarus, the testimony to Him of those in whom it had wrought, and on the other hand, the intensifying of the opposition by it. The fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy is only realized by the disciples afterwards. All this is for John the history of a struggle, and the end of which is the Cross and the setting aside of Israel nationally. He marks it in connection with what follows here, which is peculiar to himself. For his purpose, he has no need to enlarge upon it. The coming up of the Greeks introduces once again what is his peculiar theme.
(3) The Greeks here are pure Gentiles and not Grecian Jews, although worshippers of the true God as revealed in Israel. As sharers of the hopes that Israel’s prophets had aroused, they come forward, respectfully using the mediation of a disciple to gain an interview with Him. The mediation of a Jew was a perfectly natural thought for a Gentile believing in the prophets, where the Gentile seeking God, clings to the skirts of the Jew (Zec 8:23). As the centurion before used the Jewish elders, so the Greeks here would use Philip. He, with the caution of his people in such a matter, associates another with himself to approach his Master in the matter; and Andrew takes the lead in communicating their desire to the Lord. He at once declares that the hour is come that the
Son of man should be glorified; using the title by which is indicated His link with man as Man.* As Son of man, all peoples, nations and languages are to serve Him, and in a Kingdom that shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:14).
{* Andrew, the "manly," is foremost in the introduction.}
The hour had not arrived, however, for the Kingdom here depicted; and it has not yet arrived; nor is the Son of man a title which He takes in relationship to the Church. But there was an hour just at hand for another, His strange, yet greatest glory, to be acquired by Him; and in which not His connection with Israel but His manhood place for men was for all eternity to make Him glorious. By the power of this work the Son of man lifted up was to draw all men to Him. In the value of it, the earth and all the dwellers in it will become His own. Without it man’s ruined race could be but as a cinder-slag in the fire of God’s wrath. He goes on immediately to speak of this necessity, therefore, in order to His own fruitfulness, affirming it as constantly in John with what is of deepest importance with the seal of His double "verily:" "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Nature is summoned here to show the law of increase which is stamped upon her; and that creative law is made an argument for the necessity of the death that is before Him. What an exaltation of the analogies in nature, to exhibit and use them in such a way as this! and what a means of interpreting nature itself is here given us! How it shows that Christ, ignored by the so-called "natural" theology, is the true key to the interpretation of nature, and that the Cross is stamped ineffaceably upon it. Nature is thus invested with the robe of a primaeval prophet, and that the Word, who is God, is the Creator of all things becomes not merely the announcement of Scripture, but a plainly demonstrated fact before our eyes today.
The grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies: it has life in it, and it carries it with it through death itself. The death which it undergoes is in the interest even of the life, which it sets free from its encasement -from the limitations which hedge it in -to lay hold of and assimilate the surrounding material, by which it expands into the plant which is its resurrection, and thus at last into the many grains which are its resurrection-fruit. How plainly is this no accidental likeness which the Lord has seized for illustration of His point. It is as real a prediction as ever came from the lips of an Old Testament prophet: every seed sown in the ground to produce a harvest a positive prediction that the Giver of life must die. The union of Christ with men is not in incarnation, though that, of course, was a necessary step towards it. But the blessed Man, so come into the world, was a new, a Second Man, who could not unite with the old race, but becomes the Head of a new one, another -a "last Adam." Alone He was the life, and the Life was the Light of men; but if that were all the history would be summed in the words that follow: "And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not. He was in the world . . . and the world knew Him not." To the dead life must be communicated, that there may be eyes to see. Men can only be born again into the family of God, of which the Son of God as Man is the beginning.
Yet the Life cannot simply communicate the life. Around Him are the bands of eternal righteousness, which has pronounced condemnation upon the guilty, and only by the satisfaction of righteousness in the penalty incurred can these bands be removed. Death -death as He endured it -alone can set Him free from these limitations: He is "straitened till it be accomplished." In resurrection He is enlarged, and becomes the Head of a new creation and "if any man be in Christ, it is new creation" (2Co 5:17). In those redeemed by His blood the tree of life has come to its precious fruitage.
Thus the Son of God goes forward to His death. These Greeks coming up show divine grace working. Mere King of the Jews He is not, but the Saviour of men; and the wide harvest coming in is claiming Him for the realization of its promise. The burden of the world is upon Him. Past, present and future centre in Him. The glory of God, the blessing of man, call on Him with a voice which He has heard long since in the height from which He has descended. Now from a lower and nearer point of view the depths appear of the abyss into which He must yet descend, that He may lay in it the eternal foundations which nothing shall shake again.
Each grain of wheat that is found on the parent plant follows of necessity by the law of its own nature the pattern of the grain from which it came. His people too must be prepared to follow Him upon the road on which He is going. "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. He that serveth Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be; if any one serve Me, him will the Father honor." Here is the rule, and here is the reward of service: to be with Christ, where He is, is such reward as love itself would seek, crowned with the honor which the Father puts upon such loving service. The way of attainment is by the path that He has trodden, and that way, in its general character at least, is unmistakably plain.
For Him, however, there was that which darkened the road, and made it what for us it never can be. What He has taken from ours was the intense sorrow of His; not mere death, nor even with all that the wickedness of man and the malignity of Satan could add to it of bitterness, but the awful reality of sin borne by Him in the midst of all this, and the penalty of it in its unrelieved intensity. The anticipation of this presses upon Him as He speaks: "Now is My soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour?" Nay, "for this cause came I to this hour." Relief could not be found in this direction: there was but one thing could give it, but one prayer possible: "Father, glorify Thy Name." To that immediately the answer comes: and in the hearing of the multitude: "there came a voice from heaven: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." That was what the Son was here in the world for, and it was in open acceptance of the Son’s work that the Father glorified His own name. In a special way this had been done in the resurrection of Lazarus; but it was to be done in a more signal manner, when "by the glory of the Father" Christ Himself would be raised from the dead (Rom 6:4).
Meanwhile this Voice came as His witness to the multitude. For Himself it could not he needed, who walked in a communion with God which was never broken. Alas, for them a Voice from heaven was a strange and, for the mass, an unintelligible sound. The multitude said, "It thundered." A few, who still did not clearly recognize it, said, "An angel has spoken to Him." The Lord replies, It is for your sakes and not Mine; and then warns them that the world’s judgment is at hand in that which He is looking on to. His death at its hands would indeed be its condemnation. Its chosen prince was not the true, but the usurper; to be cast out yet by the power of that which He was accomplishing by its means. The Son of Man was to be lifted up from the earth, the witness of His rejection by men, yet of the curse borne for them: of which the final result in the new earth would be, all men drawn to Him by its sweet beneficent power, even now the attractive centre for the myriads of the redeemed.
Thus it is His heart relieves itself. The glory of God, the overthrow of evil, the redemption and reconciliation of men, is to be accomplished by that, the cost of which is to be for Him so much. He weighs the gain against the purchase-price for Him, and is content.
(4) There follows here again, as so constantly in John, that conflict of unbelief with the truth which reveals so perfectly the condition of man. The moral disease which cleaves to him is the very thing which makes the remedy so distasteful. Above all, the Cross is utterly an offence; and fullest grace of God is refused for its incompatibility with the self-righteousness of man. The Jews take up this affirmation that the Son of man must be lifted up, which they rightly enough interpret of His death, to put it in contrast with what the law has declared. The Christ according to it abides forever; and how can this be consistent with the Son of man being lifted up? Who is He then, this Son of man? But the Lord does not directly answer them. For their state of heart is not reached by the formal answer of a question. He simply presses on them the speedy passing of the opportunity which they now had. The light would be soon taken from them, except by their availing themselves of it they make it their own. When the darkness came, they would lose the way indeed; acceptance of the light while yet they had it would make them sons of the light, in whom the light would be as nature.
With these words He is gone again out of their midst, and hidden from them. He had wrought so many signs among them, and they had only fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of a people given up to hardening. The moral glory of His suffering and humiliation had only, being such as they were, blinded their eyes; and His grace published had but hardened their heart, so as to make it impossible for them to see or understand, to be converted and healed. These things Isaiah said, as seeing in the glory of Jehovah displayed in the temple the glory of Christ: for Christ is the Word, in whom alone God has ever displayed Himself; and in the Man Christ Jesus this display is at last fully made. But how could the Pharisaic Jew, ignorant of himself and God alike, recognize the One in the Other?
Yet the evidence was abundant; so that among the chief rulers many believed. Their reason was convinced, but their hearts were unchanged, and the consequences of confessing Him were too serious: they desired the glory that men could bestow rather than the glory which God could give: the fatal choice of alas how many!
(5) The Evangelist brings forward, therefore, here the emphatic words of Jesus which proclaim the responsibility attaching to the light which had shone among them.
Light indeed it was, the revelation of God in His true character, so that to believe on Him was to believe on Him who sent Him forth, to behold Him was to behold the One from whom He came. There was no side interest to divert any from the true and living God He represented.
His mission also was the appealing, attractive mission of salvation, and not of judgment. There was everything in it to win, rather than repel. Yet in the last day, that sweet and winning message would witness against the rejector of it all the more surely. Ah, says the apostle, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation
And in all this, nothing was spoken from Himself, but all according to a commandment given Him of the Father. He knew it in its outcome, its meaning for man -eternal life! and spoke it in the joy of communion with it, -with Him who sent it.
So the message ends: here is the responsibility of him who hears it. Henceforth, until as the Lamb of sacrifice He again appears among the people, He is shut up in the company of His own, to communicate to them His last words of guidance and overflowing love, for the impending time of His absence from them: a legacy which has never been exhausted yet; and of which, live as freely on it as we will, we shall find it hard to exhaust even the daily income.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Christ the Resurrection and the Life
Christ the Resurrection and the Life
1-44. The raising of Lazarus. The last and greatest of the seven 'signs' recorded in this Gospel is related with such photographic minuteness of detail, that it is clear that the evangelist was present. Three points about it are specially noteworthy: (1) that it was a physical miracle, which no ingenuity can reduce to a case of faith-healing; (2) that it was definitely worked to produce faith in Christ (Joh_11:42); (3) that more than any other miracle it was performed under test conditions;—the object of it was really dead (Joh_11:39), and hostile witnesses were present (Joh_11:42). Its spiritual meaning is given in Joh_11:25, 'I am the resurrection, and the life.' The raising of Lazarus to corporeal life is to the evangelist a token and pledge that the worker of it can raise the dead soul to spiritual life, and endue it with a blessed immortality. The publicity and notoriety of this miracle explain the warm welcome which Jesus received from the inhabitants of Jerusalem at His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. The synoptists mention the welcome (Mat_21:8-11), but say nothing of its cause. Various reasons are alleged for the omission of this miracle by the synoptists. Some say that when they wrote, Lazarus and his family were still alive, and did not desire to be made the objects of public curiosity. More probably it was omitted as belonging to the Judæan ministry, which (for whatever reason) the synoptists did not undertake to record.
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1. Lazarus] i.e. Eleazar, 'God is my help,' a man of good social position, probably a son or near relative of Simon the Leper (Mat_26:6); not to be identified with the beggar Lazarus of the parable. Bethany] a village at the Mount of Olives, a little less than 2 m. from Jerusalem, now called El 'Azerîyeh, 'the place of Lazarus.' Mary.. Martha] St. John supposes that they are known to his readers from St. Luke's narrative (Luk_10:38). The circumstances of the family, and the characters of the sisters in the two Gospels are quite in agreement.
2. St. John assumes that the fact of the anointing is already known in a general way from the synoptists (see Mat_26:6; Mar_14:3, and cp. Luk_7:36), but since their narratives are somewhat obscure and confusing, he intends to give later on (Joh_12:1.) a more accurate account.
3. Lovest] The love which Christ bore to the whole human race did not prevent Him from forming special friendships.
4. Not unto death] i.e. not unto permanent death. But for the glory of God, etc.] Lazarus was allowed to die that God might be glorified by his resurrection. So the blind man was born blind that God might be glorified by his eyes being miraculously opened (Joh_9:3).
6. Two days] Our Lord waited two days, (1) that the death of Lazarus might be an indisputable fact: cp. Joh_11:39; (2) that there might be time for a competent number of witnesses to assemble: cp. Joh_11:42. There is a seeming want of tenderness to the sisters in allowing Lazarus to die, and then making them wait four days for the miracle; but wider interests than those of a single family were involved. Moreover, the delay was the means of testing and strengthening the sisters' faith: cp. Joh_11:22, Joh_11:27, Joh_11:32.
9, 10. Our Lord's allegorical answer means, 'The allotted time of My ministry is not yet finished, therefore I shall be safe in Judæa, and so will you. But when My allotted time has elapsed, then I shall be in danger of death, and you also.'
9. The light] i.e. the sun.
11. Sleepeth] because Lazarus was soon to be awakened as from sleep: cp. Mar_5:39.
15. A secondary object of the miracle was the strengthening of the disciples' faith.
16. Didymus] i.e. 'twin,' is the correct translation of the Aramaic 'Thomas.' Perhaps he was twin brother of Matthew with whom he is coupled (Mat_10:3; Mar_3:18; Luk_6:15). He here figures as the pessimist of the apostolic circle; in John 20 as the sceptic. Yet his love and devotion to our Lord are undoubted. Die] because of the danger in Judæa.
17. The grave] RV 'the tomb.' In Palestine burial took place on the day of death. The possession of a private tomb by the family of Lazarus is an indication of wealth. The poor were buried in cemeteries (2Ki_23:6).
19. Visits of condolence were paid with great ceremony for seven days after a death.
20. Sat still] RV 'still sat.' Sitting was the attitude of grief. 'After the body is carried out of the house, all chairs and couches are reversed, and the mourners sit on the ground on a low stool.'
22. Even now] marvellous faith under the circumstances. She believes that Jesus can raise Lazarus, but dare not express the hope that He will.
24. A belief in a future resurrection was at this period professed by all pious Jews, and was not peculiar to the Pharisees. The expression 'the Last Day' is peculiar to St. John.
25. I am the resurrection, and the life] These solemn words, which are used most appropriately in the Burial Service, not only refer to the raising of Lazarus to a natural life, but indicate that Christ is also the author of the resurrection to eternal life. He that believeth] The words apply primarily to Lazarus. Lazarus was a believer in Christ. Lazarus was dead. And because Lazarus was a believer, he was about to be raised from the dead. His resurrection was a token and pledge of the resurrection of all believers.
26. Shall never die] because death to Christians is not really death. Death did not break the living union between the soul of Lazarus and His Redeemer, nor will it break that of other believers. 'The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God; there shall no torment touch them.'
27. The Son of God] When used, as here, as a popular title of the Messiah, this expression implies a special nearness to God, but not necessarily actual divinity. Which should come] RV 'even he that cometh.' 'He that cometh' was a common title of the Messiah: cp. Joh_6:14; Mat_11:3.
31. For three days the mourners used to visit the grave, believing that the soul hovered round, fain to re-enter and reanimate its fleshly tenement. On the fourth day, it was thought, the soul departed and decomposition began.
33. He groaned] i.e. He sorrowed in sympathy with the mourners. But RM 'He was moved with indignation,' i.e. at the havoc wrought by death in thus cutting off a young life. Our Lord regarded not only sin, but also disease and death, as part of that kingdom of Satan which He came to destroy. Their dominion over the human race filled Him with acute distress. In the spirit] i.e. in His human spirit. The Gospels assign to Jesus, as perfect man, both 'soul' and 'spirit.' And was troubled] The RM more correctly renders 'and troubled Himself.' Christ was not subject to human emotions, as we are, against His will. Out of sympathy with mankind He condescended to feel them.
35. Jesus wept] An exquisitely human touch, showing that the evangelist, with all his insistence upon Christ's divinity, has a firm grasp of His true humanity. Contrast with the sympathetic tears of Jesus the Stoic ideal of indifference to human emotion. In Jesus the strength of a man was united to the tenderness of a woman. Men may learn from this that there is nothing unmanly in tears. Some think that Jesus wept because He was about to summon back a soul from the felicity of Paradise to the strife and sorrow of this mortal state.
37. Could not this man] Probably a hostile criticism, imputing to Jesus lack of love or lack of power.
38. A stone lay upon it] which implies that it was an underground vault, or, 'a stone lay against it' (RV), which implies that it was a cavern hewn in the side of a hill. The tomb now called that of Lazarus 'is a deep vault like a cellar, excavated in the limestone rock in the middle of the village, to which there is a descent by 26 steps.'
39. Martha thinks that Jesus wishes to take a last look at His friend, and she seeks to dissuade Him, fearing that, putrefaction having already begun, the corpse will present a fearful spectacle. The apparent failure, for the moment, of her half-formed faith is true to life.
41, 42. This prayer of Jesus is remarkable, for, (1) He thanks God beforehand for the miracle, as if it had already been performed; (2) contrary to His usual practice, He offers the miracle as a proof of His divine mission, and that to unbelievers.
41. Hast heard me] RV 'heardest me,' viz. four days ago in Peræa, when I prayed that Lazarus might be raised to life.
42. I said it] viz. that Thou didst hear My prayer that Lazarus might be raised.
44. Came forth] doubtless with difficulty, his legs being bound together by grave-clothes. Hence the command 'Loose him.' It is possible, however, that the legs of Lazarus were swathed separately after the Egyptian manner.
45, 46. The Gk., interpreted strictly, means that all the Jews who were present believed, and that some of them went, apparently in good faith, to the Pharisees, hoping to convince them. Perhaps they expected that such a miracle would receive favourable consideration from those who were the special champions of the doctrine of the Resurrection. They certainly reported the miracle as a fact: see Joh_11:47.
47-53. A meeting of the Sanhedrin against Jesus. As in the synoptics, the chief priests, i.e. the Sadducees, take a more prominent part than the Pharisees in compassing the death of Jesus. Similarly in the Acts it is mainly the Sadducees who are hostile to the infant Church. The hostility of the Sadducees was due not so much to dislike of the doctrine of the Resurrection, as to selfish and political motives: see Joh_11:48.
47. What do we?] i.e. Why are we doing nothing?
48. The Romans shall come] They feared that Jesus would be proclaimed king by the people, and that the Romans would thereupon inflict summary judgment upon the nation. Our place and nation] i.e. our position in the State, and the very existence of the nation. Others understand 'our place' to be Jerusalem (cp. 2Ma_3:18-30), or the Temple (cp. Act_6:14; Acts 2Ma_5:19).
49. Caiaphas] In full Joseph C, a Sadducee. See on Mat_26:3. That same year] i.e. high priest in that memorable year in which Jesus was crucified. The expression does not imply that the high-priesthood was an annual office. Ye know nothing] see Joh_18:14. Caiaphas speaks somewhat contemptuously of the Pharisees—'You Pharisees have no policy to offer. We Sadducees have a very definite one. Jesus must die, in our interests, and yours, and in the interests of the national existence.'
51, 52. Of old the high priest had declared the divine will by Urim and Thummim (Exo_28:30, etc.). The prophetic power, long withdrawn, is restored for a moment, just as the Levitical priesthood was about to be abolished by the one offering of Christ upon the cross. Die for (i.e. on behalf of) that nation] The high priest unwittingly proclaimed Jesus as the true paschal lamb, whose blood would atone for the sins of the world. By sacrificing Jesus he brought about a blessing of which he never dreamed (the remission of sins), and compassed for the nation the very evil which he sought to avert (the loss of national existence).
52. In (RV 'into') one] i.e. into one Church. The children of God] i.e. the Gentiles. Scattered abroad] The unity of the human race has been destroyed by sin. The death of Christ, by abolishing sin, reëstablishes its unity.
54-57. Retirement to Ephraim. Attitude of the multitudes at Jerusalem. Suppressed excitement.
54. To avoid the snares of His enemies, and to secure a short season of undisturbed communion with His disciples, Jesus retires to Ephraim, perhaps Ephrain or Ephron (2Ch_13:19), or Ophrah (1Sa_13:17).
55. To purify themselves] No man could eat the Passover while ceremonially unclean (see Joh_18:28; Num_9:10; 2Ch_30:17), hence the Passover pilgrims assembled in Jerusalem some time beforehand to purify themselves by ablutions, shaving the head, and sacrifice. In some cases the process lasted a week.
57. Jesus was still too popular to be taken publicly.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XCIII. Raising of…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XCIII. Raising of Lazarus].
XCIII. PERÆA TO BETHANY. RAISING OF LAZARUS. dJOHN XI. 1-46.
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d1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. [For Bethany and the sisters, see Joh_12:3], whose brother Lazarus was sick. [The anointing had not yet taken place, as John himself shows. For a similar anticipation see Mat_10:4. There are five prominent Marys in the New Testament: those of Nazareth, Magdala and Bethany; the mother of Mark, and the wife of Clopas.] 3 The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. [The message and its form both indicate the close intimacy between this family and Christ. They make no request, trusting that Jesus' love will bring him to Bethany.] 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. [The sickness of Lazarus was for the purpose or design of a resurrection, so that death was a mere preceding incident. By this resurrection the Son of God would be glorified by manifesting more clearly than ever before that death came under his Messianic dominion, and by gathering believers from amongst his enemies. In all this the Father would also be glorified in the Son.] 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. [In this passage we have two Greek words for love. In Joh_11:3, Joh_11:36 we have philein, which expresses natural affection such as a parent feels for a child. In this verse we have agapan, an affection resulting from moral choice, loftier and less impulsive. We are told of the Lord's love that we may understand that his delay was not due to indifference.] 6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two [519] days in the place where he was. [It is urged that the exigencies of his ministry delayed Jesus in Peræa. But the import of the texts is that he kept away because of his love for the household of Lazarus and his desire to bless his disciples. He delayed that he might discipline and perfect the faith of the sisters and disciples. He withheld his blessing that he might enlarge it. Strauss pronounces it immoral in Christ to let his friend die in order to glorify himself by a miracle. In the vocabulary of Strauss, glorification means the gratification of personal vanity, but in the language of Christ it means the revelation of himself as the divine Saviour, that men may believe and receive the blessing of salvation.] 7 Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. [The word "again" refers back to Joh_10:40. Jesus does not propose to them to return to Bethany, where he has friends, but to go back to Judæa, the land of hostility. In so doing he caused them to think of his death, of which he had some time been seeking to accustom them to think.] 8 The disciples say unto him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee. [ Joh_10:31]; and goest thou thither again? 9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. [This parabolic expression resembles that at John ix. 4. See Luk_22:53), and then the further prosecution of the work would lead to death, for death was part of the work, and had its allotted time and place.] 11 These things spake he: and after this he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, [520] that I may awake him out of sleep. 12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleepeth, he shall do well. 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that he spake of taking of rest in sleep. [Jesus had before this spoken of death under the figure of sleep (Luke viii. 52, see Joh_11:4. As it was, they looked upon the mentioned sleep as marking the crisis of the disease, as it so often does in cases of fever. They were glad to urge it as an evidence of complete recovery, and thus remove one of the causes of the dreaded journey into Judæa.] 14 Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. [Had Jesus been present during the sickness of Lazarus, he would have felt constrained to heal him, and so would have lost the opportunity of presenting to his disciples a more striking proof of his divine power, a proof which has been the joy of each succeeding age. The disciples were soon to learn by sad experience how little belief they really had-- Mar_14:50, Mar_16:11, Luk_24:11, Luk_24:21, Luk_24:25.] 16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus [see Joh_11:8. They could not die with Lazarus, as some have foolishly supposed, for he was already dead. This mention of Thomas is closely connected with the thought in Joh_11:15. Jesus was about to work a miracle for the express purpose of inducing his disciples to believe in him, especially as to his power over death. In this despairing speech Thomas shows how little faith he had in Christ's ability to cope with death. Thomas sadly needed to witness the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, and even after seeing it, it proved insufficient to sustain his faith in the ordeal through which he was about to pass-- Joh_20:25-29.] 17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. [If Lazarus was buried on the [521] day he died, as is the custom in the East, and in hot climates generally ( Act_5:6, Act_5:10), he probably died on the day that the messengers brought word to Jesus about his sickness. If so, Jesus set forth for Bethany on the third day and arrived there on the fourth. The resurrections wrought by Jesus are progressional manifestations of power. Jairus' daughter was raised immediately after death, the young man of Nain was being carried to his grave, and Lazarus was buried four days. All these were preparatory to that last and greatest manifestation of resurrectional power--the raising of his own body.] 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off [the furlong, or stadium, was six hundred feet, so that the distance here was one and seven-eighths miles]; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. [These Jews were present four days after the death because Jewish custom prolonged the season of mourning ( Gen_1:3, Gen_1:10, Num_20:29, Deu_34:8, 1Sa_28:13). The Mishna prescribed seven days for near relatives, and the rules as laid down by rabbis, required seven days' public and thirty days' private mourning for distinguished or important personages.] 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary still sat in the house. [Jesus evidently paused on the outskirts of the town. He probably wished to avoid the noisy conventional wailing, the hypocrisy of which was distasteful to him ( Mar_5:40). It comports with the businesslike character of Martha as depicted by Luke to have heard of our Lord's arrival before Mary. She was probably discharging her duty towards the guests and new arrivals, as was her wont. See Joh_11:39. We must therefore look upon her hope as more vague than her [522] words would indicate. Such vague and illusive hopes are common where a great expectation, such as she had before indulged, had but lately departed.] 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? [Instead of saying "I will raise Lazarus," Jesus uses the wholly impersonal phrase "thy brother shall rise again," for it was this very impersonal feature of faith which he wished to correct. Martha assents to it at once. The doctrine of a resurrection was commonly held by all the Jews except the Sadducees. It was in their view, however, a remote, impersonal affair, a very far distant event powerless to comfort in bereavement. From this comparatively cheerless hope, Jesus would draw Martha to look upon himself as both resurrection and life. Where he is there is life, and there also is resurrection at his word without limitation. No mere man, if sane, could have uttered such words. They mean that Jesus is the power which raises the dead and bestows eternal life-- Joh_6:39-54, Joh_10:28.] 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, i even he that cometh into the world. [She could not say she believed it, for Lazarus had believed in Jesus and yet he had died. So, evading the question, she confessed her faith in him. Believing him, she accepted whatever he might say. She responds in the words of that apostolic creed which, in its ultimate application, embraces all that is true and discards all that is false ( Mat_16:16, Joh_6:68, Joh_6:69, Joh_20:31, 1Jo_5:1-5). See Mat_2:18, Mar_5:38). According to Eastern custom, the Jews followed her as friends, to assist in the demonstration of mourning. This frustrated the effort of Martha to keep secret the Lord's coming, and caused the miracle to be wrought in the presence of a mixed body of spectators.] 32 Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was, and saw him, fell down at his feet [in grief and dependence, but with less self-control than Martha], saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. [That both sisters used this phrase, shows that it is an echo of the past feelings and conversations of the sisters. It is clear that they felt hurt at his not coming sooner, as he could have done.] 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews i also weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled [The verb translated "groaned" carries in it the idea of indignation. But the fact that sin had brought such misery to those he loved was enough to account for the feeling], 34 and said, Where have ye laid him? [This question was designed to bring all parties to the tomb; it was not asked for information. See Luk_19:41), but here, as a friend, he mingled his quiet tears with the two broken-hearted sisters, thus assuring us of his sympathy with the individual grief of each lowly disciple ( Rom_12:15). Nor did the nearness of comfort prevent his tears. They were tears of sympathy. "A sympathetic physician," says Neander, "in [524] the midst of a family drowned in grief,--will not his tears flow with theirs, though he knows that he has the power of giving immediate relief?"] 36 The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved him! 37 But some of them said, Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die? [Knowing the miracle which he had performed upon a blind man ( Joh_9:1-13), they could therefore see no reason why he should not have performed one here.] 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. [These stones were frequently in the shape of large grindstones resting in a groove, so that they could be rolled in front of the door of the tomb. Tombs had to be closed securely to keep out jackals and other ravenous beasts.] 39 Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. [Miracles only begin where human power ends.] Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time the body decayeth; for he hath been i dead four days. [She evidently thought that Jesus wished to see the remains of his friend, and her sisterly feeling prompted her to conceal the humiliating ravages of death. Her words show how little expectation of a resurrection she had.] 40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? [Jesus reminds her of his words which are recorded in Joh_11:25, Joh_11:26, and of the message which he sent, found in Joh_11:4, thus removing her objections.] 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the multitude that standeth around I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me. [Jesus, dwelling in constant communion with the Father, knew that the Father concurred in his wish to raise Lazarus. He therefore makes public acknowledgment, and offers a prayer of thanksgiving, for the Father's gracious answer to this and all his petitions. He states, too, that the prayer is publicly made [525] that it may induce faith in the bystanders. He wished all present to know that the miracle about to be wrought is not the work of some independent wonder-worker, but is performed by him as one commissioned and sent of God. In other words, the miracle was wrought to prove the concord between the Son and the Father, the very fact which the Jews refused to believe. Rationalists criticize this prayer as a violation of the principle at Mat_6:5, Mat_6:6, and Weisse called it "prayer for show." But it shows on its face that it is not uttered by Jesus to draw admiration to himself as a praying man, but to induce faith unto salvation in those who heard.] 43 And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. [The loud cry emphasized the fact that the miracle was wrought by personal authority, and not by charms, incantations, or other questionable means. His voice was as it were an earnest of the final calling which all shall hear ( Rev_1:5, Joh_5:28, Joh_5:29, 1Th_4:16). It has been happily said he called Lazarus by name, lest all the dead should rise.] 44 He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. [It is thought by some that Lazarus walked forth from the tomb, and the fact that the Egyptians sometimes swathed their mummies so as to keep the limbs and even the fingers separate is cited to show that Lazarus was not so bound as to prevent motion. But the grave-clothes were like a modern shroud, wrapped around arms and legs, and mummies also were thus wrapped after their limbs were swathed. It was part of the miracle that Lazarus came out bound hand and foot, and John puts emphasis upon it.] 45 Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary and beheld that which he did, believed on him. 46 But some of them [some of the class mentioned in Joh_11:37] went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done. [By the miracle Jesus had won many from the ranks of his enemies, but others, alarmed at this deflection, rush off to tell the Pharisees about this new [526] cause for alarm. Farrar argues that these may have gone to the Pharisees with good intentions toward Jesus, but surely no friend of Jesus could have been so hasty to communicate with his enemies. But the way in which the Evangelist separates these from the believers of Joh_11:45, stamps their action as unquestionably hostile.]
[FFG 519-527]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The Sickness of Lazarus Announced. (Joh 11:1-4.)
CHAPTER 11
1. The Sickness of Lazarus Announced. (Joh 11:1-4.)
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2. The Delayed Departure and the Death of Lazarus. (Joh 11:5-16.)
3. The Arrival at Bethany. (Joh 11:17-27.)
4. Weeping with Them That Weep. (Joh 11:28-38.)
5. The Resurrection of Lazarus. (Joh 11:39-46.)
6. The Prophecy of Caiaphas. (Joh 11:47-52.)
7. Seeking to Kill Him. (Joh 11:53-57.)
The resurrection of Lazarus is the final great sign or miracle in this Gospel. It is the greatest Of all. Some critics have discredited it by saying that, if it had really taken place the Synoptics would have something to say about it. The Gospel of John is the Gospel in which this miracle properly belongs. As we have seen, the Gospel of John is the Gospel in which our Lord as Son of God is fully revealed. The resurrection of Lazarus proves Him the Son Of God, Who can raise the dead. The philosopher and skeptic Spinoza declared that if he could be persuaded of the historicity of this miracle he would embrace Christianity. The miracle is supported by the most incontrovertible evidence; it requires more credulity to deny it than to believe it.
A German Expositor (Dr. Tillman) put together the evidences of this great miracle in the following way:
“The whole story is of a nature calculated to exclude all suspicion of imposture, and to confirm the truth of the miracle. A well-known Person of Bethany, named Lazarus, falls sick in the absence of Jesus. His sisters send a message to Jesus, announcing it; but while He is yet absent Lazarus dies, is buried, and kept in the tomb for four days, during which Jesus is still absent. Martha, Mary, and all his friends are convinced of his death. Our Lord, while yet remaining in the place where He had been staying, tells His disciples in plain terms that He means to go to Bethany, to raise Lazarus from the dead, that the glory of God may be illustrated, and their faith confirmed. At our Lord’s approach, Martha goes to meet Him, and announces her brother’s death, laments the absence of Jesus before the event took place, and yet expresses a faint hope that by some means Jesus might yet render help. Our Lord declares that her brother shall be raised again, and assures her that He has the power of granting life to the dead. Mary approaches, accompanied by weeping friends from Jerusalem. Our Lord Himself is moved, and weeps, and goes to the sepulchre, attended by a crowd. The stone is removed. The stench of the corpse is perceived. Our Lord, after pouring forth audible prayer to His Father, calls forth Lazarus from the grave, in the hearing of all. The dead man obeys the call, comes forth to public view in the same dress that he was buried in, alive and well, and returns home without assistance. All persons present agree that Lazarus is raised to life, and that a great miracle has been worked, though not all believe the person who worked it to be the Messiah. Some go away and tell the rulers at Jerusalem what Jesus has done. Even these do not doubt the truth of the fact; on the contrary, they confess that our Lord by His works is becoming every day more famous, and that He would probably be soon received as Messiah by the whole nation. And therefore the rulers at once take counsel how they may put to death both Jesus and Lazarus. The people, in the meantime hearing of this prodigious transaction, flock in multitudes to Bethany, partly to see Jesus, and partly to view Lazarus. And the consequence is that by and by, when our Lord comes to Jerusalem, the population goes forth in crowds to meet Him and show Him honor, and chiefly because of His work at Bethany. Now, if all these circumstances do not establish the truth of the miracle, there is no truth in history.”
To follow the historical account in all its details would take many pages. It reveals the glory, the sympathy and the power of our Lord as perhaps no other Scripture does.
The heart of the chapter is found in His words to Martha: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” (Joh 11:25-26.) In the first place these words anticipate His death and resurrection. He Who laid down His life and took it again, is the resurrection, and the life. He can raise the dead, the spiritually and physically dead. But these words take us also forward to His coming again, when they will find their great fulfillment, and when the crowning proof is given that He is the resurrection and the life. The Saints, who believed on Him and died in Christ, will be raised first. This truth is expressed in His words: “He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live.” And all who live when He comes for His Saints, when His shout opens the graves, will be caught up in clouds, changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, passing into His presence without dying. Of this He speaks in His last statement: “He that liveth (when He comes) and believeth on Me shall never die.” (1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:16-18.) Who is able to describe the scene as He goes to the cave where His friend Lazarus had been laid away four days previous! Mary sank weeping at His feet. When He saw her weeping, the Jews weeping, then He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Jesus wept! Oh, precious words! Conscious of His Deity and of His power, He enters with deepest sympathy into the sorrows and afflictions of His people. Such He is still, our great High-priest, Who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The cave was covered with a stone. When He commands that stone to be removed, Martha interrupted Him by saying, “By this time he stinketh, for he has been dead four days.” It was unbelief. After He had lifted His eyes to heaven and had spoken to the Father, He uttered His majestic “Lazarus, come forth!” It was the word of omnipotence to manifest now fully that He is the Son of God, Who hath the power to raise the dead. Who can describe the solemn moment and what happened immediately! Perhaps there was a faint echo out of the cave, for He had cried His command with a loud voice. All eyes were looking towards the dark entrance of the cave, when lo, the dead man was seen struggling forward, bound by the grave clothes. Lazarus, who had been dead four days, whose body had already entered into decomposition, came forth a living man.
“A more plain, distinct, and unmistakable miracle it would be impossible for man to imagine. That a dead man should hear a voice, obey it, rise up, and move forth from his grave alive is utterly contrary to nature. God alone could cause such a thing. What first began life in him, how lungs and heart began to act again, suddenly and instantaneously, it would be waste of time to speculate. It was a miracle and there we must leave it”--C. Ryle.
“He came back, a challenge thrown in the face of Christ’s would-be murderers, of the possibility of success against One to Whom death and grave are subject”--Numerical Bible.
A second word He spoke: “Loose him and let him go.” Lazarus is the type of a sinner who hears His Word. We are dead in trespasses and sins. Spiritually man is in the grave, in death and in darkness. He is in corruption. The Lord of Life gives life. And besides this He gives with that life-- liberty. He looses from the bondage of the law and of sin. In the next chapter we read of Lazarus again. He is in fellowship with the Lord Who raised him from the dead. Life, Liberty and Fellowship are the three blessed things which he receives who hears and believes. Compare this great chapter with the teachings of the fifth chapter. And Lazarus is also a fit type of Israel and her coming national resurrection.
Then many believed on Him, while the Pharisees and chief priests, acknowledging the fact that He did many miracles, plan His death. Remarkable is the prophecy of Caiaphas. He was used as an instrument to utter a great truth. Christ was indeed to die for that nation, and also that He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Raising of Lazarus.
The Raising of Lazarus.
The death of Lazarus:
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v. 1. Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
v. 2. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
v. 3. Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.
v. 4. When Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
v. 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
v. 6. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was.
While Jesus was still in retirement in Perea, on the east side of the Jordan, events were transpiring near Jerusalem which were destined to have a great influence on the lives of many people. At Bethany, a little town about fifteen stadia, almost two miles, from Jerusalem, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, the Lord had some friends. Mary and Martha, both of whom were known to the early Christians, Luk 16:20, with their brother Lazarus, lived there. In order to identify Lazarus and his sisters more exactly, the evangelist adds that it was Mary that anointed the Lord with spikenard and wiped His feet with her hair. See chap. 12:3. Lazarus, the brother of this Mary and her sister Martha, was sick. In this emergency the friendship of the sisters, their intimacy with Jesus, suggests to them to send to Him first of all. Here was a whole family of disciples that had learned to place their trust in the Lord without reserve. The sickness of Lazarus was severe, as the repetition. of the statement shows, and the notice which the sisters sent to the Lord shows all the anxiety of their hearts. It was really an urgent, pleading request: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. A remarkable, wonderful distinction to be the beloved of the Lord! But it belongs to all Christians of all times: Jesus loves them, has loved them from eternity, and loves them especially since they have accepted His salvation. It is really a model prayer which the sisters sent by their messenger. The mere announcement of trouble is all that is necessary where the Lord is concerned. The words of Jesus when He received the message are rather enigmatic. This sickness was not unto death, He told His disciples, although He knew that physical death had either taken place or was imminent. The Lord’s statement was true in a double sense. The illness was not unto eternal death: no sickness of any Christian will terminate in such a way that it will bring him to everlasting death. And the sickness was not unto physical death, because it would give Jesus an opportunity to show His glory and His power over the king of terrors. This sickness would yet have such results that the Son of God would be glorified, that the praise and honor due Him would be forthcoming in greater measure than ever. The evangelist again emphasizes that Jesus loved all three of His disciples in this little family circle. But He made no move to hasten to the bedside of His beloved friend. After the time when He received the message, He still purposely remained in the place where He had been sojourning for two days. The manner in which Jesus deals with those whom He loves may sometimes make the impression upon foolish human minds as though He were not earnestly concerned about their welfare. But an enduring, patient trust in His wisdom and love will never be brought to shame. "God’s delays in answering prayers offered to Him by persons in distress are often proofs of His purpose to confer some great kindness; and they are also proofs that His wisdom finds it necessary to permit an increase of the affliction, that His goodness may be more conspicuous in its removal."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
These verses introduce the story of Lazarus and give background information about him and his sister Mary. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants and Background Information)
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It was Mary who anointed the Lord ... her hair
As John introduces Mary, the sister of Martha, he also shares information concerning what would later happen in the story. (See: Background Information)
translationWords
Lazarus
Bethany
Mary (sister of Martha)
Martha
anoint
lord
myrrh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 11:1-57 The raising of Lazarus foreshadows Jesus’ own coming…
11:1-57 The raising of Lazarus foreshadows Jesus’ own coming death and resurrection. Even the description of Lazarus’ grave (11:38, 44) prefigures Jesus’ grave (20:1, 7). Shortly after this event, Jesus was anointed for burial (12:3) and the hour of his glorification began (12:23).
11:1 In Hebrew, Lazarus is a shortened form of Eleazar (“God helps”). Among Jews in the first century, it was the fourth-most-common name for a man (see also Luke 16:19-31). • Bethany was a small village east of Jerusalem just over the Mount of Olives (John 11:18) and was where Jesus often stayed when he was in Jerusalem. Jesus would have traveled through Bethany on the way to Jerusalem because most Jews coming from Galilee used a route going south to Jericho, then west to Jerusalem. • Mary and Martha were sisters (Luke 10:38-42). Martha was probably older; she was the host in Luke’s story and here represented the family. Mary later anointed Jesus with perfume (John 12:1-8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.