Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”
When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.
The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”
Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem. The Evangelist diligently…
18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem. The Evangelist diligently follows out all that contributes to the certainty of the narrative. He relates how near Jerusalem was to the village of Bethany, that no one may be astonished that, for the purpose of comforting the sisters, many friends came from Jerusalem, whom God intended to be witnesses of the miracle. For, though the desire of performing an office of kindness was their inducement to go, yet they were assembled there, by a secret decree of God, for another purpose, that the resurrection of Lazarus might not remain unknown, or that the witnesses might not be only those who belonged to the family. Now it is a convincing proof of the base ingratitude of the nation, that this striking demonstration of Divine power at a well-known place, amidst a vast crowd of men, and near the gates of the city, and which might almost be said to be erected on a stage, instantly vanishes from the eyes of men. We should rather say that the Jews, by maliciously shutting their eyes, intentionally do not see what is before their eyes. Nor is it a new or uncommon occurrence, that men who, with excessive eagerness, continually gape for miracles, are altogether dull and stupid in the consideration of them.
About fifteen furlongs This distance between the two places was somewhat less than two thousand paces, or, two miles; for the Stadium, or furlong, contains six hundred feet; that is, one hundred and twenty-five paces.
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 On vv19, 23, 33, 46 God who is the maker of nature, doth not…
God who is the maker of nature, doth not condemn natural affections, but showeth that they ought to be examined by the rule of faith.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–46 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen…
18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
Ver. 18. About fifteen furlongs] Not fully two miles: a short walk, and hence so great a resort to the place; not without a special providence of God, who ordereth all to his own glory. The Jews came only to comfort the sisters, and to condole with them (it is a mercy in misery to find such friends, qui maeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participabunt, as Cyprian hath it, that will set to their shoulders, and bear a part), but God had a further end in that meeting, ne obscura esset Lazari resurrectio, that there might be many witnesses of Lazarus’ resurrection; who might also thereby be made partakers of the first resurrection, Rev 20:6.
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 On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 That, as we count, wants of two miles half…
That, as we count, wants of two miles half a quarter.
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 On vv23, 27, 33, 38, 45 Here observe, 1. Christ’s meek answer to Martha’s passionate…
Here observe, 1. Christ’s meek answer to Martha’s passionate discourse. He takes no notice of the forementioned failings, but comforts her with a promise of her brother’s resurrection: Thy brother shall rise again.
Thence learn, That the knowledge and belief of the general resurrection, is, and ought to be, a sufficient support under the loss of our endeared friends, who die in the Lord.
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Observe, 2. That the doctrine of the general resurrection was no new doctrine; Job believed it, Job 19:26. Daniel published it, Dan 12:1; the Pharisees had a notion of it; but Martha here makes it an article of faith, I know he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Observe, 3. How Christ particularly instructs Martha in the cause of her resurrection, acquainting her, that he himself is the author and efficient cause of it: I am the resurrection and the life: that is, I am the author, and principal efficient cause of the resurrection; and this with respect to both natures:
1. His divine nature is the efficient cause of the resurrection; he shall raise our bodies out of the dust, by the power of his godhead.
2. His human nature is the exemplary cause or pattern of the resurrection; for which reason Christ is called the first born from the dead. For though some were raised before him, yet was his resurrection the cause of their resurrection.
Hence St. Paul argues, from Christ’s resurrection, the certainty of the resurrection of his members; Christ and believers are one mystical body, therefore is not Christ perfectly risen till all his members are risen with him. Indeed Christ’s, personal resurrection was perfect when he arose, and all believers arose representatively in him; yet, has not received its utmost perfection: but there is somewhat behind of the resurrection of Christ. Most fitly then might our Saviour assert, I am the resurrection and the life.
Observe, 4. That Christ not only asserts himself to be the resurrection, but also the life; I am the resurrection and the life: that is, I am the cause of life natural, spiritual, and eternal; And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die; that is, eternally: though his body shall die because of sin, yet his spirit shall live because of righteousness.
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 On vv33, 45 Here we have, I. Christ's tender sympathy with his…
Here we have, I. Christ's tender sympathy with his afflicted friends, and the share he took to himself in their sorrows, which appeared three ways: -
1. By the inward groans and troubles of his spirit (Joh 11:33): Jesus saw Mary weeping for the loss of a loving brother, and the Jews that came with her weeping for the loss of a good neighbour and friend; when he saw what a place of weepers, a bochim, this was, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. See here,
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(1.) The griefs of the sons of men represented in the tears of Mary and her friends. What an emblem was here of this world, this vale of tears! Nature itself teaches us to weep over our dear relations, when they are removed by death; Providence thereby calls to weeping and mourning. It is probable that Lazarus's estate devolved upon his sisters, and was a considerable addition to their fortunes; and in such a case people say, now-a-days, though they cannot wish their relations dead (that is, they do not say they do), yet, if they were dead, they would not wish them alive again; but these sisters, whatever they got by their brother's death, heartily wished him alive again. Religion teaches us likewise to weep with them that weep, as these Jews wept with Mary, considering that we ourselves also are in the body. Those that truly love their friends will share with them in their joys and griefs; for what is friendship but a communication of affections? Job 16:5.
(2.) The grace of the Son of God and his compassion towards those that are in misery. In all their afflictions he is afflicted, Isa 63:9; Jdg 10:16. When Christ saw them all in tears,
[1.] He groaned in the spirit. He suffered himself to be tempted (as we are when we are disturbed by some great affliction), yet without sin. This was an expression, either, First, Of his displeasure at the inordinate grief of those about him, as Mar 5:39 : "Why make ye this ado and weep? What a hurry is here! does this become those that believe in a God, a heaven, and another world?" Or, Secondly, Of his feeling sense of the calamitous state of human lie, and the power of death, to which fallen man is subject. Having now to make a vigorous attack upon death and the grave, he thus stirred up himself to the encounter, put on the garments of vengeance, and his fury it upheld him; and that he might the more resolutely undertake the redress of our grievances, and the cure of our griefs, he was pleased to make himself sensible of the weight of them, and under the burden of them he now groaned in spirit. Or, Thirdly, It was an expression of his kind sympathy with his friends that were in sorrow. Here was the sounding of the bowels, the mercies which the afflicted church so earnestly solicits, Isa 63:15. Christ not only seemed concerned, but he groaned in the spirit; he was inwardly and sincerely affected with the case. David's pretended friends counterfeited sympathy, to disguise their enmity (Psa 41:6); but we must learn of Christ to have our love and sympathy without dissimulation. Christ's was a deep and hearty sigh.
[2.] He was troubled. He troubled himself; so the phrase is, very significantly. He had all the passions and affections of the human nature, for in all things he must be like to his brethren; but he had a perfect command of them, so that they were never up, but when and as they were called; he was never troubled, but when he troubled himself, as he saw cause. He often composed himself to trouble, but was never discomposed or disordered by it. He was voluntary both in his passion and in his compassion. He had power to lay down his grief, and power to take it again.
2. His concern for them appeared by his kind enquiry after the poor remains of his deceased friend (Joh 11:34): Where have you laid him? He knew where he was laid, and yet asks, because, (1.) He would thus express himself as a man, even when he was going to exert the power of a God. Being found in fashion as a man, he accommodates himself to the way and manner of the sons of men: Non nescit, sed quasi nescit - He is not ignorant, but he makes as if he were, saith Austin here. (2.) He enquired where the grave was, lest, if he had gone straight to it of his own knowledge, the unbelieving Jews should have thence taken occasion to suspect a collusion between him and Lazarus, and a trick in the case. Many expositors observe this from Chrysostom. (3.) He would thus divert the grief of his mourning friends, by raising their expectations of something great; as if he had said, "I did not come hither with an address of condolence, to mingle a few fruitless insignificant tears with yours; no, I have other work to do; come, let us adjourn to the grave, and go about our business there." Note, A serious address to our work is the best remedy against inordinate grief. (4.) He would hereby intimate to us the special care he takes of the bodies of the saints while they lie in the grave; he takes notice where they are laid, and will look after them. There is not only a covenant with the dust, but a guard upon it.
3. It appeared by his tears. Those about him did not tell him where the body was buried, but desired him to come and see, and led him directly to the grave, that his eye might yet more affect his heart with the calamity.
(1.) As he was going to the grave, as if he had been following the corpse thither, Jesus wept, Joh 11:35. A very short verse, but it affords many useful instructions. [1.] That Jesus Christ was really and truly man, and partook with the children, not only of flesh and blood, but of a human soul, susceptible of the impressions of joy, and grief, and other affections. Christ gave this proof of his humanity, in both senses of the word; that, as a man, he could weep, and, as a merciful man, he would weep, before he gave this proof of his divinity. [2.] That he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, as was foretold, Isa 53:3. We never read that he laughed, but more than once we have him in tears. Thus he shows not only that a mournful state will consist with the love of God, but that those who sow to the Spirit must sow in tears. [3.] Tears of compassion well become Christians, and make them most to resemble Christ. It is a relief to those who are in sorrow to have their friends sympathize with them, especially such a friend as their Lord Jesus.
(2.) Different constructions were put upon Christ's weeping. [1.] Some made a kind and candid interpretation of it, and what was very natural (Joh 11:36): Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! They seem to wonder that he should have so strong an affection for one to whom he was not related, and with whom he had not had any long acquaintance, for Christ spent most of his time in Galilee, a great way from Bethany. It becomes us, according to this example of Christ, to show our love to our friends, both living and dying. We must sorrow for our brethren that sleep in Jesus as those that are full of love, though not void of hope; as the devout men that buried Stephen, Act 8:2. Though our tears profit not the dead, they embalm their memory. These tears were indications of his particular love to Lazarus, but he has given proofs no less evident of his love to all the saints, in that he died for them. When he only dropped a tear over Lazarus, they said, See how he loved him! Much more reason have we to say so, for whom he hath laid down his life: See how he loved us! Greater love has no man than this [2.] Others made a peevish unfair reflection upon it, as if these tears bespoke his inability to help his friend (Joh 11:37): Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have prevented the death of Lazarus? Here it is slyly insinuated, First, That the death of Lazarus being (as it seemed by his tears) a great grief to him, if he could have prevented it he would, and therefore because he did not they incline to think that he could not; as, when he was dying, they concluded that he could not, because he did not, save himself, and come down from the cross; not considering that divine power is always directed in its operations by divine wisdom, not merely according to his will, but according to the counsel of his will, wherein it becomes us to acquiesce. If Christ's friends, whom he loves, die, - if his church, whom he loves, be persecuted and afflicted, - we must not impute it to any defect either in his power or love, but conclude that it is because he sees it for the best. Secondly, That therefore it might justly be questioned whether he did indeed open the eyes of the blind, that is, whether it was not a sham. His not working this miracle they thought enough to invalidate the former; at least, it should seem that he had limited power, and therefore not a divine one. Christ soon convinced these whisperers, by raising Lazarus from the dead, which was the greater work, that he could have prevented his death, but therefore did not because he would glorify himself the more.
II. Christ's approach to the grave, and the preparation that was made for working this miracle.
1. Christ repeats his groans upon his coming near the grave (Joh 11:38): Again groaning in himself, he comes to the grave: he groaned, (1.) Being displeased at the unbelief of those who spoke doubtingly of his power, and blamed him for not preventing the death of Lazarus; he was grieved for the hardness of their hearts. He never groaned so much for his own pains and sufferings as for the sins and follies of men, particularly Jerusalem's, Mat 23:37. (2.) Being affected with the fresh lamentations which, it is likely, the mourning sisters made when they came near the grave, more passionately and pathetically than before, his tender spirit was sensibly touched with their wailings. (3.) Some think that he groaned in spirit because, to gratify the desire of his friends, he was to bring Lazarus again into this sinful troublesome world, from that rest into which he was newly entered; it would be a kindness to Martha and Mary, but it would be to him like thrusting one out to a stormy sea again who was newly got into a safe and quiet harbour. If Lazarus had been let alone, Christ would quickly have gone to him into the other world; but, being restored to life, Christ quickly left him behind in this world. (4.) Christ groaned as one that would affect himself with the calamitous state of the human nature, as subject to death, from which he was now about to redeem Lazarus. Thus he stirred up himself to take hold on God in the prayer he was to make, that he might offer it up with strong crying, Heb 5:7. Ministers, when they are sent by the preaching of the gospel to raise dead souls, should be much affected with the deplorable condition of those they preach to and pray for, and groan in themselves to think of it.
2. The grave wherein Lazarus lay is here described: It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. The graves of the common people, probably, were dug as ours are; but persons of distinction were, as with us, interred in vaults, so Lazarus was, and such was the sepulchre in which Christ was buried. Probably this fashion was kept up among the Jews, in imitation of the patriarchs, who buried their dead in the cave of Machpelah, Gen 23:19. This care taken of the dead bodies of their friends intimates their expectation of their resurrection; they reckoned the solemnity of the funeral ended when the stone was rolled to the grave, or, as here, laid upon it, like that on the mouth of the den into which Daniel was cast (Dan 6:17), that the purpose might not be changed; intimating that the dead are separated from the living, and gone the way whence they shall not return. This stone was probably a gravestone, with an inscription upon it, which the Greeks called mnēmeion - a memorandum, because it is both a memorial of the dead and a memento to the living, putting them in remembrance of that which we are all concerned to remember. It is called by the Latins, Monumentum, monendo, because it gives warning.
3. Orders are given to remove the stone (Joh 11:39): Take away the stone. He would have this stone removed that all the standersby might see the body lie dead in the sepulchre, and that way might be made for its coming out, and it might appear to be a true body, and not a ghost or spectre. He would have some of the servants to remove it, that they might be witnesses, by the smell of the putrefaction of the body, and that therefore it was truly dead. It is a good step towards the raising of a soul to spiritual life when the stone is taken away, when prejudices are removed and got over, and way made for the word to the heart, that it may do its work there, and say what it has to say.
4. An objection made by Martha against the opening of the grave: Lord, by this time he stinketh, or is become noisome, for he has been dead four days, tetartaios gar esti quatriduanus est; he is four days old in the other world; a citizen and inhabitant of the grave of four days' standing. Probably Martha perceived the body to smell, as they were removing the stone, and therefore cried out thus.
(1.) It is easy to observe hence the nature of human bodies: four days are but a little while, yet what a great change will this time make with the body of man, if it be but so long without food, much more if so long without life! Dead bodies (saith Dr. Hammond) after a revolution of the humours, which is completed in seventy-two hours, naturally tend to putrefaction; and the Jews say that by the fourth day after death the body is so altered that one cannot be sure it is such a person; so Maimonides in Lightfoot. Christ rose the third day because he was not to see corruption.
(2.) It is not so easy to say what was Martha's design in saying this. [1.] Some think she said it in a due tenderness, and such as decency teaches to the dead body; now that it began to putrefy, she did not care it should be thus publicly shown and made a spectacle of. [2.] Others think she said it out of a concern for Christ, lest the smell of the dead body should be offensive to him. That which is very noisome is compared to an open sepulchre, Psa 5:9. If there were any thing noisome she would not have her Master near it; but he was none of those tender and delicate ones that cannot bear as ill smell; if he had, he would not have visited the world of mankind, which sin had made a perfect dunghill, altogether noisome, Psa 14:3. [3.] It should seem, by Christ's answer, that it was the language of her unbelief and distrust: "Lord, it is too late now to attempt any kindness to him; his body begins to rot, and it is impossible that this putrid carcase should live." She gives up his case as helpless and hopeless, there having been no instances, either of late or formerly, of any raised to life after they had begun to see corruption. When our bones are dried, we are ready to say, Our hope is lost. Yet this distrustful word of hers served to make the miracle both the more evident and the more illustrious; by this it appeared that he was truly dead, and not in a trance; for, though the posture of a dead body might be counterfeited, the smell could not. Her suggesting that it could not be done puts the more honour upon him that did it.
5. The gentle reproof Christ gave to Martha for the weakness of her faith (Joh 11:40): Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God? This word of his to her was not before recorded; it is probable that he said it to her when she had said (Joh 11:27), Lord, I believe: and it is enough that it is recorded here, where it is repeated. Note, (1.) Our Lord Jesus has given us all the assurances imaginable that a sincere faith shall at length be crowned with a blessed vision: "If thou believe, thou shalt see God's glorious appearances for thee in this world, and to thee in the other world." If we will take Christ's word, and rely on his power and faithfulness, we shall see the glory of God, and be happy in the sight. (2.) We have need to be often reminded of these sure mercies with which our Lord Jesus hath encouraged us. Christ does not give a direct answer to what Martha had said, nor any particular promise of what he would do, but orders her to keep hold of the general assurances he had already given: Only believe. We are apt to forget what Christ has spoken, and need him to put us in mind of it by his Spirit: "Said I not unto thee so and so? And dost thou think that he will ever unsay it?"
6. The opening of the grave, in obedience to Christ's order, notwithstanding Martha's objection (Joh 11:41): Then they took away the stone. When Martha was satisfied, and had waived her objection, then they proceeded. If we will see the glory of God, we must let Christ take his own way, and not prescribe but subscribe to him. They took away the stone, and this was all they could do; Christ only could give life. What man can do is but to prepare the way of the Lord, to fill the valleys, and level the hills, and, as here, to take away the stone.
III. The miracle itself wrought. The spectators, invited by the rolling away of the stone, gathered about the grave, not to commit dust to dust, earth to earth, but to receive dust from the dust, and earth from the earth again; and, their expectations being raised, our Lord Jesus addresses himself to his work.
1. He applies himself to his living Father in heaven, so he had called him (Joh 6:17), and so eyes him here.
(1.) The gesture he used was very significant: He lifted up his eyes, an outward expression of the elevation of his mind, and to show those who stood by whence he derived his power; also to set us an example; this outward sign is hereby recommended to our practice; see Joh 17:1. Look how those will answer it who profanely ridicule it; but that which is especially charged upon us hereby is to lift up our hearts to God in the heavens; what is prayer, but the ascent of the soul to God, and the directing of its affections and motions heavenward? He lifted up his eyes, as looking above, looking beyond the grave where Lazarus lay, and overlooking all the difficulties that arose thence, that he might have his eyes fixed upon the divine omnipotence; to teach us to do as Abraham, who considered not his own body now dead, nor the deadness of Sarah's womb, never took these into his thoughts, and so gained such a degree of faith as not to stagger at the promise, Rom 4:20.
(2.) His address to God was with great assurance, and such a confidence as became him: Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
[1.] He has here taught us, by his own example, First, In prayer to call God Father, and to draw nigh to him as children to a father, with a humble reverence, and yet with a holy boldness. Secondly, In our prayers to praise him, and, when we come to beg for further mercy, thankfully to acknowledge former favours. Thanksgivings, which bespeak God's glory (not our own, like the Pharisee's God, I thank thee), are decent forms into which to put our supplications.
[2.] But our Saviour's thanksgiving here was intended to express the unshaken assurance he had of the effecting of this miracle, which he had in his own power to do in concurrence with his Father: "Father, I thank thee that my will and thine are in this matter, as always, the same." Elijah and Elisha raised the dead, as servants, by entreaty; but Christ, as a Son, by authority, having life in himself, and power to quicken whom he would; and he speaks of this as his own act (Joh 11:11): I go, that I may awake him; yet he speaks of it as what he had obtained by prayer, for his Father heard him: probably he put up the prayer for it when he groaned in spirit once and again (Joh 11:33, Joh 11:38), in a mental prayer, with groanings which could not be uttered.
First, Christ speaks of this miracle as an answer to prayer, 1. Because he would thus humble himself; though he was a Son, yet learned he this obedience, to ask and receive. His mediatorial crown was granted him upon request, though it is of right, Psa 2:8, and Joh 17:5. He prays for the glory he had before the world was, though, having never forfeited it, he might have demanded it. 2. Because he was pleased thus to honour prayer, making it the key wherewith even he unlocked the treasures of divine power and grace. Thus he would teach us in prayer, by the lively exercise of faith, to enter into the holiest.
Secondly, Christ, being assured that his prayer was answered, professes,
a. His thankful acceptance of this answer: I thank thee that thou hast heard me. Though the miracle was not yet wrought, yet the prayer was answered, and he triumphs before the victory. No other can pretend to such an assurance as Christ had; yet we may by faith in the promise have a prospect of mercy before it be actually given in, and may rejoice in that prospect, and give God thanks for it. In David's devotions, the same psalm which begins with prayer for a mercy closes with thanksgivings for it. Note, (a.) Mercies in answer to prayer ought in a special manner to be acknowledged with thankfulness. Besides the grant of the mercy itself, we are to value it as a great favour to have our poor prayers taken notice of. (b.) We ought to meet the first appearances of the return of prayer with early thanksgivings. As God answers us with mercy, even before we call, and hears while we are yet speaking, so we should answer him with praise even before he grants, and give him thanks while he is yet speaking good words and comfortable words.
b. His cheerful assurance of a ready answer at any time (Joh 11:42): And I know that thou hearest me always. Let none think that this was some uncommon favour granted him now, such as he never had before, nor should ever have again; no, he had the same divine power going along with him in his whole undertaking, and undertook nothing but what he knew to be agreeable to the counsel of God's will. "I gave thanks" (saith he) "for being heard in this, because I am sure to be heard in every thing." See here, (a.) The interest our Lord Jesus had in heaven; the Father heard him always, he had access to the Father upon every occasion, and success with him in every errand. And we may be sure that his interest is not the less for his going to heaven, which may encourage us to depend upon his intercession, and put all our petitions into his hand, for we are sure that him the Father hears always. (b.) The confidence he had of that interest: I knew it. He did not in the least hesitate or doubt concerning it, but had an entire satisfaction in his own mind of the Father's complacency in him and concurrence with him in every thing. We cannot have such a particular assurance as he had; but this we know, that whatsoever we ask according to his will he heareth us, Jo1 5:14, Jo1 5:15.
Thirdly, But why should Christ give this public intimation of his obtaining this miracle by prayer? He adds, It is because of the people who stand by, that they may believe that thou hast sent me; for prayer may preach. 1. It was to obviate the objections of his enemies, and their reflections. It was blasphemously suggested by the Pharisees, and their creatures, that he wrought his miracles by compact with the devil; now, to evidence the contrary, he openly made his address to God, using prayers, and not charms, not peeping and muttering as those did that used familiar spirits (Isa 8:19), but, with elevated eyes and voice professing his communication with Heaven, and dependence on Heaven. 2. It was to corroborate the faith of those that were well inclined to him: That they may believe that thou hast sent me, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Moses, to show that God sent him, made the earth open and swallow men up (Num 16:31); Elijah, to show that God sent him, made fire come from heaven and devour men; for the law was a dispensation of terror and death but Christ proves his mission by raising to life one that was dead. Some give this sense: had Christ declared his doing it freely by his own power, some of his weak disciples, who as yet understood not his divine nature, would have thought he took too much upon him, and have been stumbled at it. These babes could not bear that strong meat, therefore he chooses to speak of his power as received and derived he speaks self-denyingly of himself, that he might speak the more plainly to us. Non ita respexit ad swam dignitatem atque ad nostram salutem - In what he said, he consulted not so much his dignity as our salvation. - Jansenius.
2. He now applies himself to his dead friend in the earth. He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth.
(1.) He could have raised Lazarus by a silent exertion of his power and will, and the indiscernible operations of the Spirit of life; but he did it by a call, a loud call,
[1.] To be significant of the power then put forth for the raising of Lazarus, how he created this new thing; he spoke, and it was done. He cried aloud, to signify the greatness of the work, and of the power employed in it, and to excite himself as it were to this attack upon the gates of death, as soldiers engage with a shout. Speaking to Lazarus, it was proper to cry with a loud voice; for, First, The soul of Lazarus, which was to be called back, was at a distance, not hovering about the grave, as the Jews fancied, but removed to Hades, the world of spirits; now it is natural to speak loud when we call to those at a distance. Secondly, The body of Lazarus, which was to be called up, was asleep, and we usually speak loud when we would awake any out of sleep. He cried with a loud voice that the scripture might be fulfilled (Isa 45:19), I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.
[2.] To be typical of other works of wonder, and particularly other resurrections, which the power of Christ was to effect. This loud call was a figure, First, Of the gospel call, by which dead souls were to be brought out of the grave of sin, which resurrection Christ had formerly spoken of (Joh 5:25), and of his word as the means of it (Joh 6:63), and now he gives a specimen of it. By his word, he saith to souls, Live, yea, he saith to them, Live, Eze 16:6. Arise from the dead, Eph 5:14. The spirit of life from God entered into those that had been dead and dry bones, when Ezekiel prophesied over them, Eze 37:10. Those who infer from the commands of the word to turn and live that man has a power of his own to convert and regenerate himself might as well infer from this call to Lazarus that he had a power to raise himself to life. Secondly, Of the sound of the archangel's trumpet at the last day, with which they that sleep in the dust shall be awakened and summoned before the great tribunal, when Christ shall descend with a shout, a call, or command, like this here, Come forth, Psa 50:4. He shall call both to the heavens for their souls, and to the earth for their bodies, that he may judge his people.
(2.) This loud call was but short, yet mighty through God to the battering down of the strongholds of the grave. [1.] He calls him by name, Lazarus, as we call those by their names whom we would awake out of a fast sleep. God said to Moses, as a mark of his favour, I know thee by name. The naming of him intimates that the same individual person that died shall rise again at the last day. He that calls the stars by their names can distinguish by name his stars that are in the dust of the earth, and will lose none of them. [2.] He calls him out of the grave, speaking to him as if he were already alive, and had nothing to do but to come out of his grave. He does not say unto him, Live; for he himself must give life; but he saith to him, Move, for when by the grace of Christ we live spiritually we must stir up ourselves to move; the grave of sin and this world is no place for those whom Christ has quickened, and therefore they must come forth. [3.] The event was according to the intention: He that was dead came forth, Joh 11:44. Power went along with the word of Christ to reunite the soul and the body of Lazarus, and then he came forth. The miracle is described, not by its invisible springs, to satisfy our curiosity, but by its visible effects, to conform our faith. Do any ask where the soul of Lazarus was during the four days of its separation? We are not told, but have reason to think it was in paradise; in joy and felicity; but you will say, "Was it not then really an unkindness to it to cause it to return into the prison of the body?" And if it were, yet, being for the honour of Christ and the serving of the interests of his kingdom, it was no more an injury to him than it was to St. Paul to continue in the flesh when he knew that to depart to Christ was so much better. If any ask whether Lazarus, after he was raised, could give an account or description of his soul's removal out of the body or return to it, or what he saw in the other world, I suppose both those changes were so unaccountable to himself that he must say with Paul, Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell; and of what he saw and heard, that it was not lawful nor possible to express it. In a world of sense we cannot frame to ourselves, much less communicate to others, any adequate ideas of the world of spirits and the affairs of that world. Let us not covet to be wise above what is written, and this is all that is written concerning the resurrection of that Lazarus, that he that was dead came forth. Some have observed that though we read of many who were raised from the dead, who no doubt conversed familiarly with men afterwards, yet the scripture has not recorded one word spoken by any of them, except by our Lord Jesus only.
(3.) This miracle was wrought, [1.] Speedily. Nothing intervenes between the command, Come forth, and the effect, He came forth; dictum factum - no sooner said than done; let there be life, and there was life. Thus the change in the resurrection will be in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, Co1 15:52. The almighty power that can do it can do it in an instant: Then shalt thou call and I will answer; will come at the call, as Lazarus, Here am I. [2.] Perfectly. He was so thoroughly revived that he got up out of his grave as strongly as ever he got up out of his bed, and returned not only to life, but health. He was not raised to serve a present turn, but to live as other men. [3.] With this additional miracle, as some reckon it, that he came out of his grave, though he was fettered with his grave-clothes, with which he was bound hand and foot, and his face bound about with a napkin (for so the manner of the Jews was to bury); and he came forth in the same dress wherein he was buried, that it might appear that it was he himself and not another, and that he was not only alive, but strong, and able to walk, after a sort, even in his grave-clothes. The binding of his face with a napkin proved that he had been really dead, for otherwise, in less than so many days' time, that would have smothered him. And the standers-by, in unbinding him, would handle him, and see him, that it was he himself, and so be witnesses of the miracle. Now see here, First, How little we carry away with us, when we leave the world - only a winding-sheet and a coffin; there is no change of raiment in the grave, nothing but a single suit of grave-clothes. Secondly, What condition we shall be in in the grave. What wisdom or device can there be where the eyes are hoodwinked, or what working where the hands and feet are fettered? And so it will be in the grave, whither we are going. Lazarus being come forth, hampered and embarrassed with his grave-clothes, we may well imagine that those about the grave were exceedingly surprised and frightened at it; we should be so if we should see a dead body rise; but Christ, to make the thing familiar, sets them to work: "Loose him, slacken his grave-clothes, that they may serve for day-clothes till he comes to his house, and then he will go himself, so clad, without guide or supporter to his own house." As, in the Old Testament, the translations of Enoch and Elias were sensible demonstrations of an invisible and future state, the one about the middle of the patriarchal age, the other of the Mosaic economy, so the resurrection of Lazarus, in the New Testament, was designed for the confirmation of the doctrine of the resurrection.
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 On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem,.... Which was a…
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem,.... Which was a reason why them were so many of the Jews come there to condole the two sisters upon the death of their brother; and by this means the following miracle became more known there: it was
about fifteen furlongs off; that is, about two miles, for seven furlongs and a half made a Jewish mile, as appears from one of their canons (c), which runs thus:
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"they do not spread nets for doves, except it be distant from an habitable place, , "thirty furlongs";''
which the commentators say (d) are "four miles": and still more expressly it is said (e), that
"between Jerusalem and Zuck, (the place where the scape goat was had,) there were ten tents, and ninety furlongs, "seven and a half to every mile".''
Hence a furlong was called one seventh and a half of a mile (f), which was 266 cubits, and two thirds of one.
(c) Misn. Bava Kama, c. 7. sect. 7. (d) Maimon. Jarchi, & Bartenora in ib. (e) Misn. Yoma, c. 6. sect. 4. (f) T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 33. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Rotzeach, c. 13. sect. 6.
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 On vv20, 22, 25, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46 Mary sat in the house - Probably not hearing…
Mary sat in the house - Probably not hearing what was said.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46 Verse 18. Fifteen furlongs] About two miles: for the…
Verse 18. Fifteen furlongs] About two miles: for the Jewish miles contained about seven furlongs and a half. So Lightfoot, and the margin.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 36, 38, 41, 44, 45 Joh 11:20-22. Then Martha, &c. — Jesus was no…
Joh 11:20-22. Then Martha, &c. — Jesus was no sooner come into the neighbourhood, but presently the news of his approach was brought to the afflicted family, that had so long impatiently desired to see him. Martha, therefore, immediately went out; and, being told what way he was coming, soon met him: but Mary sat still in the house — Probably not hearing of his coming: for Martha, overjoyed at the news of his approach, did not take time to tell her sister of it, but went out in all haste. Her intention, no doubt, was to welcome him; but being in an excess of grief, the first thing she uttered was a complaint that he had not come sooner, saying, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died — In which words she shows both the strength and weakness of her faith. 1st, The strength of it, in that she believed Christ’s power was such, that though her brother’s sickness was very grievous, yet he could have cured it, and so have prevented his death; and that his goodness was such, that if he had been present, and seen Lazarus in his extreme illness, and his dear relations all in tears about him, he would have had compassion, and have prevented so sad a breach upon the peace and comfort of the family. 2d, Her words show also the weakness of her faith; for she limits the power of Christ in saying, If thou hadst been here; whereas she ought to have known that Christ could cure at a distance, and that his gracious operations were not confined to his bodily presence. She reflects likewise on the wisdom and kindness of Christ, because he had not hastened to them when they sent for him, intimating that by delaying to come, she thought he had neglected to save her brother’s life. She, however, corrects and comforts herself with the consideration of the prevailing interest which Christ had in heaven, adding, But I know that even now — Though he be dead; whatsoever thou wilt ask of God — Whatsoever thou shalt think proper to ask; God will give it thee — Will assuredly grant thy request, how great soever the favour may be which thou askest: thus intimating, that she believed his prayer might yet restore her brother to life. She has not courage, however, to ask Jesus that he would pray to his Father for such an extraordinary exertion of divine power to be displayed on their behalf, there having yet been no precedent of any one being raised who had been so long dead: but, like a modest petitioner, she humbly recommends their case to the wise and compassionate consideration of Jesus. Thus when we know not what in particular to ask, or expect, let us, in general, refer ourselves to God; let him do as seemeth him good. And let it comfort us to be assured, when we are in doubt what to pray for, that our great Intercessor knows what to ask for us, and is always heard. But we have in this latter sentence, uttered by Martha on this occasion, a further proof, as of the strength, so also of the weakness of her faith: she believed Jesus could obtain of God by prayer whatever he should think fit to ask, even the restoration of her brother to life, though he had been so many days dead, but she did not believe that he himself could raise him; forgetting, or not considering, that he had life in himself, yea, was the Prince of life and Conqueror of death. She founded her hopes of her brother’s resurrection, so far as she entertained any hopes of so wonderful an event, not on Christ’s own power, but on the power of God, to be exerted at his intercession.
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 On vv18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46 Nigh unto Jerusalem - This is added to show…
Nigh unto Jerusalem - This is added to show that it was easy for many of the Jews to come to the place. The news that Jesus was there, and the account of the miracle, would also be easily carried to the Sanhedrin.
Fifteen furlongs - Nearly two miles. It was directly east from Jerusalem. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. ii. p. 599) says of Bethany: “It took half an hour to walk over Olivet to Bethany this morning, and the distance from the city, therefore, must be about two miles. This agrees with what John says: ‘Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.’ The village is small, and appears never to have been large, but it is pleasantly situated near the southeastern base of the mount, and has many fine trees about and above it. We, of course, looked at the remains of those old edifices which may have been built in the age of Constantine, and repaired or changed to a convent in the time of the Crusades. By the dim light of a taper we also descended very cautiously, by 25 slippery steps, to the reputed sepulchre of Lazarus, or El Azariyeh, as both tomb and village are now called. But I have no description of it to give, and no questions about it to ask. It is a wretched cavern, every way unsatisfactory, and almost disgusting.”
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 On vv18, 21, 23, 25, 27, 31, 33, 34, 35, 39, 41, 43, 44 About fifteen furlongs. About two Italian miles. (Witham)
About fifteen furlongs. About two Italian miles. (Witham)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v45 C. Two-fold result of the raising of Lazarus. The…
C. Two-fold result of the raising of Lazarus. The believing Jews. The obdurate ones as betrayers. The high-priestly prophecy, or the extinction of the ancient Urim and Thummim. Demoniacal policy and Divine counsel. Jesus now in the wilderness of Ephraim, as He was in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry
(Joh_11:45-57.)
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45Then many [Many therefore] of the Jews which came [who had come]65 to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus [what he] did, believed on [in] him. 46But some of them went their ways [went away] to the Pharisees, and told them what things [omit things] Jesus had done.
47Then [Therefore] gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council [the Council, or, the Sanhedrin]66 and said, What do we [shall we do, or, are we to do]? for this man doeth [worketh] many miracles [signs]. 48If we let him thus alone [thus go on], all men [omit men] will believe on [in] him; and the Romans shall [will] 49come and take away both our place and nation. And [a certain] one of them, named [omit named] Caiaphas, being the [omit the] high priest that same [omit 50same] year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor [do ye] consider that it is expedient for us [for you],67 that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not [and not the whole nation perish]. 51And this spake he [he spoke] not of [from] himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied [gave the high-priestly prophetic decision] that Jesus should [was about to] die for that [the] nation; 52And not for that [the] nation only, but that also he should [that he might also] gather together in [into] one [body, or, people] the children of God that were [are] scattered abroad.
53Then [Therefore] from that day forth they took counsel together68 for [omit for] to put him to death. 54Jesus therefore walked no more [longer] openly [freely] among the Jews; but went [departed] thence unto a [into the] country near to [omit to] the wilderness, unto a city called Ephraim, and there continued [so-journed, 55abode] with his [the] disciples. And [Now] the Jews’ passover [the passover of the Jews] was nigh at hand [omit nigh, or, at hand]: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves. 56Then sought they [They sought therefore] for Jesus, and spake [said] among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? 57Now both [omit both]69 the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment [issued commandments or, ordered],70 that, if any man [any one] knew where he were [was], he should shew it [give information, or, make it known], that they might take [seize] him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Joh_11:45. Many of the Jews therefore. A new split in the Pharisaical party in Jerusalem itself. The important effect of the raising of Lazarus is observable in the fact that many of these Jews became believers. Some, however, of those who witnessed the miracle at Bethany, separate from the believing portion and confirm themselves in their obduracy, giving notice of the event to the Pharisees, i.e., here, the hostile members of the Sanhedrin. Origen held these individuals to be friends of Jesus, whose intentions in giving the information were good. On the other hand the view of Euthymius who regarded them as malevolents, is the one generally entertained. According to Euthymius, they denounced Him as a sorcerer (γοέτης); according to Theophylact, as a sacrilegious person, who had disinterred a corpse. These hypotheses overlook the possibility that the hardened denunciators held the same opinion to which Caiaphas gives utterance Joh_11:50, and considered Jesus to be merely a dangerous man. And thus their notification is apprehended by the generality of people. Meyer impugns the assumption of hostile intention on the part of these men; it is οἱ ἐλθόντες [who had come], says he,—not τῶν ἐλθόντων [the reading of D. and text rec.—P. S.] But in this construction the evangelist would say, that the—Jews who came to Bethany constituted a plurality of the whole body of Jews. The better plan would be, perhaps, to distinguish among the spectators friends of Mary, sharers of her sentiments; these had come to Mary and were θεασάμενοι. The Jews were well aware of the deadly enmity of the Pharisees towards Jesus; if these informants had been friends, they must have witnessed for Jesus with heroic martyr-courage, and they would have secured a firm and conspicuous station in the evangelical history.
Joh_11:47. The high priests and the Pharisees therefore assembled the Sanhedrin.—See Comm. on Matthew, chap. 5 p. 113, Am. Ed.; Winer, Art. Synedrium.
1. The Name: συνέδριον, talmudic: סַנְהֵדְרִיך, Sanhedrin.71
2. Signification: the supreme, theocratico-hierarchical Court of the Jews, resident at Jerusalem.
3. Composition and organization. It consisted of seventy-one members forming three classes (chief priests, elders, scribes). At that time it was composed of Pharisaic and Sadducean elements (Caiaphas, the high-priest, belonged to the Sadducean party). The Sanhedrin had a president (הַנָּשִׂיא), ordinarily the high-priest, who was assisted by a vice-president (אַב בֵּית דִּין). There is not sufficient proof that a third functionary, styled חָכָם, stood at the left of the high-priest (Vitringa).
4. Sessions. Extraordinary: in urgent cases at the house of the high-priest. Ordinary: held daily (with the exception of the Sabbath and feast days), of old in a session room adjoining the temple, called Gazith, but in later times (from a period of forty years before the destruction of the temple) in places near the temple-mount.
5. Matters coming under the cognizance of this court as a forum: Matters concerning a whole tribe, a false prophet, the high-priest, or an arbitrary war, or blasphemy.
6. Punitory power. Formerly: Infliction of capital punishment (stoning, burning, beheading, hanging); later: excommunication and recommendation for capital punishment.
7. Administration. Connection with the minor courts; highest court of appeal from these; intercourse with them through surrogates and apparitors.
8. Extent of authority: Legislation, administration, justice.
9. History. According to the Talmudists this court originated in the institution of Moses, Num_11:24. That, probably, was but prelusive. So, too, the Supreme court of Jehoshaphat, 2Ch_19:8. Increased importance of this institution after the exile. The γερουσία in the time of the Seleucidæ (2Ma_1:10); the first decided mention at the time of Antipater and Herod (Joseph. Antiqu., XIV. 9, 4). A session of the Sanhedrin is called.
What shall we do [or, What are we to do, ποιοῦμεμν]?—The indicative, i.e., something must be done.—For this man.—Implacable hatred. They no longer protest against the many signs of Jesus; but nevertheless they contemptuously
say: this man. Doubtless the expression—many miracles, is also intended to obliterate the simple recognition of the grand raising of the dead. At the same time an expression of fear that He would perform yet other miracles.
Joh_11:48. If we let Him thus alone.—The policy of fear and anti-christianity. It is a wicked and empty fear that all will believe on Him; a wicked and empty fear that thence troubles will arise that will cause the Romans to invade the country; a wicked and empty fear that they will then make an end of the Jewish commonwealth. There is, moreover, in each one of these considerations a co-operative element of falsehood; hence it is likewise a trebly hypocritical fear And a fear, in sooth, which thinks itself justified by its motives, in carrying on hostile proceedings against a prophet of God, a doer of many miracles. In fine, a fear that occasions the very mischief it considers itself bound mischievously to avert. Weisse and Strauss have regarded this hierarchical portrait as an improbable one. Analogies at once suggest themselves; for instance, Ultramontanism confounds the Reformation with Anabaptism, Socialism, Communism, Antichristianity,—and is itself the parent of those very things which it seeks to foist upon the other.
They will take away both our place and nation [καὶτὸντόπονκαὶτὸἔθνος]. Αροῦσιν according to Euthymius and many others, ἀπολέσουσιν, according to Nonnus and others: they will wrest from us; this certainly is more in accordance with their egotistical sentiment which considers everything lost when the hierarchical rule is gone. Tholuck is in favor of: annihilate,—because Judea was already a Roman province. But the hierarchy still exercised rule. Our, ἡμῶν. Meyer: placed first, with the emphasis of egotism. Τὸν τόπον variously construed: 1. As the temple, as the central sanctuary (Origen, Lücke [De Wette, Hengstenberg] and others, after Act_6:13; 2Ma_5:19); 2. as the country, “Land und Leute” [Luther] country and people—(Bengel, Luthardt, and others);72 3. as the holy city [the seat of the Sanhedrin and the whole hierarchy], in favor of which, 2Ma_3:18; 2Ma_3:30. Chrysostom, Meyer.73 Be it observed that the temple with the holy mountain and the holy city form a concrete unit, as the residence of the theocratical hierarchy. However, the expression is also an unconscious prophecy, like the subsequent remark of Caiaphas.
Joh_11:49. And a certain one of them, Caiaphas. Καϊάφας. See Comm. on Matt. Mat_26:3. Also Luk_3:2. It must be observed that the Sadducees, to whom Caiaphas belonged, have already begun to take part in the hostility against Jesus; having probably long despised Him, their active enmity is doubtless excited by the raising of Lazarus. They now, in the person of Caiaphas, take the foremost rank in the persecution; subsequently we see them for a time take the lead even of the Pharisees in hostility towards the Christian Church (Act_4:1-2).
Being high-priest that year [τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου]. Different interpretations:
1. Bretschneider, Strauss [Schenkel, Scholten]: It is the erroneous idea that the high-priestly office changed hands from year to year. [But whoever was the writer of this Gospel, he shows sufficient familiarity with Jewish customs and localities throughout, to manifest that he was incapable of making such a mistake.—P. S.]
2. Baur: The Pseudo-John supposed Caiaphas and Hannas to have discharged the office alternately [very arbitrary].
3. Tholuck: “The repetition of τ. ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκ. Joh_11:49; Joh_11:51; Joh_18:13 cannot be understood otherwise than thus: namely, that the high-priest who once in the year offered the joint sacrifice for the people (Heb_9:7), must himself declare that in that year a greater and more universal joint sacrifice should be offered.” Yet John himself refers the saying not to the high priestly, but to the prophetic position of the high-priest.
4. Lücke: In that memorable year, the deathyear of the Redeemer, Caiaphas was at the head of affairs (and the Evangelist deemed it superfluous to add to the mention of this fact a reference to the duration of the office).74 This suffices; yet the expression undoubtedly contains also an intimation to the effect, that the high-priestly-office was debased at that time by the frequent alternations it sustained. See Leben Jesu.
Ye know nothing at all. Οὐκοὐδέν. As he is aware that he is giving utterance to the inmost wishes of the greater part of them, he can, with an appearance of righteous indignation, revile them, without apprehending the taking of much offence.
Joh_11:50. Nor consider that it is expedient [συμφέρέι] for us—us of the Sanhedrin75—that one man should die for the people [ἵνα—according to divine purpose—εἶς ἄνθρωπος ἀποθάνῃ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ, and not the whole nation perish, καὶ μὴ ὃλον τὸ ἔθνος ἀπόληται. Thus the Jewish priesthood expired with an unconscious and unwilling prophecy of Christ’s atoning death, which it typically foreshadowed. Stier and Luthardt see in this a sublime irony of a most special Providence in the very centre of the world’s history.—P. S.] The ὑπέρ, in commodum, for the benefit, becomes also an ἀντί, instead of, in consequence of the concluding clause: “and that not the whole nation (λαός, the whole mass of the people) perish.76 “Analogous sentences are collected by Schöttgen and Wetstein.” The devilishness of this pseudo-political maxim as conceived by Caiaphas, is contained in the idea that Jesus shall be a guiltless and involuntary sacrifice to secure the good of the nation. This diabolical notion causes the proposition to assume, in this sense, an ultra-heathenish, superstitious and lying aspect. It is the completed idea of the most revolting heathen Moloch-sacrifices, into which Israel lapses when at the very acme of its legalistic zeal for putatively pure Judaism. See Leben Jesu, II., p. 1138.
Joh_11:51. But being high-priest that year, he prophesied—i.e., unconsciously to himself, the wicked decree, as he apprehended it, had the significancy of an official prediction, and, as such, a higher sense. Various interpretations:
1. In the sense of בַּתַ־קוֹל (De Wette). There is undoubtedly something of a kindred nature in the Bath Kol; yet that is here insufficient, and it belongs to another sphere. See Herzog’s Real-Encyklopædie [I. 719].77
2. An involuntary prophecy, like that of old, contained in the involuntary blessing of Balaam (Lücke, Tholuck).78 The cases are certainly allied; they differ, however, in that in the ease of Balaam, a distinction must be made between his common consciousness and his inspired mood (wherefore his words of blessing are not susceptible of a double interpretation, as is his character), while in Caiaphas we have to distinguish between his consciousness and the unconscious expression, mirroring a higher truth, and hence bearing a double meaning.
3. A sentence in accordance with the appointment of the high-priest, to prophesy by the Urim and Thummim, i.e., to utter the decision assignable to divine causality. Leben Jesu 2, 2, p. 1137. [So also Alford. This view is confirmed by the repetition of the phrase ἀρχιερεὺς ὤν τοῦ ἐν. ἐκ. But this reference to the Urim and Thummim does not exclude the second view.—P. S.] “The high-priest,” says Meyer, “was considered in ancient Israelitish times as the bearer of the divine oracle, the organ of divine revelation (Ewald, Antiquities, p. 385 sq.), which he obtained by examination of the Urim and Thummim (Exo_28:30; Lev_27:21). It is true that this examination was discontinued in later times (Joseph. Ant. III., 8, 9)—the high-priestly office being in all things shorn of its glory; yet even in the prophetic age there still existed a belief in the prophethood of the high-priest (Hos_3:4); we find also in Josephus Antiq. VI., 6, 3, the ancient high-priesthood represented as the bearer of the oracle,” etc., [p. 444 f., 5th ed.] The high-priest was not the organ of divine revelation, but of divine decision; for the people whose king was God, must be able in all cases to have the mandate of its King. Now the decision was, if auspicious (as Philo,79 idealizing the priest, represents him as a prophet), a prophecy of blessing; but if the high-priest was an unenlightened man, his oracle became the utterance of a curse. The decision might also, in itself, be the fountain sometimes of fortune, sometimes of misfortune. But even in the latter case there was attached to it the blessing of a divine judgment, that brought deliverance to the pious (rabbinical passages of unconscious predictions in Schöttgen).
That Jesus was about to die [ἥμελλενἀποθνήσκειν]. Ὅτι. The subsequent observation is not merely a pious reflection of John, as Lücke represents it; it is declaratory of the decisive providence of God, which caused the wicked decree to be so worded that it must express at the same time, unconsciously to the speaker, a divine sense, containing the real doctrine of salvation,—the doctrine of the redemption of man by the death of Jesus. To die for the nation.—The ὑπὲρτοῦλαοῦ (Joh_11:50), with its hierarchico-national sound, is here changed, in accordance with the last words of Caiaphas, into ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔθνους.
Joh_11:52. And not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one [people] the children of God that are scattered abroad.—Christian universalism, conditional, however, upon divine ordinance, as defined in the Bible, and upon human faith.—[Joh_11:52 is an addition of the Evangelist to the unconscious prophecy of Caiaphas to prevent a limitation of the benefits of Christ’s death; comp. 1Jn_2:2 : “He is the propitiation for our sins; not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”] The children of God. Interpretations:
1. The future children of God. [Among the heathen. Prophetic and proleptic, like 10:16]. (Euthymius [ὡς μέλλοντα γενέσθαι], Meyer [Alford, Trench: Those who should hereafter become His children. So also Calvin, in a predestinarian sense (to which Meyer assents): Filios ergo Dei, etiam antequam vocentur, ab electione æstimat.—P. S.]
2. Children of God, who are longing for Christ (Messner [Tholuck, Luthardt, Godet]).
3. Children of God by nature, who are such without first becoming so through Christ (Hilgenfeld [contrary to 1:12; 3:3, 6, etc.])
4. The children of God generally, among the Jews,—they being in reality scattered by the hierarchy, jealous for the λαός,—as among the heathen, whose religious men have been scattered abroad since the building of the tower of Babel. The antithesis is: dying for the nation as a unit; dying in order to the gathering of the people of God from all places whither they have been scattered. The fundamental idea is the bringing together (this expression does not refer to place) of all the children of God into one, i.e., into one nation, in antithesis to the λαός of Caiaphas. Comp. Eph_2:14. In that passage the fundamental idea is the union of believing Jews and Gentiles, as Joh_10:16; here the fundamental thought is the union of the scattered sheep. Caiaphas said: the nation is perishing—therefore He must die; John says: He, doubtless, has by His death created the true, real λαός. Christ is the union of this people.
Joh_11:53. From that day forth they held assemblies of their council, having in view His death: meetings for the murder of Christ. Before this time inferior courts, as well as the Sanhedrin itself, have occasionally sought to bring about His death (chh. 5 and 8); before now, individual Pharisees have sought to thrust Him aside by means of their standing tribunal of zealotism (chh. 9 and 10); before this, too, His adherents have been threatened with excommunication,—have been actually excommunicated (John 9) Now the question how He shall be put to death, becomes a settled and ever recurring subject of debate in the Sanhedrin. It is clear that Jesus has long been considered by them as under the ban; apparently, fear of the people has deterred them from inflicting public and formal excommunication upon Him, although this is involved in the mandate issued subsequently to this session.
Joh_11:54. To a city called Ephraim.—Jesus can no longer appear openly among the people without exposing Himself to the danger of being seized and prematurely sacrificed. It only remains to Him to reflect upon the true way of sacrifice. For this purpose He retires to the city of Ephraim, a small place, whence He can easily withdraw into the wilderness for security and contemplation.—Into the country.—The country in antithesis to Jerusalem.—Into a region near the wilderness.—Ἔρημος generally denotes the wilderness of Judea. In reality, however, it is a uniform desert tract between Jerusalem or the hill-country of Judea and the valley of the Jordan; its centre is formed by the wilderness of Judea between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, to the right of the brook of Kidron; this wilderness is continued southwards in the deserts of Engeddi, Siph and Maon, and northwards in those of Tekoa, Jericho (with Mt. Quarantania) and Ephraim, which last appears as the northern extension of the whole desert region of Judea. Thus it was, in effect, one wilderness in which Christ dwelt at the beginning and the close of the years of His ministry. Ephraim was probably situated not far from Bethel, since it is several times associated with Bethel in historical events and records. With regard to the site of Bethel, it is Robinson’s belief that he recognized it in the ruins of Beitîn (Biblical Researches, II., p. 127 [Am. ed., vol. I., p. 449]). “Bethel,” he remarks, “was a border city between Benjamin and Ephraim; at first assigned to Benjamin, but conquered and afterwards retained by Ephraim. According to Eusebius and Jerome, it lay twelve Roman miles from Jerusalem, on the right or east of the road leading to Sichem or Neapolis (Nâbulus). From Beitîn to el-Bîreh we found the distance to be forty-five minutes, and from Bîreh to Jerusalem three hours, with horses.” In an easterly direction, not far from Bethel, Robinson passed the night at the village of Taiyibeh. “Here the proximity of the wilderness was plainly discernible.” In particular, there is here a rocky valley, “overgrown with furzy plants and sage, interspersed with the fragrant Zaeter.” For a description of the desert itself see Robinson. The village of Taiyibeh is considered by some to be identical with the ancient Ephraim [the same with Ophrah (Jos_18:23; 1Sa_13:17) and Ephron (2Ch_13:17) of the Old Testament. So besides Robinson, Van de Velde and Stanley. The latter says (Sinai and Palestine, p. 210): ‘Further still, the dark conical hill of Taiyibeh, with its village perched aloft, like those of the Apennines, the probable representative of Ophrah of Benjamin, in later times ‘the city called Ephraim,’ to which our Lord retired, ‘near to the wilderness,’ after the raising of Lazarus.”—P. S.]
Since Jesus was now resolved to repair to Jerusalem with the next Galilean and Peræan paschal caravan, i.e. since but one step remained for Him to surrender Himself publicly to the Messianic hope entertained by the pious among the people and now purified by Him,—possessing a distinct foresight, however, of the death resulting upon this step, accompanied by the succumbing of the party of believers to the hierarchical party—(see Leben Jesu II., p. 1140)—Ephraim was the place exactly fitted for a temporary sojourn. Hence He could at need withdraw into the desert; here He could collect His disciples and prepare them for the last journey (see Comm, on Matthew, p. 360, Am. Ed.); here He could join either the caravan coming across Samaria to Bethel or the one passing through Jericho on its way from Peræa (see Tholuck, p. 316). Comp. Jos_15:61; Jos_16:1; Jos_18:22; 2 Kings 2. It was in the vicinity of Jericho, according to the Synoptists, that Jesus attached Himself to the festive train from Peræa, having, it is probable, previously received His friends from the Galilean company that passed through Samaria.
Joh_11:55. And the passover of the Jews was at hand. The nearness of this feast occasioned many to go out of the Jewish country (χώρα not simply that region, as Bengel supposes, but the country in contrast to Jerusalem) beforehand up to Jerusalem, because they had to purify themselves (Lightfoot) before the feast, by means of the prescribed sacrifices and ablutions (Num_9:6; 2Ch_30:17 ff.).
Joh_11:56. They sought therefore for Jesus. We gather from this, in the first place, how eagerly all the people were expecting the appearance of Jesus at the feast. They had hoped to find Him already in Jerusalem. Hence, then, it likewise follows that no special reference is had to people from the country about Ephraim. We therefore translate the ὅτι οὐ μὴ ἔλθῃ: that He will not come (with Meyer), but not: that He has not come (Vulgate and others). Some appear to take it for granted from the condition of things that He will not come, while others question this decision. Manifestly, it is like a sort of betting whether He will come or not. The occasion of this conduct was the mandate of the high-priest, which had been spread abroad throughout the land by means of special orders of the Sanhedrin (see the Textual note) and in accordance with which every one who knew of the abode of Jesus, was bound to give information of it. This mandate—a kind of interdict—of course presupposes excommunication. There seems to have been at that time not a single traitor among the peasants and dwellers in the deserts of Ephraim. Subsequently, however, this decree formed a point for Judas to fasten on. He probably silenced his conscience at first with the cry, that he must be an “obedient son” of the hierarchical Church, or a “loyal subject” of the spiritual authorities. The decree may be regarded as the result of the session Joh_11:47 (comp. Joh_11:53, Meyer). The anteposition of δεδώκεισαν, with reference to the decree, is emphatic. We must observe that this edict was at all events designed as an interdict,—a fact of special importance to the friends of Jesus; no one should receive Him into his house without giving information of Him, i.e. without hostility to Him. In all probability the command was issued with a particular view to the family of Lazarus. See Joh_12:10.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It has been early demonstrated by John in the history of Nicodemus, that a sincere lawzealot, Jew and Pharisee may believe and be saved. Here he gives prominence to the fact that many Jews believed after witnessing the raising of Lazarus. And this was the second great spiritual miracle connected with the external mighty miracle of the raising of Lazarus: with one impulse many Jews believed on Him. Some, indeed, of those who at first were overpowered by the grand fact, may probably have apostatized. At all events, there was a remnant of unbelievers. To these the savor of life unto life did here become literally a savor of death unto death.
2. The Jews who go from Bethany, from the grave of Lazarus, to the Pharisees, to show them what Jesus has done, are thus become precursors of Judas; in a general sense, types of apostates. They all come—from Bethany; they all go—to the Pharisees; they all, with hostile intent, report what Jesus has done.
3. The council of blood. The policy of fear. It occasions what it means to avert. The policy of timidity became a policy of intimidation, terrorism. Probably the rough words of Caiaphas to his colleagues were further serviceable in terroristically beating down any attempt on the part of the friends of Jesus, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, to dwell upon His many miracles (comp. Gerlach on this passage). It is not likely that these men had any share in the subsequent determined deliberations of the Council of Blood. Once they expressed their positive disapprobation (see Luk_23:51), probably on this very occasion. To this the minute account of this session is no doubt attributable.
4. On the road of ultra-Judaism the Jews have relapsed into the worst heathenism. Pursuant to the counsel of Caiaphas, they relapsed, as regards their intentions into the Moloch-sacrifice. After the destruction of Jerusalem, at the conquest of Massada, into the suicidal despair of the Hindus (Josephus, De bello jud., VII. chh. VIII. IX.); with their Talmud into a mythology which, in comparison with that of Greece and Home, is utterly odious. Thus, too, Christian Judaism [Romanism] usually relapses into the most abominable heathenism.
5. Even Caiaphas, then, has with tolerable plainness set forth the maxim: the end justifies the means.
6. The extinction of the Old Testament office of high-priestly prophecy in the sentence of Caiaphas. Caiaphas must unconsciously sketch the principal features of Christian dogmatics and soteriology. The fearful double meaning of his speech with regard to his intention and the meaning of the Spirit. What it proves: 1. Pro_16:1 :80 Man is master of his intention; that is his own; not so, however, the full import of his words. In the domain of speech the cooperating and counteracting rule of divine providence begins. 2. The symbolical ministry becomes, even in its ungodly tendency, an unconscious prophecy of the real ministry of the Spirit; the false, official high-priest a prophet of the true High Priest and His sacrifice. In what relation do these types stand to the former typism? They are types moulded by the irony of divine dispensation from the elements of human perversity. The school of truth is perfected in the mouth of these wicked priests, while the school of falsehood is perfected in their heart. Hence they are able to blaspheme with words of prayer, to prophesy with words of demoniacal policy. Caiaphas prophesied. “Roman Catholics apply this to popes; popes, though wicked, might still be the organs of truth, as Stolberg remarks in his History of the Religion of Jesus. Our church teaches only—that the Word of God and the Sacraments retain their own virtue even when administered by unregenerate preachers.” Heubner. But here also a relative soundness of the Church as a body must be assumable.
7. The Urim and Thummim are likewise expressive of the truth that decision and resolution are needful in all cases, while, on the other hand, endless vacillation is the greatest evil. Therefore God hardens Pharaoh’s heart with the view of expediting matters, and Judas also receives the command, “What thou doest, do quickly.” The temporal hardening of the people of Israel, however, was designed to prevent their eternal obduracy, Romans 9-11.
8. The work of Christ, regarded by His enemies as a scattering and destroying of the ancient people of God, resulted in the creation of a new and real people of God, gathered from abroad.
9. Christ in the wilderness at the beginning and the end of His career. In the beginning He resolved not to appear publicly under the title of the Messiah, to avoid the Messianic conception of His nation. Now the time had come for Him to issue from the desert for the purpose of surrendering Himself to the Messianic faith of His people, in the state of purification to which He had brought it.
10. Christ the subject of interest and conversation with all the people, while they are occupied with services of ordinances and legal works of purification. How is this? An ultra-montane mind cannot rid itself of the thought of the Evangelical Confession; moreover, the friends of Jesus are present in the camp of legality.
11. The mandate of the Supreme Council: the interdict. Men should show where Christ was. Soon He showed Himself and afterwards all Christian church-steeples pointed upwards to Him. And thus Luther is no longer hidden in the Wartburg, but is everywhere proclaiming himself to the hierarchy.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The decisive effect of the raising of Lazarus.—Bethany and its quiet family the starting point of the decision: 1. The starting point of the positive separation between the friends and the enemies of Jesus; 2. of the palm-entry; 3. of Judas, as 4. of the faithful anointing of the dying Christ.—Sincere consciences are liberated from dead ordinances by facts of life.—The “some” also believed that Jesus had raised Lazarus; they believed it and trembled with fear and rage. Comp. Jam_2:19.—Even the new life of Lazarus to some a savor of death unto death.—And thus every important awakening is a soul-danger (of offence) for those whose attitude towards the truth is a false one.—Treachery a main-spring of unbelief.—The conference of the Supreme Council about the raising of Lazarus: 1. The wicked lack of counsel of some; 2. the hellish counsel of the high-priest; 3. the silenced voice of the pious counselors (Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea); 4. the heavenly counsel of divine Providence.—How selfish fear ever brings on by its superstitious proceedings the very trouble it would avert by arbitrary acts (the parents of (Œdipus).—He who thinks to escape some fate by wicked ways of his own choosing, incurs the doom he flees.—The Supreme Council also prophesied in its own fashion,—like the high-priest; the former conversely, Caiaphas unconsciously.—The recognition of the works of Christ uttered by the Supreme Council: He doeth many signs.—The saying of Caiaphas in its twofold sense.—The irony of divine Providence as exercised over human perversity, Psa_2:4.—The ministry of the letter a type of the ministry of the spirit; thus, too, unconsciously, official—things and words are manifoldly typical.—Christ, by His death, the Rescuer of the ancient people, the Creator of a new people.—They would kill Him because He made alive.—This the main reproach that the slaying ordinance has to make against vitalizing faith.—How the Supreme Council has become a standing court of inquisition against Christ.—Jesus, outlawed and banished, in the wilderness.—The Jews who have repaired to Jerusalem, do not converse about their Jewish rites and ceremonies, but about Christ.—The conjectures (bets), as to whether He will dare come or not.—The champion of God; and Israel with Philistinish thoughts concerning Him.—The Jewish edict and interdict, Joh_11:57.—How all the world fulfils this commandment: 1. How enemies show where Christ Isaiah 2. friends.—How Christ gives information concerning Himself. See Mat_26:64.—How far the edict was ineffectual or rather accomplished the reverse of its design.
Starke, Hedinger: How wise worldly-minded people and knavish men think themselves, when they imagine that they are able to quench the word and kingdom of Christ by their false, famous strokes of state!—Cramer: It is possible even for councils and assemblies of the learned to err.—It is never well to make church matters affairs of state.—Zeisius: The Jews thought that if they did but put Christ out of the way, their repose and prosperity would be lastingly secured, and it was thus that they lost both their temporal and spiritual good things.—Bibl. Wirt.: God often punishes the wicked with calamities which they thought they had averted.—Canstein: It is almost a daily occurrence for men to plunge into disaster while essaying to ward off some imaginary evil.—Ibid.: It is the way of worldly-minded politicians to measure all things by the standard of profit and gain, not by that of truth, righteousness and justice; and this, while in most cases the prosperity of the country is declared to be the grand reason for such a course, though in reality they are actuated by nothing but selfishness.—Osiander: The false church is cruel and blood-thirsty.—O happy country, that receives the Son of God in His persecution!
Gerlach: “That He should die instead of the whole nation, a cleanse-offering, as it were, to avert the ruin that else would threaten the entire nation.—It seems that superstition was mingled with the unbelief of the Sadducee, or that he feigned it while in company with the Pharisees. (Not the Sadducees, however, but the Essenes, were at variance with the old system of sacrifices).—Not merely for the Jews whom Caiaphas meant, but also that He should gather God’s elect into His flock from among the heathen, whilst this wicked high-priest believed that the dispersion of His followers would be the natural accompaniment of His death. (Quite right. This, however, is the first antithesis present to the mind of the evangelist: In the sense of Caiaphas the meaning is: if Christ die, the Jewish nation lives, in the ordinary sense,—while the higher sense of the ambiguous expression was; if Christ die, the nation lives as a redeemed people, and thus a great nation is formed from the scattered children of God).—Lisco: The decision of Caiaphas, that the end justifies the means, that necessity is here an excuse for injustice.—They feel that one must fall: the kingdom of purity and truth, or the kingdom of falsehood and hypocrisy; and this last, in their avaricious lust of dominion, they desire to save.
Gossner: They are forced to say it themselves: this man doeth many miracles. This is true, to be sure,—but—of what consequence is a single man? (thinks Caiaphas) it is the many, to whom regard is due. The world cares nothing for the small ones of the earth; it thinks: what if they be unjustly dealt with, so long as the others are satisfied?
Joh_11:55. To His last hour He was a faithful church-goer and observer of religion. If He for once missed a feast-day, the people immediately inquired: where is He?
Joh_11:57. They wished to prepare themselves a festive joy, and to do God a service by slaying His Son at the Passover.—He should show it. An obedient son of the devil was Judas, who conscientiously obeyed this command of hell and delivered Jesus into their hands. “The church hath commanded it.” Thus Judas might (fain would) think.
Heubner: The assembly should have met for the recognition of Jesus. It was the duty of the Supreme Council to be the first to accept Jesus and to call upon the nation to accept Him. But from this very college proceeded the rejection of Jesus. The power of self-interest, and avarice, make men blind to the strongest proofs of divine power,—deaf to the voice of God.
Joh_11:49-50. How are the weal of the masses and the right of the individual to be united? Impure state-craft never discovers the right means for accomplishing such a result.—The same words have an entirely different sense in the mouth of the wicked and the meaning of the Holy Ghost.
Joh_11:54. This concealment of Jesus also belonged to His state of humiliation. The Light that lightened all men must withdraw itself.—Often it was a hidden country, valley, that received Christ’s faithful ones until the wrath of the enemy was overpast.
Schleiermacher: Evil should be overcome only by good. But to do evil that good may come is the grossest perversity and the worst depravity into which man can fall.—Involuntarily he prophesied, and in uttering the counsel of human depravity, he declared at the same time the counsel of eternal wisdom and love,—the counsel of Him who gave His Son for us while we were yet sinners.
Besser, Joh_11:43 : They went their way to the Pharisees who were a net spread, Hos_5:1.—Once, on the threshold of the Promised land, Israel was blessed through the prediction of a prophet who would fain have cursed; him the strength of the Lord overpowered, putting words into his mouth which confirmed the promise made to the Patriarchs and renewed through Moses, Num_23:24. Thus Caiaphas, willing to curse, must now, a second Balaam, on the threshold of the New Covenant, pronounce a blessing upon the true Israel, confirming the prediction of the law and the prophets concerning the expiatory death of the Lamb (see, however, the note to Joh_11:51).—“Caiaphas and Pilate condemned Jesus, but both must testify of Him in words exceeding the sense which they consciously attached to them; here Caiaphas witnesses to the high-priestly death of Christ,—there Pilate testifies to His kingdom, in the superscription of the cross” (Bengel).—John reads the names of many scattered ones already written in God’s heart as children; he gazes with opened eyes into the holy mission movement of the whole reconciled world, which movement shall not end until all that the Father hath given the Son are brought together.
[Craven: From Origen: Joh_11:47. This speech an evidence of their audacity and blindness.
Joh_11:51. Not every one who prophesies is a prophet, as not every one who does a just action is just.
Joh_11:54. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews: It is praiseworthy when struggles are at hand (pressed upon us) not to avoid confession or refuse to suffer; and it is no less praiseworthy to avoid giving occasion for such trial. If we do not avoid our persecutor, when we have the opportunity (without sin), we make ourselves responsible for his offence.——From Gregory: Joh_11:50-53. That which human cruelty executed against Him, He turned to the purposes of His mercy.——From Augustine: Joh_11:47-48. They were afraid of losing temporal things and thought not of eternal life, and thus they lost both.
Joh_11:54. He would show by example that believers do not sin by retiring from the sight of persecutors.——From Chrysostom: Joh_11:51. The power of the Holy Ghost in drawing forth a prophecy from a wicked man.—The virtue of a (divinely appointed) office.
Joh_11:56. His enemies made the feast time, the time of His death.——From Alcuin: Joh_11:56. Men may seek Jesus with bad intent.—From Theophylact: Joh_11:55-57. While engaged in purifications they were plotting our Lord’s death.—From Burkitt: Joh_11:45-46. The different effects produced by this miracle.
Joh_11:48. Opposers of Christ color their enmity with specious pretences.
Joh_11:50. A most wicked speech: as a judge he regarded not what was lawful but as a politician consented to what was (apparently) expedient.—It is unlawful to (strive to) promote the greatest national good by unlawful means.
Joh_11:51. It is consistent with the holiness of God to make use of the worst of men in declaring his will.
Joh_11:53. The baneful effects of evil counsel, especially from leading men.——From M. Henry: Joh_11:47. The witness of the Sanhedrin for Christ.
Joh_11:48. The success of the gospel the dread of its adversaries. When men lose piety they lose courage. Pretended fears are often the color of malicious designs.
Joh_11:49-50. Carnal policy commonly sets up reasons of state in opposition to rules of justice.—That calamity which we seek to escape by sin, we take the most effectual course to bring upon us.—That the welfare of communities is to be preferred before that of individuals, is a true or false maxim as it may be employed; it is expedient and honorable for an individual to hazard his life for his country, but it is devilish for rulers to put an innocent man to death under color of consulting the public safety.
Joh_11:51. Caiaphas prophesied—1. God often employs wicked men as His instruments; 2. prophecy in the mouth is no infallible evidence of grace in the heart.
Joh_11:51-52. The enlargement of the Evangelist on the prophecy, teaching—1. for whom Christ died, (1) the Jews, (2) the children of God scattered abroad, (a) then living, (b) throughout all time; 2. the purpose of His death concerning these, to gather them together in one.—Christ’s dying is—1. the great attractive of our hearts; 2. the great centre of our unity, (1) by the merit of His death recommending all in one to the favor of God, (2) by the motive of His death drawing each to the love of every other.
Joh_11:53. Evil men confirm themselves and one another in ill practices by conference.
Joh_11:57. It is an aggravation of the sins of rulers when they make their subjects the instruments of their unrighteousness.—From Scott: Joh_11:47-57. No devices of man can derange the purposes of God; whilst hypocrites and worldlings pursue their own projects, Christ still communes with His disciples (Joh_11:54) and orders all things for His own glory and their salvation.—From Barnes: Joh_11:50-51. God may—1. fulfill the words of the wicked in a way they do not intend; 2. make their wicked plots the means of accomplishing His purposes.—From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh_11:51. The unworthiness of the individual does not affect the sanctity of his office.—From Ryle: Joh_11:46. Seeing miracles will not necessarily convert souls, Luk_16:31.
Joh_11:47-57. The power of unbelief; ecclesiastical rulers are often the foremost enemies of the gospel. Joh_11:50. What is morally wrong can never be politically right.
Joh_11:53. The conclusions of great ecclesiastical councils are sometimes wicked.
Joh_11:54. Christ retires Himself for a season before His last great work; it is well to get alone and be still, before we undertake any great work for God.
Joh_11:55. What importance bad men sometimes attach to outward ceremonial. The religion which expends itself in zeal for outward formalities is worthless.——From Owen: Joh_11:52. Gathered in one, i.e., into one spiritual nation or people.
[Joh_11:47-50. The blinding power of hate.
Joh_11:54. Christ never acted recklessly nor in bravado, nor in the spirit of one seeking martyrdom; He did Himself from danger when duty did not require exposure.]
Footnotes:
[65]Joh_11:45.—[Οἱ ἐλθόντες is the true reading, supported by Origen, and adopted by Alford, Tischendorf, etc., instead of τῶν ἐλθόντων of Cod. D.—P. S.]
[66]Joh_11:47.—[συνέδριον means the Sanhedrin, the great council of the Jews. See Exeg.—P. S.]
[67]Joh_11:50.—[Tischendorf (ed. 1869), Alford, Westcott and Hort read ὑμῖν in accordance with B. D. L., etc., instead of ἡμῖν. Lange follows here the text. rec.—P. S.]
[68]Joh_11:53.—[Tischendorf supplies συνεβουλέυσαντο by ἐβουλέυσαντο in accordance with Sin. B. D.—P. S.]
[69]Joh_11:57.—καὶ is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf in accordance with many Codd. Yet it is recommended by Cod. D. and others, and was perhaps omitted because men failed to recognize the great intensification of the persecution of Jesus expressed in this mandate. Since the decree in question must be disseminated throughout the land, we also consider the reading ἐντολάς, in accordance with B. M., etc., to be correct. [The first καί after δεδώκεισαν, which in the E. V. is rendered both, must be rejected on the authority of א. A. B. K. L. M. U. X., Alford, Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort.—P. S.]
[70]Joh_11:57.—[The singular ἐντολήν of the text. rec. as a correction (because but one is mentioned) must be set aside for the plural ἐντολάς, orders, on the authority of Cod. Sin. and B., etc.—P. S.]
[71][Sanhedrin is more accurate than Sanhedrim, though this is more frequently used (even by Alford). The rabbinical attempts to trace it to a Hebrew root are futile (see Buxtorf, sub verb.); it is formed from the Greek συνέδριον (σύνεδρος, ἕδρα), a sitting together, an assembly, a council. Winer’s article is more scholarly than the article Sanhedrim in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible. Lange has conveniently brought together all the necessary information on the subject.—P. S.]
[72][Alford: Our local habitation and national existence.—P. S.]
[73][So also Grotius, Ewald, Bäumlein, Godet.—P. S.]
[74][So also Meyer and Alford. Comp. 18:13, where the expression is repeated.—P. S.]
[75][Lange follows Lachmann in reading ἡμῖν. But the true reading is ὑμῖν, for you, see Text. Notes.—P. S.]
[76][There is here a slight mistake, as will he seen by referring to the Greek text. Caiaphas uses λαός in the first, and ἔθνος in the last clause. Meyer distinguishes between ἔθνος, the people as a nation, and λαός, the people as a political or theocratic society. Or, to speak more accurately, λαός usually signifies the chosen people (Mat_1:21; Mat_2:4; Mat_2:6, etc.), ἔθνος, a nation among the nations (comp. below Joh_11:52 οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοὐ ἔθνους μόνον); Mat_24:7, “nation against nation;” 25:32, “all nations,” etc.). Yet λαός is also used for a great crowd or multitude, like ὅχλος, Joh_8:2; Luk_23:27, “a great company of people,” etc.—P. S.]
[77][The Talmudic term, Bath Kol, lit., “the daughter of the voice,” means the echo of a heavenly voice of revelation, or a divine oracle which the Rabbins imagined to receive, or which they were accustomed to derive from accidental circumstances and lots. It arose after the extinction of the prophecy and is a bastard substitute for it. John would not use of this the verb ἐπροφήτευσεν.—P. S.]
[78][So also Trench and Wordsworth. Similar instances of involuntary prophets or witnesses to the truth we have in Pharaoh, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, Pilate.god uses bad men as well as good ones for His own ends; He can speak wisdom even through the mouth of an ass, and confound the philosophers. Trench says: “There is no difficulty in such unconscious prophecies as this evidently is. How many prophecies of the like kind,—most of them, it is true, rather in act than in word, meet us in the whole history of the crucifixion! What was the title over our blessed Lord, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,’ but another such scornful and contemptuous, yet most veritable prophecy? Or what again the robe and the homage, the sceptre and the crown? And in the typical rehearsals of the great and final catastrophe in the drama of God’s providence, how many Nimrods and Pharaohs, antichrists that do not quite come to the birth, have prophetic parts allotted to them, which they play out, unknowing what they do; for such is the divine irony; so, in a very deep sense of the words,
‘Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus,’ ”—P. S.]
[79][De creat. princ. II., p. 367.]
[80][Luther’s translation reads differently from our English version, viz: “Man indeed proposeth in his heart, but from the Lord cometh what the tongue shall speak.”]
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.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Bethany was nigh Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs--rather less than…
Bethany was nigh Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs--rather less than two miles; mentioned to explain the visits of sympathy noticed in the following words, which the proximity of the two places facilitated.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 18. Fifteen furlongs—Near two miles.
18. Fifteen furlongs—Near two miles.
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 On vv18–45 18. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem] The ‘was’…
18. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem] The ‘was’ need not imply that when S. John wrote Bethany had been destroyed, but this is the more probable meaning; especially as no other Evangelist speaks of places in the past tense, and S. John does not always do so. The inference is that he wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem; and that what was destroyed in the siege he speaks of in the past tense; e.g. Bethany (here), the garden of Gethsemane (Joh_18:1), Joseph’s garden (Joh_19:41) what was not destroyed, in the present tense; e.g. Bethesda (Joh_11:2, where see note).
about fifteen furlongs] Literally, about fifteen stades. A Greek stade Isaiah 18 yards less than an English furlong; but the translation is sufficiently accurate, like ‘firkin’ (Joh_2:6). This distance, therefore, was under two miles, and is mentioned to account for the many Jews who came to condole with the sisters.
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 On vv18–46 (18) Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem.—This way of speaking…
(18) Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem.—This way of speaking of places in the past tense is not found in the other Gospels. (Comp., in this Gospel, Joh_18:1; Joh_19:41; and, on the other hand, Note on Joh_5:2.) The explanation may be that from St. John’s point of view, writing after the destruction of Jerusalem, the buildings and gardens could no longer be described as still existing.
About fifteen furlongs off.—The Greek stadium which is here rendered “furlong” was 606¾ English feet. The distance was, then, as the margin gives it, not much short of two English miles. This is mentioned to account for the fact stated in the following verse, that many of the Jews came to comfort Martha and Mary.
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 On vv18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem. This geographical observation…
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem. This geographical observation is introduced to explain the following verse. Meyer and Alford think that the use of the past tense, hn , may be perfectly justified in making reference to past events; yet, since John is the only New Testament writer who uses it, the usage may have been adopted by him because, at the time when he wrote his Gospel, Bethany had been for the time destroyed with Jerusalem itself. The construction is peculiar: wv apo (compare a similar use of pro , Joh_12:1 Joh_21:8 Rev_14:20; see Winer, p. 697, Eng. trans.). Many think that it is to be understoodabout fifteen stadia from it a kind of trajection of the preposition; but Winer thinks that it points to the spot where the fifteen stadia might be supposed to terminate, i.e. "lying off at the end of the fifteen stadia," and so giving an adverbial force to the preposition: and he adds a long list of similar constructions in later Greek writers. The stadium was 606.75 feet less than the eighth of an English mile; the distance was therefore between a mile and a half and a mile and three quarters. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary. "The Jews" is a phrase generally, not uniformly, used by John to denote those permanently hostile to our Lord, and often of the upper and ruling classes. These, therefore, had one more trial of faith, one further opportunity of recognizing his glory. Many of them came to Martha and Mary. They came to comfort them, according to ordinary usage among the Jews after bereavement. This ceremony often lasted seven days. Concerning (their) brother. We cling to earthly love. The gush of strong affection that mourners lavish on the dead deepens their love to one another, and the praises of the departed often gild and almost pierce the veil itself. The fact that many Jews should have taken the trouble to journey nearly two miles to comfort the bereaved sisters shows that the family at Bethany was one of some wealth, position, and importance. (cf. Mat_26:6-13) If so, it is exceedingly unlikely that the narrative stands in any relation to the parable of the rich man and the beggar.
Martha"s and Mary"s comforters.
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I A MISSION THAT COULD NOT BE ESCAPED. The mourners must not be left unvisited, however awkward and vain the condolences may be. Such visits may indeed be looked upon as often having somewhat of evil in them; but the evil is not a necessity, whereas the good is always a probability. And in certain circumstances, where everything is favorable, where Christian character belongs alike to the departed, the mourners, and the comforters, such a mission may have in it the highest good. Sympathy, though it be no more than silent companionship, is the demand of humanity.
II A MISSION SUCH AS HAD BEEN PERFORMED INNUMERABLE TIMES. That very day, all over Israel, people would be setting out on similar errands. Condolence would be reduced to a system. The very words would get stereotyped.
III A MISSION SUCH AS IN MANY INSTANCES WOULD ONLY INTENSIFY THE LOSS. When people are mourning for their dead, nothing the unaided intellect of men is able to devise can lighten the blow or heal the wound. Too often there is an incongruity between the words that must be spoken and the real feelings. We cannot sorrow for the bereaved as they sorrow themselves. If we could watch the vast majority of people so as to observe from what occupations they go to condole, and to what occupations they return, how we should be impressed with the inconsistencies of human life! A man may go visiting the widow and the fatherless in the afternoon, but that will not keep him from the convivial circle in the evening. To go from the house of mourning to the house of feasting is all in the business of the day. The visitor heaves a sigh or" relief when he has got the necessary formality over. And this is plainly what must be, according to the limits of nature. To feel the pain of bereavement as the bereaved feel it would make life intolerable.
IV A MISSION WHICH JESUS OFTEN UNDERTAKES IN HIS OWN WAY. Jesus has done for few, very few, what he did for Martha and Mary. But, after all, we must not exaggerate the act whereby he comforted them. The resurrection of Lazarus was not as the resurrection of Jesus. Lazarus twice knew the pains of death. It was the mortal body into which he came back. But to all mourners Jesus would come with the plain, unvarnished truth. He would not say, Comfort! comfort!" when there is no comfort. He would have his people understand that the only guarantee of abiding relations is that there should be a spiritual element in them. Mere natural relations soon break up when there is nothing better in them. Jesus virtually tells all so to live that, when they are gone, survivors may not be driven to delicate hypocrisies concerning them, as it were whitening their sepulchers to please the bereaved. Y.
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 On vv28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45 The Master is come and calleth for thee
Joh_11:28-30
The Master is come and calleth for thee
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The Master
I.
THE PROPRIETY OF THIS TITLE AS APPLIED TO OUR LORD.
1. He has a peculiar fitness for the office. He is the Master, i.e., the Teacher. Put the two together. A master teacher must have
(1) A masterly mind. All minds are not cast in the same mould. Some are princely by their very formation though they may belong to ploughboys. Such men as Napoleon, Cromwell, Washington, must rise to be masters among men. You cannot have a master teacher with a little soul. He may insinuate himself into the chair, but everyone will see that he is out of place. Many painters there are, but there have been few Raphaels or Michael Angelos; many philosophers, but a Socrates and an Aristotle will not be found every day, for great minds are rare. The Master of all the teachers must needs be a colossal spirit, and such Mary saw Christ to be. In Him we have Divinity with its omniscience and infallibility, and at the same time a full orbed manhood intensely manly and sweetly womanly. There is a grandeur about His whole human nature, so that He stands out above all other men, like some mighty Alpine peak which overtops the minor hills and casts its shadows all a down the vales.
(2) A master knowledge; and it is best if that be acquired by experience rather than by instruction. Such was the case with Jesus. He came to teach us the science of life, and He experienced life in all its phases.
(3) A masterly way of teaching. It is not every man of vast mind and knowledge who can teach. Some talk a jargon no one can understand. Jesus taught plainly and also lovingly. The way in which He taught was as sweet as His truth itself. Every one in His school felt at home. Moreover, He gave a measure of the Holy Spirit so that truths were taught to the heart as well as the ear. And that same Spirit now takes the things of Christ, and writes them on the fleshy tablets of the heart. And then Christ embodied His instruction in Himself--was at once Teacher and Lesson.
(4) A master influence. His pupils not only saw, but felt; not only knew, but loved; not only prized the lesson, but worshipped the Teacher. What a
Teacher this, whose very presence checked and ultimately cast out sin, gave new life and brought it to perfection!
2. He is by office the sole Master of the Church.
(1) He, and not Luther, Calvin, Wesley, has the right to determine what doctrines shall be believed.
(2) He, and not councils, synods, the State, etc., has the right to determine what ordinances shall be observed.
II. THE PECULIAR RECOGNITION WHICH MARY GAVE TO CHRIST AS MASTER.
1. She became His pupil. She sat reverently at His feet. Let us take every word of Jesus, and read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it.
2. She was a disciple of nobody else, and ours must not be a divided allegiance.
3. She was a willing scholar. She chose the good part. No one sent her to Jesus. He drew her and she loved to be there. Children at school always learn well if they want to--not if driven.
4. She perseveringly stuck to Him. Her choice was not taken from her, and she did not give it up.
5. She went humbly to Him, feeling it the highest honour to be sitting in the lowest place. They learn most of Christ who think least of themselves.
III. THE SPECIAL SWEETNESS OF THE NAME TO US.
1. To teachers.
(1) Their message is not their own, but His, which relieves them of responsibility, and makes them indifferent to criticism.
(2) When the work does not seem to prosper, what a comfort to be able to go to Jesus! This applies to all--business men, housewives, church officers, etc.
2. To sufferers. A gardener preserved with great care a choice rose. One morning it was gone. He, scolding his fellow servants, and felt very grieved till one said, I saw the master take it. Oh, then, said he, I am content. Have you lost a dear one? It was He who took it. Would you wish to keep what the Master wants? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Master calling
I. THE TITLE GIVEN TO CHRIST. The Master, suggesting
1. His authority.
2. His prophetic office.
II. HIS APPEARANCE--is come.
1. In the Incarnation.
2. In the means of grace.
3. In special providences.
4. At His saints deathbeds.
5. At the Judgment.
III. THE APPEAL--and calleth for thee.
1. In the Word read or preached.
2. In the example of others.
3. By the power of His Spirit. This is
(1) A personal call.
(2) An important call.
(3) A gracious call (Pro_1:24). (Preachers Portfolio.)
The call of the Master
I. THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST, The Master. Martha recognized Christ as her Teacher and Lord. This relation He bears still. All authority is given Him in heaven and earth.
1. He is the true Ruler of the world. There are many forms of government, but all are knowingly or ignorantly, willingly or unwillingly the subjects of Christ. He rules them at His pleasure.
2. He is the Ruler of His Church. His people are not their own, but His purchased possession, and He will not delegate His authority to another.
(1) Secular governments have usurped this authority, and have endeavoured to rule Christs people according to their ideas. Such have rightful authority in the world, but not in the Church. No Christian should resist it in the right sphere, but render unto Caesar, etc. But as soon as it intrudes into the spiritual sphere it is to be opposed, and God is to be obeyed rather than man.
(2) Priests have usurped this authority. The Man of Rome has declared himself to be Christs vicegerent, and Protestant popes have made similar claims. It is true that Christs ministers have authority in the Church Heb_13:17), but it is in perfect subordination to Christ.
II. THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST. He came to Bethany palpably; He comes here spiritually, Wherever two or three, etc. You would feel excited if told that Queen Victoria were here, but a greater than Victoria has come
1. To inspect. Christ sees everything--our conduct in the world and in Church.
2. To listen to the sincere, the half-hearted, the hypocritical.
3. To bless. He has pardon for the sinful, teaching for the ignorant, strength for the weak, etc.
III. THE CALL OF CHRIST.
1. To the careless sinner.
2. To the anxious inquirer.
3. The Christian, halting, idling, sad, etc. Let all respond. (J. Morgan.)
Christs call to the personal heart
The line of thought will unfold itself through three principal steps, each including a doctrine, an encouragement, and a duty. The call is
I. COMPREHENSIVE.
1. In the two sisters we see two sharply contrasted types of natural character.
(1) One is made for practical action. The anxious housekeeper whose concern is that the rooms shall be hospitably ready, and the table furnished for the Divine guest--fit representative of the efficient workers, without whom the regularities of life and the decencies of Christian worship would go to destruction.
(2) The other dwells in a world of silent communion. Religion always has its spring in the heart; and her heart life is chief. Christ blesses her in that character as He does Martha in hers.
2. Out of this marked difference we infer the comprehensiveness of the gospel, which, like the charity it puts first among the graces, suits itself without partiality to every sort and grade of human constitution.
3. Forgetfulness of this grand truth exposes us to the danger of an arrogant and conceited judgment of those who manifest their faith in a way different from our own.
II. SYMPATHETIC. The call is in sympathy with our individual constitutions. A common hindrance, to the young especially, is the feeling that religion is something restricted to one particular line and shape. But the Master calls not that He may make you a follower just like some other and all unlike yourself, but just such a self-forgetful Christian as He intended you to be when He made you what you are. You read the biography of some eminent Christian and say, I can never be a Christian like that, and it is useless for me to try. Turn from the disheartening comparison to Christ. Though you find Him higher than all, there is never anything discouraging. His sinlessness is so blended with gentleness, His majesty with His understanding of your wants and sympathy with your struggles, that you feel safe under His hand. Notice especially His tenderness towards the two womens imperfect faith. He never breaks the bruised reed, etc.
III. PERSONAL. He knows our whole personal history from the cradle. Most of us can understand the conviction of the woman of Samaria. At first sight where there is no trust this awful insight might affright us: but the longer we ponder it, the more we shall see its blessedness. There is one FRIEND who understands us, and it is safe to trust ourselves to Him, sins and all. The reason why our religion has so little power over us is that we keep Christ so far away, and regard His work as for the world in general, and not for us in particular. But the text is the appeal of the personal Christ to a person now as then. (Bp. Huntington.)
The visit and the invitation
I. THE MESSAGE.
1. The appellation given to our Lord. The rulers despised Jesus, but these women were not ashamed nor afraid to acknowledge Him as Master. Happy the families that acknowledge Him as such.
2. The message relating to Him: is come. He came to the grave of Lazarus; He comes to the graves of those dead in trespasses and sins.
II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED.
1. Those who have hitherto kept at a distance from Christ without ever seeking Him.
(1) Some have not only neglected Him, but provoked Him by open sin.
(2) Others please themselves with the idea of their comparative innocence, and satisfy themselves with a cold, negative, heartless religion.
2. Those who have sought Christ, but never found Him.
3. Those who, after having been admitted to union with Him, are deprived of His sensible presence.
III. THE SEASONS WHEN IT MORE PARTICULARLY COMES.
1. The time of affliction.
2. When the means of grace are fully enjoyed.
3. When the Spirit of God strives.
4. When opportunities for religious usefulness occur.
Conclusion:
1. How much to be admired is Christs condescension in His love.
2. How great are your obligations to hearken to His call.
3. How obligatory to communicate the message to others. (H. Grey, D. D.)
Christs message
I. THE CHARACTER OF CHRISTS MESSAGE TO HIS FRIENDS.
1. Its benignity.
2. Authority.
3. Personality.
4. Suitability.
II. THE BEST WAY TO CONVEY CHRISTS MESSAGES.
1. Unostentatiously.
2. Prudently.
3. Plainly.
4. Promptly.
III. THE TREATMENT OF CHRISTS MESSAGES BY HIS FRIENDS.
1. Mary listened to it.
2. Was influenced by it.
3. Obeyed it at once. (Stems and Twigs.)
The gospel message to every man
We have it
I. CLEARLY STATED.
1. The Master is come. Come from heaven, to this earth, for every man. Of all the facts of history none is better attested, more important, or more glorious than this.
2. The Master calls individuals
(1) In the operations of nature, in the events of history, in the working of conscience, in the ministry of His servants.
(2) To heal thy diseases, to break thy chains, to enlighten thy judgment, to cleanse thy conscience, to purify thy heart, and to save thy soul.
II. RIGHTLY DELIVERED. Martha delivered her message.
1. Undoubtingly (Joh_11:27). And when she had so said she proceeds, filled with the spirit of her mission, to Mary. He who delivers the message without being assured of its truth, is no genuine preacher. That Christ has come and calls for men, must be among his most settled convictions.
2. Judiciously. He secretly suggests prudence in regard to
(1) Times;
(2) Circumstances;
(3) Moods.
III. PROPERLY RECEIVED. Mary received it as every hearer of the gospel should.
1. Promptly (Joh_11:29). She did not wait to consult her companion. The delay of a moment after the voice has come is wrong and perilous.
2. Resolutely (Joh_11:30). On an occasion so full of excitement, it required no little nerve to proceed to where Jesus was in sublime solitude. The Gospel call requires determination of soul: there are so many opposing forces and unfavourable considerations.
3. Fearlessly (Joh_11:31). Well she knew that her going forth would be contrary to the wish of the Jews; but, defiant of their prejudices, she obeys the command. Thus it must be with those who would comply with the invitations of the gospel.
4. Devoutly (Joh_11:32). At His feet, where every hearer should be.
Conclusion: Here is--
1. A fact in which humanity should rejoice. The Master is come. What fools those are who go not to meet Him!
2. An example that preachers should imitate--Marthas.
3. The conduct gospel hearers should follow. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
It is said of Sister Dora that, no matter at what hour the hospital door bell rang, she used to rise instantly to admit the patient saying, The Master is come and calleth for thee.
As soon as she heard that she arose quickly, and came unto Him.
The believer goes to the Master
I. IN PROSPERITY hastens to Him for grace to bear it.
II. IN ADVERSITY for grace to improve it.
III. IN TEMPTATION for grace to overcome it.
IV. IN A FRIENDLESS WORLD for sympathy. (M. Henry.)
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 On v45 Chapter 24
Chapter 24
JESUS THE SCAPEGOAT.
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Many therefore of the Jews, which came to Mary and beheld that which He did, believed on Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done. The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many signs. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him: and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. Now this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad. So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put Him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He tarried with the disciples.- Joh_11:45-54.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He was quite aware that He was risking His own life. He knew that a miracle so public, so easily tested, so striking, could not be overlooked, but must decisively separate between those who yielded to what was involved in the miracle, and those who hardened themselves against it. It is remarkable that none had the hardihood to deny the fact. Those who most determinedly proceeded against Jesus did so on the very ground that His miracles were becoming too numerous and too patent. They perceived that in this respect Jesus answered so perfectly to the popular conception of what the Messiah was to be, that it was quite likely He would win the multitude to belief in Him as the long-looked-for King of the Jews. But if there were any such popular enthusiasm aroused, and loudly declared, then the Romans would interfere, and, as they said, come and take away both our place and nation. They felt themselves in a great difficulty, and looked upon Jesus as one of those fatal people who arise to thwart the schemes of statesmen, and spoil well-laid plans, and introduce disturbing elements into peaceful periods.
Caiaphas, astute and unscrupulous, takes a more practical view of things, and laughs at their helplessness. Why! he says, do you not see that this Man, with His éclat and popular following, instead of endangering us and bringing suspicion on our loyalty to Rome, is the very person we can use to exhibit our fidelity to the Empire. Sacrifice Jesus, and by His execution you will not merely clear the nation of all suspicion of a desire to revolt and found a kingdom under Him, but you will show such a watchful zeal for the integrity of the Empire as will merit applause and confidence from the jealous power of Rome. Caiaphas is the type of the bold, hard politician, who fancies he sees more clearly than all others, because he does not perplex himself by what lies below the surface, nor suffer the claims of justice to interfere with his own advantage. He looks at everything from the point of view of his own idea and plan, and makes everything bend to that. He had no idea that in making Jesus a scapegoat he was tampering with the Divine purposes.
John, however, in looking back upon this council, sees that this bold, unflinching diplomatist, who supposed he was moving Jesus and the council and the Romans as so many pieces in his own game, was himself used as Gods mouthpiece to predict the event which brought to a close his own and all other priesthood. In the strange irony of events he was unconsciously using his high-priestly office to lead forward that one Sacrifice which was for ever to take away sin, and so to make all further priestly office superfluous. Caiaphas saw and said that it was expedient that one man die for the nation; but, as in all prophetic utterance, so in these words, says John, a very much deeper sense lay than was revealed by their primary application. It is, says John, quite true that Christs death would be the saving of a countless multitude, only it was not from the Roman legions that it would long save men, but from an even more formidable visitation. Caiaphas saw that the Romans were within a very little of terminating the ceaseless troubles which arose out of this Judæan province, by transporting the inhabitants and breaking up their nationality; and he supposed that by proclaiming Jesus as an aspirant to the throne and putting Him to death, he would cleanse the nation of all complicity in His disloyalty and stay the Roman sword. And John says, that in carrying out this idea of his, he unwittingly carried out the purpose of God that Jesus should die for that nation-and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Now it must be owned that it is much easier to understand what Caiaphas meant than what John meant; much easier to see how fit Jesus was to be a national scapegoat than to understand how His death removes the sin of the world. There are, however, one or two points regarding the death of Christ which become clearer in the light of Caiaphass idea.
First, the very characteristics of Christ which made Caiaphas think of Him as a possible scapegoat for the nation, are those which make it possible that His death should serve a still larger purpose. When the brilliant idea of propitiating the Roman government by sacrificing Jesus flashed into the mind of Caiaphas, he saw that Jesus was in every respect suited to this purpose. He was in the first place a person of sufficient importance. To have seized an unknown peasant, who never had, and never could have, much influence in Jewish society, would have been no proof of zeal in extinguishing rebellion. To crucify Peter or John or Lazarus, none of whom had made the most distant claim to kingship, would not serve Caiaphass turn. But Jesus was the head of a party. In disposing of Him they disposed of His followers. The sheep must scatter, if the Shepherd were put out of the way.
Then, again, Jesus was innocent of everything but this. He was guilty of attaching men to Himself, but innocent of everything besides. This also fitted Him for Caiaphass purpose, for the high priest recognised that it would not do to pick a common criminal out of the prisons and make a scapegoat of him. That had been a shallow fiction, which would not for a moment stay the impending Roman sword. Had the Russians wished to conciliate our Government and avert war, this could not have been effected by their selecting for execution some political exile in Siberia, but only by recalling and degrading such an outstanding person as General Komaroff. In every case where any one is to be used as a scapegoat these two qualities must meet-he must be a really, not fictitiously, representative person, and he must be free from all other claims upon his life. It is not everyone who can become a scapegoat. The mere agreement between the parties, that such and such a person be a scapegoat, is only a hollow fiction which can deceive no one. There must be underlying qualities which constitute one person, and not another, representative and fit.
Now John does not expressly say that the deliverance Jesus was to effect for men generally was to be effected in a similar manner to that which Caiaphas had in view. He does not expressly say that Jesus was to become the scapegoat of the race: but impregnated as Johns mind was with the sacrificial ideas in which he had been nurtured, the probability is that the words of Caiaphas suggested to him the idea that Jesus was to be the scapegoat of the race. And, certainly, if Jesus was the scapegoat on whom our sins were laid, and who carried them all away, He had these qualities which fitted Him for this work: He had a connection with us of an intimate kind, and He was stainlessly innocent.
This passage then compels us to ask in what sense Christ was our sacrifice.
With remarkable, because significant, unanimity the consciences of men very differently situated have prompted them to sacrifice. And the idea which all ancient nations, and especially the Hebrews, entertained regarding sacrifice is fairly well ascertained. Both the forms of their rites and their explicit statements are conclusive on this point,-that in a certain class of sacrifices they looked on the victim as a substitute bearing the guilt of the offerer and receiving the punishment due to him. This seems, after all discussion, to be the most reasonable interpretation to put upon expiatory sacrifice. Both heathens and Jews teach that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins; that the life of the sinner is forfeited, and that in order to the sparing of his life, another life is rendered instead; and that as the life is in the blood, the blood must be poured out in sacrifice. Heathens were as punctilious as Hebrews in their scrutiny of the victims, to ascertain what animals were fit for sacrifice by the absence of all blemish. They used forms of deprecation as exactly expressing the doctrines of substitution and of atonement by vicarious punishment. In one significant, though repulsive, particular some of the heathen went farther than the Hebrews: occasionally, the sinner who sought cleansing from defilement was actually washed in the blood of the victim slain for him. By an elaborate contrivance the sinner sat under a stage of open woodwork on which the animal was sacrificed, and through which its blood poured upon him.
The idea expressed by all sacrifices of expiation was, that the victim took the place of the sinner, and received the punishment due to him. The sacrifice was an acknowledgment on the sinners part that by his sin he had incurred penalty; and it was a prayer on the sinners part that he might be washed from the guilt he had contracted, and might return to life with the blessing and favour of God upon him. Of course, it was seen, and said by the heathen themselves, as well as by the Jews, that the blood of bulls and goats had in itself no relation to moral defilement. It was used in sacrifice merely as a telling way of saying that sin was acknowledged and pardon desired, but always with the idea of substitution more or less explicitly in the mind. And the ideas which were inevitably associated with sacrifice were transferred to Jesus by His immediate disciples. And this transference of the ideas connected with sacrifice to Himself and His death was sanctioned-and indeed suggested-by Jesus, when, at the Last Supper, He said, This cup is the New Testament in My Blood, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.
But here the question at once arises: In what sense was the Blood of Christ shed for the remission of sins? In what sense was He a substitute and victim for us? Before we try to find an answer to this question, two preliminary remarks may be made-first, that our salvation depends not on our understanding how the death of Christ takes away sin, but upon our believing that it does so. It is very possible to accept the pardon of our sin, though we do not know how that pardon has been obtained. We do not understand the methods of cure prescribed by the physician, nor could we give a rational account of the efficacy of his medicines, but this does not retard our cure if only we use them. To come into a perfect relation to God we do not require to understand how the death of Christ has made it possible for us to do so; we need only to desire to be Gods children, and to believe that it is open to us to come to Him. Not by the intellect, but by the will, are we led to God. Not by what we know, but by what we desire, is our destiny determined. Not by education in theological requirements, but by thirst for the living God, is man saved.
And, second, even though we carry over to the death of Christ the ideas taught by Old Testament sacrifice, we commit no enormous or misleading blunder. Christ Himself suggested that His death might be best understood in the light of these ideas, and even though we are unable to penetrate through the letter to the spirit, through the outward and symbolic form to the real and eternal meaning of the sacrifice of Christ, we are yet on the road to truth, and hold the germ of it which will one day develop into the actual and perfect truth. Impatience is at the root of much unbelief and misconception and discontent; the inability to reconcile ourselves to the fact that in our present stage there is much we must hold provisionally, much we must be content to see through a glass darkly, much we can only know by picture and shadow. It is quite true the reality has come in the death of Christ, and symbol has passed away; but there is such a depth of Divine love, and so various a fulfilment of Divine purpose in the death of Christ, that we cannot be surprised that it baffles comprehension. It is the key to a worlds history; for aught we know, to the history of other worlds than ours; and it is not likely that we should be able to gauge its significance and explain its rationale of operation. And therefore, if, without any sluggish indifference to further knowledge, or merely worldly contentment to know of spiritual things only so much as is absolutely necessary, we yet are able to use what we do know and to await with confidence further knowledge, we probably act wisely and well. We do not err if we think of Christ as our Sacrifice; nor even if we somewhat too literally think of Him as the Victim substituted for us, and ascribe to His Blood the expiatory and cleansing virtue which belonged symbolically to the blood of the ancient sacrifices.
And, indeed, there are grave difficulties in our path as soon as we strive to advance beyond the sacrificial idea, and try to grasp the very truth regarding the death of Christ. The Apostles with one voice affirm that Christs death was a propitiation for the sins of the world: that He died for us; that He suffered not only for His contemporaries, but for all men; that He was the Lamb of God, the innocent Victim, whose blood cleansed from sin. They affirm, in short, that in Christs death we are brought face to face, not with a symbolic sacrifice, but with that act which really takes away sin.
If we read the narrative given us in the Gospels of the death of Christ, and the circumstances that led to it, we see that the sacrificial idea is not kept in the foreground. The cause of His death, as explained in the Gospels, was His persistent claim to be the Messiah sent by God to found a spiritual kingdom. He steadily opposed the expectations and plans of those in authority until they became so exasperated that they resolved to compass His death. The real and actual cause of His death was His fidelity to the purpose for which He had been sent into the world. He might have retired and lived a quiet life in Galilee or beyond Palestine altogether; but He could not do so, because He could not abandon the work of His life, which was to proclaim the truth about God and Gods kingdom. Many a man has felt equally constrained to proclaim the truth in the face of opposition; and many a man has, like Jesus, incurred death thereby. That which makes the death of Jesus exceptional in this aspect of it is, that the truth He proclaimed was what may be called the truth, the essential truth for men to know-the truth that God is the Father, and that there is life in Him for all who will come to Him. This was the kingdom of God among men-He proclaimed a kingdom based only on love, on spiritual union between God and man; a kingdom not of this world, and that came not with observation; a kingdom within men, real, abiding, universal. It was because He proclaimed this kingdom, exploding the cherished expectations and merely national hopes of the Jews, that the authorities put Him to death.
So much is obvious on the very face of the narrative. No one can read the life of Christ without perceiving this at least-that He was put to death because He persisted in proclaiming truths essential to the happiness and salvation of men. By submitting to death for the sake of these truths He made it for ever clear that they are of vital consequence. Before Pilate He calmly said, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. He knew that it was this witnessing to the truth that had enraged the Jews against Him, and even in prospect of death He could not refrain from proclaiming what He felt it was vital for men to know. In this very true sense, therefore, He died for our sakes-died because He sought to put us in possession of truths without which our souls cannot be lifted into life eternal. He has given us life by giving us the knowledge of the Father. His love for us, His ceaseless and strong desire to bring us near to God, was the real cause of His death. And, recognising this, we cannot but feel that He has a claim upon us of the most commanding kind. Not for His contemporaries alone, not for one section of men only, did Christ die, but for all men, because the truths which He sealed by His death are of universal import. No man can live eternal life without them.
But again, Jesus Himself explained to His disciples in what sense His death would benefit them. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you. The spiritual kingdom He proclaimed could not be established while He was visibly present. His death and ascension put an end to all hopes that diverted their minds from that which constituted their real union to God and satisfaction in Him. When He disappeared from earth and sent the Holy Spirit to them, what remained to them was Gods kingdom within them, His true rule over their spirits, their assimilation to Him in all things. What they now clearly saw to be still open to them was to live in Christs spirit, to revive in their memories the truths His life had proclaimed, to submit themselves entirely to His influence, and to make known far and near the ideas He had communicated to them, and especially the God He had revealed. It was His death which set their minds free from all other expectations and fixed them exclusively on what was spiritual. And this salvation they at once proclaimed to others. What were they to say about Jesus and His death? How were they to win men to Him? They did so in the first days by proclaiming Him as raised by God to be a Prince and a Saviour, to rule from the unseen world, to bless men with a spiritual salvation, by turning them from their iniquities. And the instrumentality, the actual spiritual experience through which this salvation is arrived at is the belief that Jesus was sent by God and did reveal Him, that in Jesus God was present revealing Himself, and that His Spirit can bring us also to God and to His likeness.
Still further, and not going beyond the facts apparent in the Gospel, it is plain that Christ died for us, in the sense that all He did, His whole life on earth from first to last, was for our sake. He came into the world, not to serve a purpose of His own, and forward His own interests, but to further ours. He took upon Him our sins and their punishment in this obvious sense, that He voluntarily entered into our life, polluted as it was all through with sin and laden with misery in every part. Our condition in this world is such that no person can avoid coming in contact with sin, or can escape entirely the results of sin in the world. And in point of fact persons with any depth of sympathy and spiritual sensibility cannot help taking upon them the sins of others, and cannot help suffering their own life to be greatly marred and limited by the sins of others. In the case of our Lord this acceptance of the burden of other mens sins was voluntary. And it is the sight of a holy and loving person, enduring sorrows and opposition and death wholly undeserved, that is at all times affecting in the experience of Christ. It is the sight of this suffering, borne with meekness and borne willingly, that makes us ashamed of our sinful condition, which inevitably entails such suffering on the self-sacrificing and holy. It enables us to see, more distinctly than anything besides, the essential hatefulness and evil of sin. Here is an innocent person, filled with love and compassion for all, His life a life of self-sacrifice and devotion to human interests, carrying in His person infinite benefits to the race-this person is at all points thwarted and persecuted and finally put to death. In this most intelligible sense He very truly sacrificed Himself for us, bore the penalty of our sins, magnified the law, illustrated and rendered infinitely impressive the righteousness of God, and made it possible for God to pardon us, and in pardoning us to deepen immeasurably our regard for holiness and for Himself.
Still further, it is obvious that Christ gave Himself a perfect sacrifice to God by living solely for Him. He had in life no other purpose than to serve God. Again and again during His life God expressed His perfect satisfaction with the human life of Christ. He who searches the heart saw that into the most secret thought, down to the most hidden motive, that life was pure, that heart in perfect harmony with the Divine will. Christ lived not for Himself, He did not claim property in His own person and life, but gave Himself up freely and to the uttermost to God: more thoroughly, more spontaneously, and with an infinitely richer material did He offer Himself to God than ever burnt-offering had been offered. And God, with an infinite joy in goodness, accepted the sacrifice, and found on earth in the person of Jesus an opportunity for rejoicing in man with an infinite satisfaction.
And this sacrifice which Christ offered to God tends to reproduce itself continually among men. As Christ said, no sooner was He lifted up than He drew all men to Him. That perfect life and utter self-surrender to the highest purposes, that pure and perfect love and devotion to God and man, commands the admiration and cordial worship of serious men. It stands in the world for ever as the grand incentive to goodness, prompting men and inspiring them to sympathy and imitation. It is in the strength of that perfect sacrifice men have ceaselessly striven to sacrifice themselves. It is through Christ they strive to come themselves to God. In Him we see the beauty of holiness; in Him we see holiness perfected, and making the impression upon us which a perfect thing makes, standing as a reality, not as a theory; as a finished and victorious achievement, not as a mere attempt. In Christ we see what love to God and faith in God really are; in Him we see what a true sacrifice is and means; and in Him we are drawn to give ourselves also to God as our true life.
Looking then only at those facts which are apparent to every one who reads the life of Christ, and putting aside all that may over and above these facts have been intended in the Divine mind, we see how truly Christ is our Sacrifice; and how truly we can say of Him that He gave Himself, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. We see that in the actual privations, disappointments, temptations, mental strain, opposition, and suffering of His life, and in the final conflict of death, He bore the penalty of our sins; underwent the miseries which sin has brought into human life. We see that He did so with so entire and perfect a consent to all Gods will, and with so ready and unreserved a sacrifice of Himself, that God found infinite satisfaction in this human obedience and righteousness, and on the basis of this sacrifice pardons us.
Some may be able to assure themselves better of the forgiveness of God, if they look at what Christ has done as a satisfaction for or reparation of the ill that we have done. He properly satisfies for an offence who offers to the offended party that which he loves as well or better than he hates the offence. If your child has through carelessness broken or spoiled something you value, but seeing your displeasure is at pains to replace it, and does after long industry put into your hands an article of greater value than was lost to you, you are satisfied, and more than forgive your child. If a man fails in business, but after spending a lifetime to recover himself restores to you not only what you lost by him, but more than could possibly have been made by yourself with the original sum lost, you ought to be satisfied. And God is satisfied with the work of Christ because there is in it a love and an obedience to Him, and a regard to right and holiness, that outweigh all our disobedience and alienation. Often, when some satisfaction or reparation of injury or loss is made to ourselves, it is done in so good-hearted a manner, and displays so much right feeling, and sets us on terms of so much closer intimacy with the party who injured us, that we are really glad, now that all is over, that the misunderstanding or injury took place. The satisfaction has far more than atoned for it. So is it with God: our reconciliation to Him has called out so much in Christ that would otherwise have been hidden, has so stirred the deepest part, if we may say so, of the Divine nature in Christ, and has called out also so signally the whole strength and beauty of human nature, that God is more than satisfied. We cannot see how without sin there could have been that display of love and obedience that there has been in the death of Christ. Where there is no danger, nothing tragic, there can be no heroism: human nature, not to speak of Divine, has not scope for its best parts in the ordinary and innocent traffic and calm of life. It is when danger thickens, and when death draws near and bares his hideous visage, that devotion and self-sacrifice can be exercised. And so, in a world filled with sin and with danger, a world in which each individuals history has something stirring and tragic in it, God finds room for the full testing and utterance of our natures and of His own. And in the redemption of this world there occurred an emergency which called forth, as nothing else conceivably could call forth, everything that the Divine and human natures of Christ are capable of.
Another result of Christs death is mentioned by John: That the children of God which were scattered abroad might be gathered together in one. It was for a unity Christ died, for that which formed one whole. When Caiaphas sacrificed Christ to propitiate Rome, he knew that none but Christs own countrymen would benefit thereby. The Romans would not recall their legions from Africa or Germany because Judæa had propitiated them. And supposing that the Jews had received some immunities and privileges from Rome as an acknowledgment of its favour, this would affect no other nation. But if any members of other nations coveted these privileges, their only course would be to become naturalized Jews, members and subjects of the favoured community. So Christs death has the effect of gathering into one all those who seek Gods favour and fatherhood, no matter in what ends of the earth they be scattered. It was not for separate individuals Christ died, but for a people, for an indivisible community; and we receive the benefits of His death no otherwise than as we are members of this people or family. It is the attractive power of Christ that draws us all to one centre, but being gathered round Him we should be in spirit and are in fact as close to one another as to Him.
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 On vv19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45 19. Many of the Jews came to Martha and…
19. Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary. Jews from Jerusalem, of which Bethany was a suburb. As “Jews” in John's usage means the ruling classes, the fact that they came shows that the family of Lazarus was influential. These came to “comfort;” that is, to sit with and talk to the mourners. The mourning was kept up thirty days.
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 On v46 Joh_11:46. But some of them, etc.—It is possible to…
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh_11:46. But some of them, etc.—It is possible to misjudge their motives; but in view of Joh_19:22 and Joh_10:31 their action can hardly be viewed as friendly.
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Joh_11:48. The Romans, etc.—If Christ were to be raised to the position of leader of the people the jealous Roman government might take away the last vestige of their power. “They feared temporal loss and incurred eternal, and did not even escape the temporal” (Augustine). Place.—Their position probably as ecclesiastical rulers of the Jewish people. Thus both such political and religious privileges as they possessed might be endangered, they thought.
Joh_11:49. Caiaphas.—Joseph Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, who had been deprived of the priesthood by Valerius Gratus (Josephus, Ant., 18). To conciliate him the members of his family were elected in turn to the office. That same year.—I.e. that memorable year.
Joh_11:50. Caiaphas was politically an opportunist, and an unscrupulous one to boot. Justice, human life, he little regarded where his interests and those of his class were concerned. Expediency must rule.
Joh_11:51. Prophesied.—Like Balaam (Numbers 24).
Joh_11:53. Then from that day, etc.—The Pharisees had now overcome their last scruples, and united for evil with the sceptical Sadducees.
Joh_11:54. Jesus therefore, etc.—Ephraim is said by Robinson to be near Bethel; and he identifies it with Ephron (2Ch_13:19), and this Ephron with Ophrah (Jdg_18:23).
Joh_11:55. Purify.—2Ch_30:16-20; Act_21:24.
Joh_11:56-57. Then sought they.—The simple country folk would have heard Jesus gladly; and the commandment of the chief priests and Pharisees was no doubt given with the intention of making our Lord appear to be one unworthy of their regard.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_11:47-57
The unconscious prophecy of Caiaphas.—The wonderful miracle at Bethany could not remain hid. Many of those who had seen it believed. Some of them, however, although they could not doubt the evidence of their senses in the matter of the miracle, appear not to have been drawn more closely to Christ. These went to the Pharisees with the news of the miracle and of the fact that many had believed on the Saviour. It does not seem necessary to seek for either a good or a bad motive in their action. They went with that eagerness to bear news, especially to such as will welcome it, which seems characteristic of some people. The tidings those men brought threw the dominant party into a state of perturbation. A crisis had arrived; and Pharisee and Sadducee were joined in an unholy league against God’s holy child, Jesus.
I. The perplexity of the Jewish leaders in council.—
1. The opening scene in the council of Christ’s enemies reveals the unholy conspirators in a state of pitiful perplexity. They cannot deny Christ’s miracles. They see that if He continues His course a large following will gather around Him, which by ordinary methods they will be unable to control.
2. And then, in spite of all their proud boasts about their freedom (Joh_8:33), they have to acknowledge the dominant power of Rome. They fear that power—fear that, if Jesus attracts a large band of followers, the Roman governor may step in to disperse it, and may tell them, the present religious rulers of the people, that, being incapable, apparently, of exerting any proper authority, they must in every department give up the reins of power.
3. This, no doubt, influenced some. But many of them must have known that the kingdom Christ spoke of setting up was no earthly dominion. There was another influence at the bottom of all this bitter enmity against Jesus. He had put the Sadducees more than once to silence. And this last miracle struck at one of the fundamental tenets of their sect, “that the spirit of man is an emanation of the Deity, and after death returns to Him, so that there can be no resurrection of the body.” Our Lord’s rebuke of this sect made them especially bitter, and indeed the leaders in the plot against Jesus.
4. While the council was in perplexity, and the more law-abiding no doubt shrinking from extreme measures, a man unscrupulous and able brought all to a speedy decision. Caiaphas, the high priest, owed his position to the intervention of the Roman governor, Valerius Gratus, and thus was interested in preventing anything which would arouse the jealousy of Rome. He evidently had sat silent in the council whilst the members were blindly and confusedly dubitating, with cynical scorn expressed in his look. At last he intervened, rating the council for their indecision and weakness, and impressing on them his idea as to what their line of action should be.
II. The counsel of Caiaphas.—
1. He interpreted the desires of the majority of his colleagues which they themselves were afraid to give expression to, far less to carry into execution. His counsel was one of expediency pure and simple. Justice, righteousness, truth, were nothing to him.
2. The present danger must be averted by some means or other, if the position of the Jewish rulers, both toward the people and in relation to the Roman power, was to be maintained. If this Jesus continued to work and gain adherents as He had been doing, then farewell to their authority over the people as teachers and administrators of their law—farewell also, perhaps, to the limited power they still possessed under Rome. Therefore said this bold and evil man, “Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us,” etc. (Joh_11:50). That was his decision: Remove this man by death, and your difficulties vanish.
3. A simple cutting of the knot, Caiaphas! No question as to the antecedents of this Jesus, as to the manner and substance of His teaching, as to the truth of His mighty works, as to whether He has encouraged any feeling of disloyalty among His followers toward the reigning powers. No! simply: This man stands in our way; remove Him, and we shall be able to advance: He seems to endanger our authority; let Him die, and we shall stand secure. It is a counsel which some would count worldly-wise, but its inspiration is from beneath, not from above. “What is necessary is right”; “Necessity knows no law”; “The end justifies the means”: such are Caiaphas’ counsels.
4. Swayed by this dominant mind, even those who had qualms of conscience seem to have yielded to this evil counsel (Joh_11:53). How far had these formal adherents to the law of Moses fallen below its standard of justice between man and man! how far below those Roman conquerors whom they hated, and who prided themselves justly on the protection which their laws afforded to the citizens of the Roman State in all quarters of the world! Caiaphas must bow before the heathen who wrote, “Fiat justitia, ruat cœlum.”
5. And let thy counsel, Caiaphas, appear successful for the time: will it prove so in the end? Has ever true good come from unrighteousness? God, it is true, may and does bring good out of evil,—
“From seeming evil still educing good,
And better thence again.”
Thomson.
But will it be for good to those who do the unrighteous deed, carry out the unrighteous plan? Never!
III. The unconscious prophecy of Caiaphas.—
1. He was high priest. And even though one who was unworthy occupied the office, the office itself had a theocratic dignity, and served a divine purpose. And here God made use of the office. The high priest, who year by year entered into the Holiest of all, “not without blood, which he offered for himself and the errors of the people” (Heb_9:7), is here led unwittingly to prophesy concerning the one offering which was to be made not only for the Jewish “nation,” but for all the children of God scattered abroad, who were thus to be brought into unity (Joh_10:16).
2. “Man proposes, but God disposes.” Caiaphas and his fellow-councillors thought that by getting rid of Jesus they might preserve the small remnant of authority they possessed, and through it might yet regain their national power. In this view he appealed to the better part of the council and the national party, who may even yet have dreamed that Jesus might have some Messianic message for them, and many of whom believed Him to be a prophet. But the appeal of Caiaphas prevailed over their better feelings.
3. And yet by the divine guidance this evil counsel resulted in the true good of the spiritual Israel, in a wider blessing than any mere restitution of the Jewish “nation,” in the state in which it then was, would have been. It would result in the blessed unity of all peoples, which later Judaism had failed to pray and labour for (Joh_12:32; Psalms 67; 1Jn_2:2).
4. But although God could and did bring blessing to all men by the carrying out of the evil counsel of Caiaphas, no blessing, rather the reverse, would come on those who planned and carried it out. These men ostensibly based their action on the danger of the Romans interfering or taking away what power remained to them, etc. (Joh_11:48). They thought to avert this danger by an unrighteous action. But from the moment they carried out their designs that which they feared began to come upon them.
5. The Sadducees sought to crush One who had brought their errors home to them, and had thus given opportunity for triumph to their opponents (Mat_22:34). But lo! when He had been crucified, in place of One who taught the resurrection of the dead there arose multitudes who proclaimed the resurrection of that same Jesus whom they had crucified, and preached the Resurrection with amazing power and results (Act_4:2; Act_23:9).
6. And in the end the power of the Jewish rulers, their temple, their city, and the “nation” itself, passed away amid blood and fire. Unrighteousness may triumph for a time, yet in the end it shall not prevail.
Lessons.—
1. Righteousness is the only safe principle to guide the activity both of governments and individuals. Such merely worldly-wise, unjust, and tyrannical modes of action as that of Caiaphas and all his kind will result only in disaster to those who adopt them. Unrighteousness carries within it the elements of its own punishment and final ruin here and hereafter. The Christian rule of action is:—
“Perish policy and cunning!
Perish all that fears the light!
Whether losing, whether winning,
Trust in God and do the right.”
MacLeod.
2. What has been planned by evil men can in God’s hand be turned to good. He that sits in heaven laughs at their designs; and whilst they go on and often perish in their wickedness, He bends their actions to subserve His own eternal purposes.
ILLUSTRATION
Joh_11:50. Hypocritical excuses for crime.—The real ground of opposition was hatred of the light; the ostensible ground was patriotism, public zeal, loyalty, far-sighted policy. And such is life. The motive in which a deed of sin is done is not the motive which a man allows to others or whispers to himself. Listen to the criminal receiving sentence, and the cause of condemnation is not the enormity of the crime, but the injustice of the country’s law. Hear the man of disorderly life, whom society has expelled from her bosom, and the cause of the expulsion is not his profligacy, but the false slander which has misrepresented him. Take his own account of the matter, and he is innocent, injured, pure. For there are names so tender, and so full of fond endearment, with which this world sugars over its dark guilt towards God with a crust of superficial whiteness, that the sin, on which eighteen centuries have looked back appalled, was, to the doers of that sin, nothing atrocious, but respectable, defensible, nay even, under the circumstances, necessary.—F. W. Robertson.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv25, 27, 30, 43, 45 John - Job
John - Job
CHRIST’S QUESTION TO EACH
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JOB’S QUESTION, JESUS’ ANSWER
Job 14:14. - Joh 11:25 - Joh 11:26.
Job’s question waited long for an answer. Weary centuries rolled away; but at last the doubting, almost despairing, cry put into the mouth of the man of sorrows of the Old Testament is answered by the Man of Sorrows of the New. The answer in words is this second text which may almost be supposed to allude to the ancient question. The answer, in fact, is the resurrection of Christ. Apart from this answer there is none.
So we may take these two texts to help us to grasp more clearly and feel more profoundly what the world owes to that great fact which we are naturally led to think of to-day.
I. The ancient and ever returning question.
The Book of Job is probably a late part of the Old Testament. It deals with problems which indicate some advance in religious thought. Solemn and magnificent, and for the most part sad; it is like a Titan struggling with large problems, and seldom attaining to positive conclusions in which the heart or the head can rest in peace. Here all Job’s mind is clouded with a doubt. He has just given utterance to an intense longing for a life beyond the grave. His abode in Sheol is thought of as in some sense a breach in the continuity of his consciousness, but even that would be tolerable, if only he could be sure that, after many days, God would remember him. Then that longing gives way before the torturing question of the text, which dashes aside the tremulous hope with its insistent interrogation. It is not denial, but it is a doubt which palsies hope. But though he has no certainty, he cannot part with the possibility, and so goes on to imagine how blessed it would be if his longing were fulfilled. He thinks that such a renewed life would be like the ‘release’ of a sentry who had long stood on guard; he thinks of it as his swift, joyous ‘answer’ to God’s summons, which would draw him out from the sad crowd of pale shadows and bring him back to warmth and reality. His hope takes a more daring flight still, and he thinks of God as yearning for His creature, as His creature yearns for Him, and having ‘a desire to the work of His hands,’ as if His heaven would be incomplete without His servant. But the rapture and the vision pass, and the rest of the chapter is all clouded over, and the devout hope loses its light. Once again it gathers brightness in the twenty-first chapter, where the possibility flashes out starlike, that ‘after my skin hath been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see God.’
These fluctuations of hope and doubt reveal to us the attitude of devout souls in Israel at a late era of the national life. And if they show us their high-water mark, we need not suppose that similar souls outside the Old Testament circle had solid certainty where these had but a variable hope. We know how large a development the doctrine of a future life had in Assyria and in Egypt, and I suppose we are entitled to say that men have always had the idea of a future. They have always had the thought, sometimes as a fear, sometimes as a hope, but never as a certainty. It has lacked not only certainty but distinctness. It has lacked solidity also, the power to hold its own and sustain itself against the weighty pressure of intrusive things seen and temporal.
But we need not go to the ends of the earth or to past generations for examples of a doubting, superficial hold of the truth that man lives through death and after it. We have only to look around us, and, alas! we have only to look within us. This age is asking the question again, and answering it in many tones, sometimes of indifferent disregard, sometimes flaunting a stark negative without reasoned foundation, sometimes with affirmatives with as little reason as these negatives. The modern world is caught in the rush and whirl of life, has its own sorrows to front, its own battles to fight, and large sections of it have never come as near an answer to Job’s question as Job did.
II. Christ’s all-sufficing answer.
He gave it there, by the grave of Lazarus, to that weeping sister, but He spoke these great words of calm assurance to all the world. One cannot but note the difference between His attitude in the presence of the great Mystery and that of all other teachers. How calmly, certainly, and confidently He speaks!
Mark that Jesus, even at that hour of agony, turns Martha’s thoughts to Himself. What He is is the all-important thing for her to know. If she understands Him, life and death will have no insoluble problems nor any hopelessness for her. ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life.’ She had risen in her grief to a lofty height in believing that ‘even now’-at this moment when help is vain and hope is dead-’whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee,’ but Jesus offers to her a loftier conception of Him when He lays a sovereign hand on resurrection and life, and discloses that both inhere in Him, and from Him flow to all who shall possess them. He claims to have in Himself the fountain of life, in all possible senses of the word, as well as in the special sense relevant at that sad hour. Further, He tells Martha that by faith in Him any and all may possess that life. And then He majestically goes on to declare that the life which He gives is immune from, and untouched by, death. The believer shall live though he dies, the living believer shall never die. It is clear that, in these two great statements, to die is used in two different meanings, referring in the former case to the physical fact, and in the latter carrying a heavier weight of significance, namely the pregnant sense which it usually has in this Gospel, of separation from God and consequently from the true life of the soul. Physical death is not the termination of human life. The grim fact touches only the surface life, and has nothing to do with the essential, personal being. He that believes on Jesus, and he only, truly lives, and his union with Jesus secures his possession of that eternal life, which victoriously persists through the apparent, superficial change which men call death. Nothing dies but the death which surrounds the faithful soul. For it to die is to live more fully, more triumphantly, more blessedly. So though the act of physical death remains, its whole character is changed. Hence the New Testament euphemisms for death are much more than euphemisms. Men christen it by names which drape its ugliness, because they fear it so much, but Faith can play with Leviathan, because it fears it not at all. Hence such names as ‘sleep,’ ‘exodus,’ are tokens of the victory won for all believers by Jesus. He will show Martha the hope for all His followers which begins to dawn even in the calling of her brother back from the grip of death. And He shows us the great truth that His being the ‘Life’ necessarily involved His being also the ‘Resurrection,’ for His life-communicating work could not be accomplished till His all-quickening vitality had flowed over into, and flooded with its own conquering tides, not only the spirit which believes but its humble companion, the soul, and its yet humbler, the body. A bodily life is essential to perfect manhood, and Jesus will not stay His hand till every believer is full-summed in all his powers, and is perfect in body, soul, and spirit, after the image of Him who redeemed Him.
III. The pledge for the truth of the answer.
The words of Jesus are only words. These precious words, spoken to that one weeping sister in a little Jewish village, and which have brought hope to millions ever since, are as baseless as all the other dreams and longings of the heart, unless Jesus confirms them by fact. If He did not rise from the dead, they are but another of the noble, exalted, but futile delusions of which the world has many others. If Christ be not risen, His words of consolation are swelling words of emptiness; His whole claims are ended, and the age-old question which Job asked is unanswered still, and will always remain unanswered. If Christ be not risen, the hopeless colloquy between Jehovah and the prophet sums up all that can be said of the future life: ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest!’
But Christ’s resurrection is a fact which, taken in connection with His words while on earth, endorses these and establishes His claims to be the Declarer of the name of God, the Saviour of the world. It gives us demonstration of the continuity of life through and after death. Taken along with His ascension, which is but, so to speak, the prolongation of the point into a line, it declares that a glorified body and an abode in a heavenly home are waiting for all who by faith become here partakers in Jesus and are quickened by sharing in His life.
So in despite of sense and doubt and fear, notwithstanding teachers who, like the supercilious philosophers on Mars Hill, mock when they hear of a resurrection from the dead, we should rejoice in the great light which has shined into the region of the shadow of death, we should clasp His divine and most faithful answer to that old, despairing question, as the anchor of our souls, and lift up our hearts in thanksgiving in the triumphant challenge, ‘O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv26–27 never die
never die
i.e. the "second death." Cf. Rev 2:1; Rev 20:6.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv23, 28, 33, 38, 43 Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life:
Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life:
v. 23. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
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v. 24. Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
v. 25. Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live;
v. 26. and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?
v. 27. She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Jesus answered Martha’s pleading with a beautiful word of comfort, which incidentally tests her faith. The words sounded as though Jesus were referring only to the final resurrection, on the last day. Here was the hope of faith to which she could always cling. And Martha proved equal to the test; she, with all the other true believers among the Jews, believed in the resurrection of the dead. If nothing more were forthcoming from the hand of Jesus, she would be fully satisfied with this gift of His grace. But her words: I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day, conveyed her hope that the Lord would help also at the present time, at once. This proof of Martha’s humble, but firm trust in Him drew from Jesus that. gem of sayings which is the glorious anchor of faith throughout the ages. Jesus, our Savior, is the Resurrection and the Life. All life, and the giving and returning of life to men, is centered in Him. Eternal life is in Him from eternity. And therefore He can give life, even when death had apparently claimed a person for his own. And with the resurrection the true life in and with Him will have its beginning. We Christians believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, because our faith rests upon Him who died for us and rose again, in order that we might live with Him forever. The believers, therefore, though they seemingly succumb to temporal death, yet have life, are full possessors of life in the very midst of death, they are partakers and sharers with Christ in the full and complete life that had no beginning for Him and shall have no end for them that put their trust in His redemption alone. Death is only the gateway to the full and perfect life; it has no terrors for the Christian, since it has been swallowed up in victory by the resurrection of Jesus. Whatever experience believers have of death is all on this side of the grave; here the fear of death and the terrors of hell sometimes assail them very keenly. But they conquer all these horrors through faith in the words of Christ, and in the very moment of dying, death is overcome; they fall asleep in the wounds of Jesus, and in the next moment they awake in heaven. Since this trust must be found in the heart of every believer, Jesus puts the searching question to Martha: Believest thou this? And Martha joyfully assents and expresses her unwavering faith in her Lord as the promised Christ, the Son of God, as He was prophesied by all the patriarchs and sages of old, whose work should culminate in the overcoming of the last bitter enemy, death. Note: The certainty of the resurrection of the body, as based upon the work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, always inspires new hope in the hearts of the believers, even in the days of the greatest sorrow and misfortune, in the midst of sickness and death. This word: I believe in the resurrection of the body, is stronger than death. Though the dead may have rested in their graves for hundreds and even thousands of years, though their flesh has long since been consumed by worms and their bones have fallen into dust, yet they shall arise on the last day.
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 On vv21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 38, 41, 43, 45 my brother would not have died
my brother would not have died
Lazarus was the younger brother. AT: "my younger brother would still be alive" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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Your brother will rise again
Lazarus was the younger brother. AT: "Your younger brother will become alive again" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Martha
Jesus
lord
brother
die
God
raise
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 On vv19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 33, 39, 45 11:19 Life in New Testament times was lived publicly.…
11:19 Life in New Testament times was lived publicly. Lazarus’s large extended family, as well as the villagers, had arrived for a seven-day mourning period. To console the sisters in their loss, there was great wailing and crying (see 11:33 and corresponding study note).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.