1 john 11:11

The οὖν shows that the advice of Caiaphas was followed, and whereas before this, minor courts and synagogues had plotted the ruin of Jesus, and they themselves had excommunicated his followers (John 9:1-41. 1. Joh . 3. How welcome is his presence in such an hour! III. Jesus knew what was going to happen; why, then, did he seem as if plunged in the very depths of sorrow? As they stand here, these words are striking testimony to their historical validity. And now that hope had vanished it would be better that their shattered hopes should be buried in oblivion with Him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. i.e. And this is so natural that no mere words will ever get the better of it, unless we put ourselves in time into such a state of mind as may help us to see that the words are really nothing else but simply true. The Lord shall come and awaken all His own. Wicked men may grudge that God’s sun shine on the fields of their enemies and prosper them, but their envy cannot darken or shorten the course of the sun: so may wicked men grudge that I work these miracles, and do these deeds of My loving Father, but I am as far above their reach as the sun in the heavens; until I have run My appointed course their envy is impotent. He spoke of ἐρωτᾶν, to seek as an equal; παρακαλεῖν, to intercede for another; προσεύχεσθαι, to pray; δεῖσθαι, to supplicate. 5. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem. And consequently its hours were longer or shorter according to the period of the year. A life in God is a life eternal.—T. Jesus lifted up His eyes, etc.… I thank Thee that Thou didst hear Me.—This is a thanksgiving for a prayer or request which Christ knew was already granted. And she, as soon as she heard, arose (aorist) quickly, and went forth to (meet) him (imperfect); or, was £ on the way to come to him—a vivid touch conveyed by the change of tense which has been introduced into the text by the Revisers. Matthew 23:38). But singularly enough, He said when He heard it, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (v. 4). THEIR MESSAGE TO JESUS. The musicians are fleeing from the gallery; and the gay company shrink with horror from a young gallant who stands with his mask fallen off in the centre of the scene. Every believer is a brother, but every brother is not a friend. Where, etc.—Equivalent to an invitation to lead the way to the tomb. Then said his disciples — Not apprehending his meaning; Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well — Understanding his words in a literal sense, they replied that they took his sleeping as a symptom of his speedy recovery; and by so saying intimated that there was no need of their going into Judea on Lazarus’s account. Although we know that we shall soon meet again. And consider:—. Its full hours—all that are needful—are given to each, be they shorter or longer. Jesus was using the dead decomposing body of Lazarus for nobler purposes than one would have thought possible to reside in a corpse. Though the Law did not specifically recommend purification "before the Passover," yet the general principle of ceremonial cleansings had been applied to the Feast of the Passover (see 2 Chronicles 30:16-20; Acts 21:24). And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Thus gradually, by self-exercise and Divine support, faith is taught to soar aloft till at last she reached the grand heights of the resurrection and the life. John, however, is merely recording his own experiences. And as when men awake at morn, refreshed and strengthened, they raise thankful hearts to God, so on that resurrection morn shall rise songs of gratitude and praise, never to cease eternally. However, the Christian believer is the only one who can truly regard death as sleep--that is, as a healthy, refreshing thing, which can do him no harm. 2. It followeth, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. But I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. But they who walk in the right way, under the light of duty, cannot fail. Probably a hostile criticism, imputing to Jesus lack of love or lack of power. ] Her faith was full and running over. But for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. also John 5:1). Jesus loved Lazarus. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. And thus, in the bitter sorrow of death, it will be seen on what foundation of faith we stand, whether our sorrow is a Christian or a heathenish sorrow. Joh . 2. No sooner was she in the house than she called her sister. — and that because he loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. (b) The grave-clothes ought soon to be laid aside that believers may walk free and unimpeded in the vigor of their new life. We do not wrong him in deeming him pre-eminently a politician, whose aim was the maintenance of the existing order of things, and the repression of any popular display of feeling, and especially any symptom of disaffection or disorder. ", II. They had a strange story to tell, which it was impossible to gainsay. and to snatch from the grasp of the grim conqueror for a little while one of his victims. i.e. Jesus replies about walking in daylight to illustrate that He is walking in the light, or under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. ", "As the twelve hours follow the day, that is, the course of the sun, so that they succeed each other in turn, so it is your duty to follow Me; for I am as it were your sun and day, but ye accompany Me as the twelve hours. That all men should believe in Jesus meant, in the esteem of the priests and Pharisees, that Jesus would be made a King after the fashion of men. Death a sleep.—This is an image common in other writings than the Scriptures, and is used by our Saviour as shadowing forth one of those universal truths already in a measure grasped by men, but which He came to make clearly known. 1. It may be the truest love on God’s part to let us lie sick, and not to come post-haste to us to make us well. They attributed his mighty works to an infernal power; but they never denied them. The tears of Jesus were tears shed, not for himself, but for members of this race whose nature he assumed. Thus had they often said one to another while Lazarus was yet alive, "Oh that the Lord Jesus were here!" And so it has been from the beginning. To avoid the snares of His enemies, and to secure a short season of undisturbed communion with His disciples, Jesus retires to Ephraim, perhaps Ephrain or Ephron (, ] No man could eat the Passover while ceremonially unclean (see. Each of these wonderful works seems typical of His power over death in its every aspect. One was the wail of pity, and the other the wail of personal and wounded love; and so intense were his feelings that they could not be suitably expressed but in tears, nor find relief but in a wail of sorrow. The high priest was believed in ancient times to have the power of drawing from Urim and Thummim the Divine decisions as to future events: "He saved others; himself he cannot save!" νῦν οἶδα may be contrasted with John 11:27. How is this allotted period to be used by men?—. But if the resurrection of the dead had been a doubtful matter to them, how could God have given to the Jews therefrom a proof of the certainty of His promise being fulfilled! Mere human experience points out the sequence thus: life, death, corruption, and so union with mother earth. The identification of the two anointings with each other is without justification. They cannot die, they only sleep. In this sense also let us think of death so that we may be wise—wise that we may view its effects on our own lives with complete submission to the will of God, and wise that we may be resigned ourselves to go hence in accordance with that will when the hour strikes, and He purposes to give us rest from earthly labour.—Translated from F. Schleiermacher. Martha and Mary had lost a kind and loving brother. Then after this He saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. "I am glad," etc. Faith is willing to give up to him in the race. The sentence has been recorded against the Holiest. Oh no, it is not dying to go forth to God! Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. THE DETAILS WITH WHICH GOD OBSERVES HIS CHILDREN (. It is well that we should consider now, while yet life may be granted us, our latter end. There are worse men than you, and not many better. They thought it likely that his preaching and teaching might lead to insurrection, which the Romans would certainly repress with severity. I wish I could fly. LIGHT IS HERE CAST UPON THE PROVISION MADE FOR A PERPETUAL FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN JESUS AND HIS PEOPLE. And what has been the result? It is enough that the evangelist singles out "that memorable year" (Lucke, Meyer and Lunge, etc.) Our Lord's statement, that the brothers of the rich man would not believe though one rose from the dead, was in some sense paralleled by the desire of the Jews to put Lazarus to death; but the reason given is that by reason of Lazarus "many of the Jews went away from them, and believed on Jesus" (John 12:11; cf. ἐκραύγασε is used of the shout of a multitude (John 12:13, R.T.; John 18:40; John 19:6, John 19:15), and implies the loud, imperative command to Death to give up his prey, and relinquish the grasp which had, in answer to his prayer, been already relaxed. These solemn words, which are used most appropriately in the Burial Service, not only refer to the raising of Lazarus to a natural life, but indicate that Christ is also the author of the resurrection to eternal life. ] An expression of the divine love bringing heavenly comfort to men.—. Nevertheless, that which proved the occasion of their malice became a further proof of his Divine goodness and superhuman claims. Ewald, Godet, Meyer, Watkins, consider τόπον to be the city, the seat of all the power of the nation, spiritual and civil. THE LESSONS THE TEACHER HAD COME TO TEACH. The two sisters Martha and Mary, the apostles Peter and John and Thomas, were certainly very unlike one another in many respects. It is the truth on which the Church is founded; and since the days of the apostles all true Christian teaching and preaching have been concerned with "Jesus and the resurrection from the dead" (Act ). As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick). "I go that I may awake him." To understand that error makes their relentless pursuit of Jesus more explicable. ALL DEATH WOULD BE PECULIARLY REPUGNANT TO JESUS. The word recalls at once the region of hostility and unbelief from which he had just escaped. "Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat in the house." 1. He pointed her to himself as the Sum and Substance of all true beliefs, as the Object of all true faith. The zephyrs bore them away to human dwellings, and presently the sick man forgot his pain, the mourner his sorrow, the poor his cares. More particularly, the faith of the disciples was called out and strengthened by this action of the Lord Jesus; it was partly "for their sake," to the end that "they might believe." been deaf and blind to all this teaching—in some ages worshipping the host of heaven instead of him who made them all; and in later times seeing nothing in God's grandest works but a vast and complicated machine without a final purpose, a thickly woven veil of laws and second causes with nothing behind it! To wake out of sleep. Though, like the good Physician in the house of mourning, He knew the issue of His mighty act, yet He entered with vivid, intense human sympathy into all the primary and secondary sorrows of death. But His teachings on this great truth and this Christian hope are confirmed by His power over death.—. “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. THE INTENTION OF CAIAPHAS IN HIS PREDICTION OF CHRIST'S VICARIOUS DEATH. The action of Jesus suggests the economy of miracle so observable in Scripture history. And then we have the instance of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. Christian friendship is one of the inner ones. Thomas' words further show—. ONE SAYS, "IF THOU, LORD, HADST BEEN HERE, I WOULD HAVE BELIEVED ON THEE." Then shall there be no more death: the fashion of it shall be changed; the faithful dead shall inherit immortal life. i.e. ", II. And the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. The vision of Christ and His victory over death. Though genuine, and strong in some of its features, it is still weak and incomplete. 2. And their admissions will be seen to preclude the possibility of impugning Christ's authority. The "twelve hours" shows, at all events, that the Jews at this time generally reckoned from sunrise to sunset. It was evidently the thought of this disagreeable circumstance that led Martha to say, "Lord, by this time he stinketh; he hath been there four days.". The night of death will also have an end. THE MYSTERIOUS DELAY OF JESUS IN PERAEA. And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is here, and calleth thee. four days ago in Peræa, when I prayed that Lazarus might be raised to life. ] That the friendship of Jesus lasts forever. (8) His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go that we may die with Him. So Thomas (called Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, "Let us go too, so that we may die with him.". It is not the Master's bodily absence which accounts for the slow progress of the truth and kingdom of Christ. No doubt, St. Paul did very much to enlarge the general conception entertained regarding the objects of Christ's mission to earth. Consider what death is to the sufferer! I. Oh, the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldst Thou be as a stranger in the land? Too much often is expected of his personal presence, time, attention, and service. John apparently had two reasons for recording this miracle; firstly, because it exhibited Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life; secondly, because it more distinctly separated the whole body of the Jews into believers and unbelievers. 3. 'After the body is carried out of the house, all chairs and couches are reversed, and the mourners sit on the ground on a low stool.'. ] 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. For their sakes he was not there. The thought of immortality is with Him involved in, and absorbed by, the idea of life. Similitudes of death.—There are many figures by which men have represented death in order to rob him of his terrors and accustom the mind to his appearance. To some Jesus seems so far away, in time, in space, that they feel it hard to cherish faith in him. Luke 7:37 with Luke 8:2), rest on insufficient grounds. They are too near him who is the Life for death to hurt them; if. Lazarus is a token of the real life that Jesus dead and raised will give to all who believe in him. In evidence of this present continued life Lazarus was called back, and shown to be still alive. The act which embodies and gives actuality to a principle is its best exposition. Lazarus was a model brother. Joh . That Jesus should die for his own nation. John 11:30-31. To many people, it may have seemed an event of no particular importance that “a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany,” but great consequences often depend upon what appear to us to be very minor matters, and we must not despise the least of the Lord’s people, nor think slightingly of anything that concerns them. Many a time had he sheltered from the storm under the wing of his friendship, and there tasted of the sweets of human kindness in an hostile world; these reminiscences now crowded his memory, filled his heart with sorrow, and his eyes with tears. But, weak and changeful as he is, God's promises do not depend on his varying moods of mind; and in view of such a promise as this, faith bursts into prayer, and evermore the prayer of faith shall live. You do not hesitate to demolish a fine building and scatter its contents if that will stop the burning down of many streets. 3. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! 1. Think, Abib; dost thou think? III. The love of this mighty Helper (Joh ).—. But Christ’s love sought them out and called them into life. ΄ετὰ (says Godet) is not synonymous with σύν, but equivalent to—he confined himself in the desert region north-east of Jerusalem to the company of the twelve. The resurrection of his friends to Jesus will be a most easy process, and to them a most natural and refreshing experience. She calls him "the Son of God." The gladness was conditioned by the need of the disciples, not merely for the comfort of the sisters, or for his own greater glory, but for your sakes, to the end that ye might believe. Our Lord does not turn to His disciples and say “Your friend sleepeth,” but places Himself side by side with them in their affection and says “Our friend.” It seems to me to teach so sweetly the blessed fact that Jesus is one with His people. But Christ has removed for all His own this fear. That it was exquisite grace and condescension on the part of Jesus to honor them with his society and his intimacy is undeniable. 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. This command suggests that where human power is sufficient, Divine power will not be put forth. We find small relief in the assurance. doubtless with difficulty, his legs being bound together by grave-clothes. II. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Some prayers would be all the better if they were shorter — all the better if they did not so much declare our own will as declare our confidence in the good will of Christ. The childless mother and the orphan, the wife and sister, lover and friend, have wrestled in agony over the dying and moaned over the dead, and none seemed to listen. The heart of Jesus was moved by the grief of those sorrowing sisters of Lazarus, whom He viewed with such regard. "She fell down at his feet.". They have just enough of the vital principle in them to keep the organism going. And if, in the middle of the second century, this Gospel had been written by a speculative theologian, who deliberately set himself to concoct such a narrative as this, with the view of completing the picture of the vanquisher of Hades, he would most certainly have cited the Galilaean miracles. And how much soever any one has succeeded by deeds of another sort, and however much of renown he may have gained here among men, all this will fade and become invisible in the light of truth, when we contrast it with that which a spirit effects, even in the most modest positions in this our human life, when it is pervaded by the divine spirit of truth and love. Be very sure of this, that Christ's grief was as genuine as theirs, and that the compassion of God and of His Son is as true at every step of the road to the grave as it is when it rises up at last into full redemption, and the gate of the grave is thrown wide open. Probably from the same as the former part of heautou; in order that. Lessons from Bethany.—Bethany, thou home of peace, thou place beloved of the Lord, joyfully didst thou see Him in the midst of thee, joyfully went He in and out. Jesus comes with his power, and makes the sequence thus: life, death, incipient corruption, life again. The light of nature and the speculations of philosophy might from analogy have given men a more or less vivid hope of a life beyond, a hope, however, subject to frequent fluctuations, and oftentimes apt to be altogether shattered and dissipated. Every incident in this wonderful relation ought to be regarded with peculiar notice, for the Evangelist hath been very particular in recording it. The tears of Jesus.—Everywhere over the earth there is weeping. Perfect passive indicative of κοιμαω — koimaō old verb to put to sleep. Ah! But the words of Christ open to us a glimpse of what is beyond, and bring to all who believe on Him most blessed promises. 2. (9) Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? Not alone of power, but of friendship as well. If it had been possible for these selfish and calculating ecclesiastics to do so, doubtless they would have denied the fact of Christ's miracles. And now, when He reveals Himself as the Resurrection and the Life, possessed of the key to what is inaccessible to all others, of the power most essential to man, they resolve upon His death. Yet it cannot be denied that greater works than those wrought during Christ's ministry were effected after his ascension, and that the spiritual economy was introduced into the world with signal trophies of might and signal omens of victory. There will be no sudden shock, no painful consciousness of the pangs of death and the grief of separation; but the throbbing delight and gratitude of awaking after a sweet and a refreshing sleep. So that he was probably dead as soon as the messengers arrived to tell the Saviour that he was ill. John 11:18. “Wilt thou expose that corrupt corpse to the air? It is impossible to argue against this contradiction. And in this last case, as if more completely to show His authority, Jesus had permitted the event to occur, as if He desired to show Himself stronger than this dark power, even when the victim had lain in its fetters four long days. It is possible, however, that the legs of Lazarus were swathed separately after the Egyptian manner. But it does not seem to have occurred to them that there was any evidence upon which they could found such charges. But he wrought mighty works, and by their means not only excited interest among the people, but acquired influence over them. The true Comforter is at hand. We have all to die, to sink in utter weakness past all strength of our own, past all friendly help of those around us. Faith has its secret mission as well as its public one. In reality, they who suffer for him "suffer with him. Nor must it be forgotten that the "many miracles" which Jesus wrought when here on earth were the earnest and the promise of those greater and more amazing moral miracles which from the throne of his glory he has been working through the long ages of the Christian dispensation.—T. If the messenger of the sisters had taken equal time to reach Jesus in Perked, or even a longer period, as time might easily be consumed in the effort to find our Lord in the mountains of Moab; then the two days of his waiting after receiving the message would, with those occupied by the double journey, make up the four that had passed when Jesus reached the grave. Consequently when the hour of darkness came their feeble faith and hope for the time failed them. When parents lose the children whom they could not bear to have for a day out of their sight, whom they longed for if they were absent an hour beyond their time, it is no doubt some comfort to know that one day they will again fold them to their breast. Many think that it is to be understood—about 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. There can only be one meaning in that expression--it was the language of a despairing and desponding mind, which could see nothing but dark clouds in the picture. Thus the mystery which had been hidden was disclosed; that the salvation of God is for all, irrespective of race and privilege. For His presence in itself summoned Mary, as love calls the lover to the loved. She got her feet wet standing on the ground preaching temperance and the gospel to a group of boys and men, went home with a chill, and congestion set in, and they told her she was very dangerously ill. “I thought so,” she said, “but it is really too good to be true that I am going. Instead of remaining with these, her faith embraced him altogether, and ensured at once his Divine and infinite fullness. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. The expression 'the Last Day' is peculiar to St. John. ] And as we view Mary coming weeping to Him, followed by a wailing crowd of friends, and Jesus Himself becoming troubled at the sight of this grief, and the thought that death should have such hateful power, we derive lessons of comfort and peace. ", , "Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. LESSONS. John 11:1. Jesus is also able to bring resurrection life to us and to the churches today. Others understand 'our place' to be Jerusalem (cp. ] Oh, for faith to bless God for the mercies that are on the way to us! Father. The Sanhedrin as a whole had testified to the reality of our Lord's miracles; Caiaphas here testified to the sacrificial offering and the world-wide mediation of Christ. But the sympathy of the Saviour can do what human sympathy is unable to effect. "Thy brother shall rise again. I. Christ’s arrival sparks some reactions in Mary & Martha. 2. It was Christ’s sense of God, His uninterrupted consciousness of God, His distinct knowledge that God the loving Father is the existence in whom all live,-it was this which made it impossible for Christ to think of death as extinction or separation from God. The prophetic power, long withdrawn, is restored for a moment, just as the Levitical priesthood was about to be abolished by the one offering of Christ upon the cross. ] And more convincing still was His own resurrection. Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. With such a method of opposition to Christ many modern unbelievers have no sympathy. But it consists of twelve hours only—no more. She sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to his words, while Martha was busied with practical duties (Luke 10:40). Jesus could see the ultimate result of his absence; they could not. 1. "Jesus said unto Martha, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" (15) And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. Four days.—Perhaps there is here an allusion to the Jewish tradition that after three days the spirit, which has hovered about the tomb, finally leaves the changing body. He shuts himself off from the light of God-given opportunity, and carries no lamp in his soul. The disciples did not understand Jesus—how were they likely to do so? The priests and Pharisees succeeded beyond their hopes. in the sense of hot anger, neither pain nor grief. ", Jesus had fled Judea because of increased persecution from the Jewish leaders and travelled on the east side of the Jordan River (, The Jewish leaders were trying to seize Jesus and stone Him while in Jerusalem (.
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