John 11:33-41

Ver 33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34. And said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. 35. Jesus wept. 36. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37. And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? 38. Jesus therefore again groaning in himself comes to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, says to him, Lord, by this time he stinks: for he has been dead four days. 40. Jesus says to her, Said I not to you, that, if you would believe, you should see the glory of God? 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.

CHRYS. Christ did not answer Mary, as He had her; sister, on account of the people present. In condescension to them He humbled Himself, and let His human nature be seen, in order to gain them as witnesses to the miracle: When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in His spirit, and was troubled.

AUG. For who but Himself could trouble Him? Christ was troubled, because it pleased Him to be troubled; He hungered, because it pleased Him to hunger. It was in His own power to be affected in this or that way or not. The Word took up soul and flesh, and whole man, and fitted it to Himself in unity of person. And thus according to the nod and will of that higher nature in Him, in which the sovereign power resides, He becomes weak and troubled.

THEOPHYL. To prove His human nature He sometimes gives it free vent, while at other times He commands, and restrains it by, the power of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord allows His nature to be affected in these ways both to prove that He is very Man, not Man in appearance only; and also to teach us by His own example the due measures of joy and grief. For the absence altogether of sympathy and sorrow is brutal, the excess of them is womanly.

AUG. And said, Where have you laid him? He knew where but He asked to try the faith of the people.

CHRYS. He did not wish to thrust the miracle upon them, but to make them ask for it, and thus do away with all suspicions.

AUG. The question has an allusion too to our hidden calling. That, predestination by which we are called, is hidden; and the sign of its being so is our Lord asking the question. He being as it were in ignorance, so long as we are ignorant ourselves. Or because our Lord elsewhere shows that He knows not sinners, saying, I know you not, because in keeping His commandments there is no sin. They said to Him, Lord, come and see.

CHRYS. He had not yet raised anyone from the dead; and seemed as if He came to weep, not to raise to life. Wherefore they say to Him, Come and see.

AUG. The Lord sees when He pities, as we read, Look upon my adversity and misery, and forgive me all my sin. Jesus wept.

ALCUIN. Because He was the fountain of pity. He wept in His human nature for him whom He was able to raise again by His divine.

AUG. Wherefore did Christ weep, but to teach men to weep?

BEDE. It is customary to mourn over the death of friends; and thus the Jews explained our Lord's weeping: Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him.

AUG. Loved him. Our Lord came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

And some of them said, Could not this Man which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? He was about to do more than this, to raise him from death.

CHRYS. It was His enemies who said this. The very works, which should have evidenced His power, they turn against Him, as if He had not really done them. This is the way that they speak of the miracle of opening the eyes of the man that was born blind. They even prejudge Christ before He has come to the grave, and have not the patience to wait for the issue of the matter.

Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself, comes to the grave. That He wept, and He groaned, are mentioned to show us the reality of His human nature. John who enters into higher statements as to His nature than any of the other Evangelists, also descends lower than any in describing His bodily affections.

AUG. And do you too groan in yourself, if you would rise to new life. To every man is this said, who is weighed down by any vicious habit. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. The dead under the stone is the guilty under the Law. For the Law, which was as given to the Jews, was as graven on stone. And all the guilty are under the Law, for the Law was not made for a righteous man.

BEDE. A cave is a hollow in a rock. It is called a monument, because it reminds us of the dead. Jesus said, Take away the stone.

CHRYS. But why did He not raise him without taking away the stone? Could not He who moved a dead body by His voice, much more have moved a stone? He purposely did not do so, in order that the miracle might take place in the sight of all; to give no room for saying, as they had said in the case of the blind man, This is not he. Now they might go into the grave, and feel and see that this was the man.

AUG. Take away the stone; mystically, take away the burden of the law, proclaim grace.

AUG. Perhaps those are signified who wished to impose the rite of circumcision on the Gentile converts; or men in the Church of corrupt life, who offend believers.

AUG. Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, though they had often seen Christ raise the dead, did not fully believe that He could raise their brother; Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said to Him, Lord, by this time he stinks, for he has been dead four days.

THEOPHYL. Martha said this from weakness of faith, thinking it impossible that Christ could raise her brother, so long after death.

BEDE. Or, these are not words of despair, but of wonder.

CHRYS. Thus everything tends to stop the mouths of the unbelieving. Their hands take away the stone, their ears hear Christ's voice, their eyes see Lazarus come forth, they perceive the smell of the dead body.

THEOPHYL. Christ reminds Martha of what He had told her before, which she had forgotten: Jesus said to her, Said I not to you, that, if you would believe, you should see the glory of God?

CHRYS. She did not remember what He said above, He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. To the disciples He had said That the Son of God might be glorified thereby; here it is the glory of the Father He speaks of. The difference is made to suit the different hearers. Our Lord could not rebuke her before such a number, but only says, You shall see the glory of God.

AUG. Herein is the glory of God, that he that stinks and has been dead four days, is brought to life again. Then they took away the stone.

ORIGEN. The delay in taking away the stone was caused by the sister of the dead, who said, By this time he stinks, for he has been dead four days. If she had not said this, it would not be said, Jesus said, Take away the stone. Some delay had arisen; it is best to let nothing come between the commands of Jesus and doing them.