John 11:33

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, &c. You will ask, of what nature was the groaning and trouble of Christ?

First, Eusebius Emissenus, or rather Gallus: He groaned that He might teach us to groan over sinners. (Infremuit) that is, He groaned : But the groan is of one who pities, the murmur of one who is indignant. Nonnus translates agitated or disturbed by His fatherly mind. But this is too general, nor does it explain what or of what nature this trouble was.

Secondly, Theophylact by spirit understands Divinity; as if it were said, Jesus by His Spirit, i.e., by His Divinity, powerfully and as if by groaning, repressed His tears and the feeling of commiseration which was aroused in Him because of the lamentation of Mary and of the Jews, lest bursting forth into tears; and sobbing like others, He might speak in a voice weak and tearful, such as would be unfitting one so grave and holy.

To this agree S. Chrysostom and others, who by " murmur " understand the feeling of anger, indignation, and wrath which Christ, putting as it were a force upon Himself, mastered and repressed with a serene and firm countenance His feeling of commiseration and the tears ready to flow: as if it were said, Christ threatened and restrained His spirit and His human nature, that it should not yield to weeping. But against this is, first, that this feeling of compassion had plainly not yet been aroused when Christ groaned, but a little after, when He was troubled. Secondly, because in Christ these passions and affections were not involuntary and violent, but freely and voluntarily assumed, as I shall soon state.

I say then, that Christ here displayed the feeling and act of murmuring (A. V. groaning), that is, of indignation in spirit or mind and the innermost perceptions of the soul, when by sign and murmur, or indignant voice, He signified outwardly the grief which He felt arising from the death of Lazarus, and from the sobbing of Mary and the Jews: and that by this murmur He, as it were, prepared and animated Himself to the arduous combat with death, that He might signify how difficult would be the raising of Lazarus from the grave after four days' dwelling there. Whence S. Augustine says: In the voice of indignation appears the hope of resurrection; in truth Jesus foresaw that He because of the raising up of Lazarus would be crucified by the envious Pharisees; yet not allowing this to stand in the way, He determined to raise him up; which act of heroic fortitude He allowed to be manifested in this groan. So soldiers groan when battle is near, and excite and sharpen their anger for the difficult and perilous combat that is imminent; for their anger is the whetstone of valour and bravery. Hence also we, when temptation, whether of the devil, the flesh, and the world, threatens, should sharpen our anger against them, that we may overcome the temptation; for by anger is concupiscence overcome, though the difficulty of the task be great. Further, this murmur, that is, indignation, was against death, and the devil, by whose envy death had entered into the world; which had been the cause of such bitter sorrow and lamentation.

And was troubled (Gr. and Vulg. He troubled Himself). That is, He permitted freely and willingly to Himself the strong feeling both of indignation, as already mentioned, and of commiseration and tears, because of the common lamentation of Martha, Mary, and the rest; for it would have been inhuman not to grieve and sympathise with them. For them therefore Jesus was troubled.

Note these passions of indignation, sorrow, commiseration, and weeping, were in such a manner in Christ as not to overbear His reason and will, or to arise unbidden as they are aroused with us; but rather to follow His reason, and to be ruled and excited by it. On which account right reason always used to direct and regulate them. Therefore [S. John] says, He troubled Himself (turbavit Seipsum); not, He was troubled. Wherefore these passions were in Christ not so much passions as feelings in place of passions, freely taken, as divines teach, out of Damascene. For Christ was able as He chose to excite them, to soften, to moderate, to rule, to direct, much more completely than a charioteer does his horses and his chariot.

He troubled therefore himself: putting on the feeling of grief, anger, and compassion, and showing it by a change of voice and countenance because of grief. Therefore the proper cause of this murmur and trouble of Christ was the death of Lazarus, and the weeping of Mary and the Jews, as appears from the verses themselves. The misery therefore of Lazarus and of all men excited the pity of Christ, the pity excited indignation against such troubles, the indignation increased the pity, and at the same time with it aroused zeal, and a purpose of taking away those troubles, even with the casting away of His own life by the death upon the Cross, by which so great a benefit was alone to be purchased, according to what Isaiah says (Isa 63:4), "The day of vengeance is in my heart... and my fury it upheld me." Ver. 34. And said, Where have ye laid him, &c. Christ knew the place where Lazarus was buried: for, as S. Augustine argues, Didst thou know that he was dead, and art ignorant where he is buried? Yet He asked the question; because He acted with men after a human manner, and by the inquiry prepared Himself, and cleared the way for the raising up of Lazarus; and excited the attention at once of Mary, Martha, and the Jews, so that they should watchfully consider the words and actions of Christ, who was about to raise him.

Symbolically, S. Gregory says: Christ recalling to the women the sin of Eve, says, "I have placed the man in Paradise whom ye have placed in the tomb."

Come and see. Eagerly they invite Jesus to come and see, hoping that He who had raised up strangers' dead, would raise up also Lazarus His intimate associate, who was so beloved by Him. Whence, mystically, the Gloss: "See, that is pity;" for, as S. Augustine says, the Lord sees when He pities, according to this, "Look upon my adversity, and forgive me all my sins." S. Chrysostom, and after him Theophylact: He seemed to them about to go thither that He might weep, not that He might raise up [the dead]. Ver. 35. Jesus wept. At seeing the sepulchre of Lazarus (although Chrysostom supposes that He wept when He groaned and was troubled, which is equally probable), to signify His love for him, and the grief He felt at his death.

Secondly, that He might weep with the sisters and the Jews who were weeping, and teach us to do the same. So S. Augustine. Hear S. Ambrose: "Christ became all things to all men; poor to the poor, rich to the rich, weeping with the weeping, hungering with the hungry, thirsting with the thirsty, full with the abounding; He is in prison with the poor man, with Mary He weeps, with the Apostles He eats, with the Samaritan woman he thirsts.

Thirdly, that adding tears to His speech, He might make it stronger and more efficacious; for tears are a sign of vehement grief and affliction, and also of desire and longing: wherefore God is accustomed to hear and answer prayers seasoned, and as it were armed, with tears. So Christ on the [eve of the] Cross offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, was heard in that He feared. [E. & Hebrews 5:7, pro suâ reverentiâ, Vulg.] So Tobit (12:12) heard from S. Raphael, "When thou didst pray with tears [the words "with tears," cum lacrymis, are not in the LXX Greek], and didst bring the dead,... I brought thy prayer before the Lord." So Jacob, wrestling with the angel, obtained a blessing (Gen 32:29). Wherefore? because he wept and besought him (Hosea xii. 4). "The tears of penitents," says S. Bernard, "are the wine of angels." For it is the anguish of the mind in prayer which influences, and as it were compels God to pity, according as it is said, "a contrite and humble heart God shall not despise" (Psa 51:17); just as the tears of an infant influence the mother, and obtain from her what it asks; for God shows toward us the heart of a mother.

Other writers give different causes for the tears of Christ. First, Cyril says that Christ wept for the miseries of the human race brought in by sin. Secondly, Andrew Cretensis says that He wept for the unbelief of the Jews, and because they would not believe in Christ, even after they had seen the miracle of the raising of Lazarus. Thirdly, Isidore of Pelusium and Rupertus think that Christ wept for the very reason that he was about to recall Lazarus out of Limbo, that is, from the haven and state of peace, to the storms, dangers, and sufferings of this life.

Further, we read that Christ wept thrice: here at the death of Lazarus; at the Cross (Heb 5:7); at the sight of Jerusalem, and its impending ruin (Luke 19:41). S. Bernard (Sermon 3, in Die Nativ.) says, "The tears of Christ cause me shame and grief.... Can I still trifle, and deride His tears?" And soon after: The Son of God sympathises (compatitur), and He weeps; man suffers (patitur), and shall we laugh?" And S. Augustine says: "Christ wept let man weep for himself: wherefore did Christ weep, unless to teach man to weep? Wherefore did He groan and trouble Himself, except that the faith of man, rightly displeased with himself, should in a manner groan in accusation of his evil works, so that the habit of sinning should yield to the violence of repenting."