Or, The Deep Trouble of Motivations
Scripture: John 11:28-37
Date: April 7, 2013
Speaker: Sean Higgins
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We wade into deep water in this paragraph. Though it includes the shortest verse in the English Bible, the brevity may do more to stir up trouble than settle it down.
Everyone weeps at this part of the story. Mary comes to Jesus and weeps. The crowd follows her and weeps with her. Then Jesus weeps. But we should at least ask if they are all weeping for the same reason. Perhaps they are. Lazarus has been dead four days. His sisters, Martha and Mary, had sent word to Jesus before their brother died with hope that Jesus would come and heal him. The sisters loved their brother and knew that Jesus loved him, too (verse 3). They mourned now that he was dead and when Jesus arrived, He weeps as well. The crowd interpreted it as a sign of Jesus’ love for Lazarus. Was it?
Remember, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill He said that the illness did not lead to death (verse 4). Then John, as he told the story, expressed that Jesus loved the siblings (verse 5) so he stayed two days longer where He was (verse 6). Jesus went out of His way not to go. Why? How could that be love?
What did Jesus say at the start of the story? This is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it (verse 4). The entire story aims to show more of who God is and why He is so glorious. How would His glory shine? Jesus told the disciples His plan to “awaken” Lazarus (verse 11). Then as He explained to Martha, He wasn’t going to raise Lazarus simply because He wanted to show His power over death, but because He is the resurrection and the life.
Resurrection is such a part of who God is that it should be considered one of His attributes. It is His nature to raise the dead and be raised from the dead Himself. While death is inevitably irreversible from a human perspective, death is inevitably reversible from God’s. Death stands no chance against the one who created it because He exists to overcome it.
No other religion or philosophy dares to dream up such a God. The gods of men may be immortal but they never go through the grave to get there. The gods of men may occasionally be said to raise men from the dead but we’re supposed to be impressed by their power not by their character. To see the glory of our God, we must see God’s Son and especially we must see Him as the Resurrection. We do not behold the fullness of glory until we connect resurrection with Christ’s nature.
For sake of illustration, let’s say that you, by nature, are a picture straightener. Ever since you were born, you see crooked, half-hung pictures and paintings. You not only love to level them, you have the touch. No one taught you how. You don’t need tape measures or laser levels. You don’t do it because you’re fussy but because it’s your joy. It’s so much who you are that other people know you for it.
Now let’s say that some good friends of yours, another family you’ve known for a long time, email you because they’re moving into a new house and will need to rehang all their artwork. They invite you to come and help them hang the pieces straight from the start; they figure that that would be easier than fixing their mistakes. But you don’t go for a few days. When you finally arrive, the family blubbers because all their pictures are crooked and they have no idea what to do. If only you had come earlier. They thought you were a friend.
I realize that my illustration is too trivial compared to the heaviness of death. But, for sake of comparison, how would you feel if they questioned you like that? If part of who you were was ignored or under-appreciated? Wouldn’t you have a hard time that they were having such a hard time about that? Of all things, this was something they should have trusted, but they don’t.
On a much more weighty level, because the problem is much worse and because the one who can resolve the problem is blameless, this is the sort of scene Jesus enters. He said it is to show His glory, a glory that is resurrection and life, and He finds different levels of doubt, disappointment, and even despair. For all the emotion, we ought to consider who really had something to cry about.
The Context (verses 28-31)
As with the previous paragraph, a few verses move us into the new stage of the story.
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. (John 11:28–31, ESV)
Jesus had been speaking with Martha (verses 17-27). She went to meet Him and He aimed to raise her hope. Her hope flag was flying at half-mast and Jesus worked to resurrect her trust in Him. Martha made a confession about Jesus’ identity in verse 27 and now goes to get her sister.
John doesn’t tell us if or when Jesus told Martha to get Mary. In fact, this may be an example of Martha pushing the situation. Maybe Martha wanted Mary to have some sort of private time with Jesus so she didn’t announce to the group in the house.
When she heard it, [Mary] rose quickly and went to him. She had been in their house in Bethany (verse 20), but now she went out since Jesus had not yet come into the village. For whatever reason, it wasn’t part of His plan to go into town.
Mary got up and left so quickly (verse 29 and 31) that it was hard to hide. Martha made it out twice without raising much attention but when the Jews who were with her in the house…saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. She rushed out as if overwhelmed by emotion. They would take their consoling where their consoling was needed, and it seemed to them as if Mary was headed to the grave site where she would need their support.
The Conversation (verses 32-37)
There isn’t anywhere near the interaction between Jesus and Mary as there was with Jesus and Martha. That said, there is much more visible reaction and drama.
Mary gets to Jesus and says almost the exact thing that Martha started with.
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:32, ESV)
Really trying not to read too many motivations into her reaction, it does seem that John would have us see Mary with more emotion than Martha. Mary fell at his feet. Not only did she collapse, verse 33 says Jesus saw her weeping. She was mourning, as was her sister, but in more visible and audible ways.
She says the same thing as Martha: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Mary is disappointed that Jesus did not come sooner but her disappointment isn’t followed by any statement of hope; her flag is less than half-mast, maybe even dragging on the ground. We may not have warrant to say that more emotion always means less hope but it seems to be the case here.
Except for the possibility that Mary is included in the “they said” of verse 34, we don’t hear anything else from Mary until the beginning of the next chapter. She appears to be overwhelmed and borders on despair over the death of her brother. Can we (or should we) blame her?
It is tempting but too easy to interpret Jesus’ response exactly the same as the Jews did in verse 36.
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. (John 11:33–35, ESV)
The response described in the second half of verse 33 depends on what Jesus saw: Mary was weeping and the Jews who had come with her were also weeping. In light of the weeping, the ESV translates, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. I am deeply moved to say that there is great trouble with that translation (and the NAS is no better). Perhaps, perhaps, this is the best way to understand His reaction. However, moved and troubled are not the best translations.
The Greek word for deeply moved, embrimaomai, is only used five times in the New Testament (here and verse 38, Matthew 9:30 and Mark 1:43; 14:5) and always in the context of irritation or even outrage. It would be better translated, “indignant” as the ESV footnote shows. Indignant means “feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unworthy or insulting treatment.” All of the dictionaries and resources I consulted said “deeply moved” is simply not strong enough.
Likewise, troubled is more “upset” or “agitated.” In the physical realm, the waters in Bethesda were “stirred up” (John 5:7) and metaphorically, Herod was troubled when He heard about the birth of Jesus (Matthew 2:3). Both of these words move away from the idea of compassion or mercy. Mary and the crowd were weeping and Jesus was upset. At what? What motivated this response?
Perhaps He was upset at an unspoken expectation for Him to work a miracle. The problem with that is, He already told His disciples and Martha that He was going to show them His glory by raising Lazarus from the dead. Perhaps, instead, He was upset at hypocritical mourning. But what makes us think that Mary’s cries were fake and, similarly, what in the story would make us think that the Jews were pretending?
Another possibility, and the common answer, is that Jesus was angry at death, or more broadly at the entire mess of sorrow and grief caused by death. Preachers even get poetic about it. One of the extra-biblical uses of “deeply moved” is by Aeschylus who wrote in Seven against Thebes (1.461, sixth to fifth century BC) about a horse snorting as it readied to rush at the enemy (Kostenberger, 339-340). So the idea could be that Jesus raises up and snorts at death He is about to defeat.
While this seems more possible than the first two, why would He be angry at the death He arranged to overcome in order to show His glory?
Another possibility, and the one I prefer, is that Jesus is upset by their despair. He is insulted and angry by their failure to believe Him, the resurrection and the life. The mourners were sobbing as if Jesus is helpless. Nothing could be further from the truth. They wail as if it was too late for Him to do anything.
He does not try to explain anything to Mary but asks where Lazarus’ tomb is. They offer to take Him.
Then, Jesus wept (ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς). This is the shortest verse in the English Bible (1 Thessalonians 5:16 is shorter in Greek by two letters, Πάντοτε χαίρετε, “Rejoice always.”). The brevity doesn’t help us. Is He weeping because they don’t get who He is? Is He weeping because He’s joining their grief? He’s not weeping because of Lazarus since He was minutes away from raising Lazarus.
I tend to think that He’s upset that they don’t trust Him and yet still sympathetic that they are in sorrow. When we started chapter 11 I argued that sovereign gladness and sovereign sorrow do not contradict. He is showing His glory and He knows the real pain that is involved. Nevertheless, He wants us to trust Him, not question Him.
The Jews make two different, both of which get into the trouble of guessing Jesus’ motivations.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:36–37, ESV)
The first group took the sentimental approach. Jesus weeps and all they can figure is that Jesus loved Lazarus. That’s true, but not all there is.
The second group took the cynical approach. For the third time in the chapter, Jesus is questioned. It corroborates the healing of the man born blind in chapter 9, at least for the sake of argument. But it limits Jesus to hanging pictures, not straightening crooked ones.
In one sense their reasoning was sound but their imagination / hope was full of holes.
So what is the point of this passage in the story? What can we take-away?
We see that unbelief insults Jesus.
We should be careful to consider what we have to cry about. What is the worst part of the story? The sadness or the disbelief? The death of Lazarus or the absence of hope?
With Martha, Jesus was raising her hope. With Mary, Jesus is both insulted by the despair and compassionate toward the weakness.
He can plan for His glory to be seen and still be insulted when it isn’t. He can plan to raise the dead and still have compassion for those who feel the loss.
We see that (proper) emotions are proper.
Emotions (and emotional responses) are not a human invention (let alone a result of evolution). Emotions are subject to the power of sin and they are subject to the power of righteousness and truth. Either way, our capacity and exercise of emotions is part of bearing God’s image. We see the humanity of Christ in His emotions.
That means we can and must grow into proper responses, including love for fallen people, sorrow and gladness at the things God controls, and jealously for His name when others disregard His character. It is okay and not okay at the same time.
We see the benefit of worship for our believing and emotions.
When we gather for worship, and we express excitement, we are not ignoring the hard and painful things. Instead, we are proclaiming the gospel. Part of our Sunday morning warfare is to run at the walls of unbelief with the truth of Jesus Christ.