The enmity of the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem led Him to withdraw for a time from the city, and it was to Peræa that He turned His steps. II. Not alone of power, but of friendship as well. Joh . ἄρατε has rather the idea of "lift" than "roll away;" it is used for "take," "take away," "carry as a burden." And of this number Mary seems to have been one. Devils have need, but not the inclination and power. But the statement made in the text brings to our minds an actual instance of the Lord's friendship, which helps us to apprehend and to feel that it is not a mere matter of theory; that Jesus is indeed a Friend to those who welcome him into their heart and home with reverence and gratitude, and with the response of devout and ardent love. ), yet, after this evil counsel, they deliberated on the surest and safest way of destroying him. The bones are robbed of their flesh, the flesh of its veins, the veins of blood, and all the members of sensation. They have resolved on the death-penalty. Men often allow their fears to stand in the way of duty. Christ’s friends die. Death to them is abolished. Why didn"t you respond? 3. "Sanhedrin," in his 'Bib. Meyer and some others, from the reference to another condition, viz. This name is Greek (though Hebraized in the Talmud), and signifies the supreme court of the people, resident in Jerusalem, consisting of seventy-one members, with a president, Nasi, and a vice-president, Ab-baith-den.) And his face was bound about with a napkin, Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and suffer him to depart, Many therefore of the Jews which came to Mary, and beheld that. Is the common love to Jesus the uniting bond? Observe the loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 4. They did not say anymore. But there is also a foundation for the blessed assurance of this faith and hope in the words of Jesus, in which He declared Himself the Prince of life (Joh ). Jesus can do more than sympathise and comfort: He can infuse into bereaved and sorrowing hearts a "lively hope," a greater hope, than could be given to Martha and Mary ere their brother was raised. Then after this He saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. 3. It leads directly to the decision of the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus. "Has nature, who quenches our bodily thirst, who rests our weariness and perpetually encourages us to endeavour onward, prepared no food for this appetite of immortality?" There seems to have been just a tinge of reproach in Martha’s words, and Mary said exactly the same words to their dear Master and Friend a little later; and I have often heard Martha and Mary talk in this fashion: “Oh, if we had only had another doctor!” or, “If our dear friend had not gone to the seaside;” or, possibly, “If he had gone to the seaside, he might not have died.” Well now, beloved friends, you have grief enough in having lost your relative or friend without adding to it by these unwise suppositions about what might have happened if you had done something else. And what has been the result? In God’s book, towns are most remarkable for saints that dwell in them. He here figures as the pessimist of the apostolic circle; in John 20 as the sceptic. Can I still trifle, and deride His tears? The sickness of Lazarus was evidently severe; nay, more, was dangerous. He calls through the living and the dead. 3. But the artist has depicted an awful pause in the revelry. It should be ours to wait in faith for Him to act. They came to comfort the sisters, and found for themselves "the Consolation of Israel. Jesus is never ashamed of His friends. You have just heard our long, well-known and beautiful Gospel reading from John about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. His miracles were instructive, and his teaching was miraculous. ", "he had his whole body from foot to head bound with manifold wrappings for the grave. He knew that within a short time He too, in taking upon Himself the sins of men, would have taken upon Himself their death. Tears are often the expression of love as well as grief. As EXPRESSIONS OF HIS THOROUGH HUMANITY. When thou comest to the bed of languishing, what of inner willingness and receptivity dost thon bring with thee? τοῦτο; "Is this thy belief?" But time is an equally important condition, and whereas in John 9:4, John 9:5 the Lord laid emphasis upon the limited amount of opportunity during which the light lasts and the work can be done; so here there is an appointed period during which stumbling is unnecessary: "twelve hours in the day." In reality, they who suffer for him "suffer with him. Creeds are good for the memory, Christ is good for the heart. John 11:7. ", It was not before the public, but in the secret conclave of the Sanhedrin, that the Sadducean chief priests and the Pharisees made this very remarkable admission. ( ἐφίλει, not ἠγάπα; amabat, not diligebat). "Tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. We see Jesus making similar references to His glory being revealed by the miracles recorded in John (, , "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. They saw in the miracle the evidence of his Messiahship, and heartily accepted Christ as their Redeemer. John Ker. She needed no further explanations. John 11:9. To understand this we must notice: 1. Oh, I wish I could fly. Keep in mind that salvation is not a set of rules; it is. tie approached his grave as a Friend, and, as a Friend, called his friend back to life. ", "Lord, you know, maybe--who knows? His foes were many, but his friends were very few; he had only one Lazarus. 3. Not being aware of his retreat, not caring, perhaps, to dispatch him by hired assassins, they determined in the most public way, on a great platform, to complete the deep damnation of his taking off, little forecasting their eternal infamy. 11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of l Mary and her sister Martha. He was Friend to the whole group, and known to them all. 5. 3. Sometimes, from the inevitable cares and engagements of life, often from causes which cannot be traced, he finds himself in perplexity and gloom. So, my brother, at all risks go on with your God-given work; you will live through your twelve hours, and you will not live a moment longer. The points submitted to their cognizance were hierarchical and religious. They are too near him who is the Life for death to hurt them; if. These things said he: and after that he saith unto them. A certain man was sick in Bethany who was the brother of a valiant and faithful servant of the Lord. Will not many of you make Martha’s grand confession of faith your own? They regarded the position of Jesus in the light of their own interests, and accordingly proceeded to deal with his case with a brutal frankness and insensibility. Yet, in the Lord’s mouth, it is doubtless used to indicate the lesson that death, like sleep, awaits a waking. Too much often is expected of his personal presence, time, attention, and service. 1. It was not the raising of Lazarus that the apostles preached, great and wonderful as was that sign; it was the rising again of Jesus. 2. 2. ", "I"m the resurrection and the life. God bless you, Thomas! As Guest at Bethany, Jesus had afforded Martha many opportunities of judging of his nature; and her reason and her heart alike assured her that he was indeed Divine. "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Jesus troubled—Without enumerating various other interpretations of the passage, we think Augustine, Erasmus, Luthardt, Hengstenberg, and Moulton meet our difficulty by the suggestion that death itself occasioned this indignation. This he spake not from himself: but being high priest that awful, critical year, he prophesied. The readiness of her faith is not only proved by her prompt response to the kind invitation of Jesus, but also by the interview between them. for the theocratic organization, whose were the promises, to whom was given the dominion—and not that the entire nation (the political aggregation) perish. that of time, persist in limiting the notion of the day to that of the period of service, about which the Lord says also some very solemn things; and Meyer objects to Luthardt and others, who give to the sun, to the light of this world, any moral or spiritual meaning. This would seem to be simply a title of courtesy, of respect, of reverence. Mary's name is probably mentioned first from the further record of her ecstatic love, which the other Gospels were diffusing through the world, and to which John makes an anticipatory reference. John 11:34-35. Before he offers any further consolation, he probes to the quick her faith in him and in the eternal life. In him the truth of Christ’s words was exemplified: “He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” He will doubtless, like all men, undergo that change which we call death; he will become disconnected from this present earthly scene, but his life in Christ will suffer no interruption. 1. Lucke and others refer to the habit of swathing separate limbs, but in such a way as not to impede motion if the person thus swathed desired it. This is, indeed, a lofty flight of faith; justified, it is true, by the fact, yet exciting our amazement and admiration. They came to comfort them, according to ordinary usage among the Jews after bereavement. that Thou didst hear My prayer that Lazarus might be raised. ] Now he awoke to the old life; they to a new one. But some of them said, Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that this man also should not die? Read 1 John 3 online. 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