John 11:35, the shortest verse slows the whole chapter down, Jesus does not rush past the mourners to prove a point, he does not tell Mary to get up because a miracle is coming, he does not shame Martha for thinking about the odor, he does not treat tears as a failure of faith, he weeps. John has already shown you what Jesus knows, these tears become sharper, not smaller, he knows Lazarus will come out, he knows the Father hears him, he knows the tomb is about to open and still he weeps. That is not weakness, that is holy nearness, the resurrection and the life has come close enough to human sorrow that his own face is wet with tears. Power without compassion would terrify you, compassion without power could not save you, in John 11, both stand before the same grave. Now, John 11:35 can no longer float by itself, it gathers the whole scene into two words.
Real love, real grief, real death, real authority, all present in Christ, but the crowd standing there does not know what to do with him, some look at his tears and say in John 11:36, see how he loved him, they are right, Jesus did love Lazarus. But others ask in John 11:37, this question brings the viewer’s question into the mouths of the crowd, they remember John 9:1-7, they know Jesus opened the eyes of a man born blind, if Jesus could do that, surely he could have kept Lazarus alive. So now the crisis becomes public, if Jesus loved Lazarus, why is there a tomb? If Jesus had power, why did he not use it sooner? If Jesus could have prevented this, what do his tears mean now? That question has not gone away, people still ask it beside hospital beds, fresh graves, empty rooms and prayers that did not end the way they begged God to let them end.
The crowd divides Jesus into two false options, loving, but unable or powerful, but unwilling. Jesus answers by walking toward the stone, John 11:38 says, he is again groaning in himself as he comes to the tomb, it is a cave and a stone lies against it. Now everything becomes physical, the road is behind him, the mourners are around him, the stone is in front of him, Lazarus is behind it, Jesus says, take away the stone. Martha reacts before anyone moves it, John 11:39, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days, four days removes every easy escape from the text, John is not asking the reader to imagine a borderline case or a recovery mistaken for resurrection. Some later discussions have attached additional ideas to the fourth day, but John himself gives you the point plainly through Martha’s warning, death has settled in, the family knows it, the mourners know it.
Real love, real grief, real death, real authority, all present in Christ, but the crowd standing there does not know what to do with him, some look at his tears and say in John 11:36, see how he loved him, they are right, Jesus did love Lazarus. But others ask in John 11:37, this question brings the viewer’s question into the mouths of the crowd, they remember John 9:1-7, they know Jesus opened the eyes of a man born blind, if Jesus could do that, surely he could have kept Lazarus alive. So now the crisis becomes public, if Jesus loved Lazarus, why is there a tomb? If Jesus had power, why did he not use it sooner? If Jesus could have prevented this, what do his tears mean now? That question has not gone away, people still ask it beside hospital beds, fresh graves, empty rooms and prayers that did not end the way they begged God to let them end.
The crowd divides Jesus into two false options, loving, but unable or powerful, but unwilling. Jesus answers by walking toward the stone, John 11:38 says, he is again groaning in himself as he comes to the tomb, it is a cave and a stone lies against it. Now everything becomes physical, the road is behind him, the mourners are around him, the stone is in front of him, Lazarus is behind it, Jesus says, take away the stone. Martha reacts before anyone moves it, John 11:39, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days, four days removes every easy escape from the text, John is not asking the reader to imagine a borderline case or a recovery mistaken for resurrection. Some later discussions have attached additional ideas to the fourth day, but John himself gives you the point plainly through Martha’s warning, death has settled in, the family knows it, the mourners know it.