|
John 11:35 (the shortest verse in the Bible?) says simply:
How should we understand this? Tearful? Sobbing? What was the nature of his weeping? And what was the reason? Sadness at Lazurus' death? (Unlikely, because He knew about that already.) Sadness at the grief caused to Mary and Martha? Sadness at the lack of faith (if that was the case)? Or something else? |
|||
|
|
|
The Greek word is δακρύω; it means to shed tears. The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament suggests that the aorist here is inceptive: i.e. "he burst into tears." He was sobbing; it was full out weeping. This is the plain and natural reading of the text. This is a beautiful passage. Jesus, fully human, is capable of a full range of human emotions. To claim that he knew what he was about to do and therefore couldn't have been weeping for Lazarus destroys the rich emotional life of Jesus that we have in the Gospels (and Psalms). Obviously he knew all about his victory the whole time. But he genuinely wept on other occasions as well. Jesus, fully divine, is capable of affections in a manner we do not understand, particularly as we do not understand much about the hypostatic union (the union of his natures). Our rationalistic tendency is to use reason to "flatten God out". Resist this tendency; from our standpoint, God is a paradoxical being. Jesus has just dealt ever so tenderly with Mary and Martha, showing each exactly the kind of love she needed (Martha was a little collected than Mary, so he talked to her more in depth). Given the placement of the crying in the story, it is unlikely that he is crying over their wavering (though note—rather impressive) faith. Rather, he is crying over the tragedy that one of his own has died. And yes, that is also crying over the grief of Mary and Martha.
Francis Schaeffer, who loved this passage, comments on the implications of this text in The God Who is There:
|
||||
|
|
|
To me this is one of the most heart rendering passages in the Bible. One of the secondary theses of sensus plenior is that though Jesus was God in the flesh, he did not use one ounce of deity, otherwise he would not have been tempted in every way that we are, and would have forfeited being our high priest. But he thought equality with God not something to be grasped. This is the opposite of Adam who trespassed on the holiness/separation of God by grasping the fruit. Therefor Jesus had to discover from the scriptures who he was and what he was to do. By reading the childish riddles of sensus plenior, he discovered all of it. The Father prepared 'dinner theater' for him acting out the various lessons of the hidden scriptures. As he role played in them, he demonstrated that he not only knew what the scriptures said, but that he was willing to face the cross. In his baptism he plays the role of the firmament, Moses in the basket, Noah's ark, and more. But the cost to him was merely getting wet. In the temptation in the wilderness he played the role of Aaron, Israel, and others as he offer obedience as the better sacrifice. But it only cost him being hungry and thirsty. Other roles that he played in the Father's drama were of little or no cost: a few scared men in a boat, from the war of the nine kings he fed four and five thousand. Though they had little cost, they encouraged him for being on the right track as he pushed toward the cross, each miracle being an 'atta boy' from the Father. It is announce that Lazarus is sick, Jesus understands the picture of the cross that is being painted. Lazarus is the same name as the high priest Eliezer. Jesus must be made a high priest after his resurrection. Prior to the cross he is a 'sickly' high priest like Lazarus, since he is not able to perform as a priest being from the wrong tribe. Lazarus must die. But Jesus, fully confident of his own resurrection has no concept of death. It is a hypothetical to him just as it is to us. Other people die and they will live again. There is no sense of an emotion when he announces that Lazarus is dead. How did he know he was dead? He had to be in order for the 'drama' to take place.
This groaning was deeply troubled groan at the cost of the dinner theater. He knew Lazarus would live, but to see the great grief that it caused to the observers of it. And if this grief is caused by the death of a brother, how much more grief will be caused at his own death, the hope of mankind, which is being foreshadowed by the event? How this grief adds to his continuing temptation to not face the cross. If only there were another way! The realization that the divine attribute which he willingly did not grasp were a small price. But being made to be sin, being separated from his Father, God himself to be separated at the cross. The weight of the personal cost, as the time has grown near for him, has been placed on his shoulders. The dear cost to his friends pierces his heart and alerts him to the dear price of the cross. The deep groan is preview of that of Gethsemane. And Jesus wept. |
||||
|
|
|
It's best to see Jesus' weeping within the context of John's water motif. Though John doesn't use the word water here, several elements indicate he saw in Jesus' tears the healing water welling up within the Son of Man. John's Water Motif Water is an important core symbol within the Gospel of John.
In the early water scenes, John defines two waters, an earthly water used in ritual and tradition and a heavenly water, symbolizing the Spirit, offered by Jesus.
See my answer to What does it mean to be born of water? for more. A Spring Within But Jesus offer of "living water" leads to an imporant question. The Samaritan woman recognizes that Jesus has no physical means to draw from the external well. She asks, "Where can you get this water (4:11)"? Jesus responds by telling her its an internal spring.
In the later half of John, the narrative increasingly focuses on Jesus' body as the primary source of this spring of living water. Christ’s invitation to the thirsty in John 7:38-39 likewise describes Jesus' body as the source of living water.
It's important to note the ambiguity in the Greek here. The Scripture, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water' may refer to the believer as the flows source as it does in John 4:14 and it may refer to Jesus as the source because it points to the climatic flow of water from Jesus' side in John 19:34.
While a promise of an internal spring is given to beleivers, it is from Jesus' body that the narrative depicts a literal secretion. Jesus' body is both like and unlike Jacob's well and the pool of Bethesda. He is a literal container of the heavenly water. The Water Welling Up Within Jesus And the flow of water in John 19:34 isn't the first time John points to the water welling up within Jesus. We see this climatic flow forshadowed in two previous scenes. The first is found in Jesus' healing of the man born blind.
The second is found in the weeping of Jesus in John 11. The first indication John wants us to see the heavenly water in this occurence is the word used for Jesus' weeping. In John 11, the reader is confronted by a number of people weeping.
But the word used for Jesus' weeping is not the same word used for theirs. The word used for the women's weeping is κλαίω. It means to “wail and moan.” δακρύω, the word used for Jesus' weeping on the other hand, means to "shed tears." It is the watery tears of Jesus that John wants us to see. The second indicaiton John wants us to see in these tears the heavenly water is the word used for Jesus' emotion. John 11:33 states,
ταράσσω only appears a few times in John. Later, we find it used of Jesus' emotions in John 12:27, 13:21, 14:1 and 14:27, all of which surround the coming hour of his glorification. The word is only used one time prior to Jesus distress at the tomb of Lazarus. In John 5:7, the lame man responds to Jesus,
The Greek word which the NAS translates as "stirred up" is the same word used for Jesus troubling in John 11:33. It appears like the healing waters of Bethesda in John 5, Jesus, himself, is being stirred up. The tears which flow from his eyes are a demonstration of the divine water that is overflowing within. But this time, unlike Bethesda, the healing water is going to the impotent man. |
||||
|
