11 AND 12 Everything is henceforth ripe for the catastrophe; the development begun in chap. 5 reaches its utmost limit. Yet one more _good work_, and the condemnation of Jesus will be finally pronounced. Chap. 11 places us in the presence of this denouement. Of the sojourn in Peraea the Synoptics... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus, of Bethany, of the village of Mary and Martha, her sister._ 2. _Mary was she who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair; and it was her brother, Lazarus, who was sick._ ” As it is the sickness of Lazarus which is the occasion of all... [ Continue Reading ]
I. THE PREPARATION: JOHN 11:1-16. John first describes the general situation, John 11:1-2; then, the conduct of Jesus towards the two sisters, John 11:3-6; finally, His conversations with the disciples before departing, John 11:7-16. ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 1-16. 1. The write... [ Continue Reading ]
FIRST SECTION: 11:1-57. THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. No scene in this gospel is presented in so detailed and dramatic a manner. There is none from which appears more distinctly the character of Jesus as at once perfectly divine and perfectly human, and none which more fully justifies the central de... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _The sisters therefore sent to Jesus to say to him, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick._ 4. _Jesus, having heard this, said: This sickness is not unto death; but it is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby._ ” The message of the sisters is full of delicacy; this... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus._ 6. _When therefore he heard that he was sick, he remained yet two days in the place where he was;_ 7 _then, when this time had passed, he says to the disciples_, _Let us go into Judea again._ ” It might be supposed that the remark introduced par... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 7. The δέ which should answer to the μέν of John 11:6 is omitted, as often in Greek, because the opposition which the μέν had in view gives place to the simple historical succession; see _Weiss._ The expression ἔπειτα μετὰ τοῦτο, literally: _afterwards, after that_, John 11:7, is not a pleonasm... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _The disciples say to him; Master, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee, and dost thou return thither?_ 9. _Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walk during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world;_ 10 _but if any one walk in the ni... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _He spoke thus, and after this he says to them, Lazarus, our friend, sleeps; but I go to awaken him._ 12. _Whereupon they said to him;Lord, if he sleeps, he will recover._ 13. _But Jesus had spoken of his death, and they thought that he was speaking of the rest of sleep._ ” The words ταῦτα εἶπε, _... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Then Jesus therefore said to them openly, Lazarus is dead;_ 15 _and I rejoice for your sakes that I was not there, to the end that you may believe; but let us go to him._ 16. _Whereupon Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him._ ” After... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus on his arrival found that he had been in the tomb four days already._ 18. _Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, at the distance of about fifteen furlongs;_ 19 _and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother's death._ ” For the four days, see on John... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 17-27. 1. The opinion of Godet is probably correct, that the death of Lazarus occurred on the day when the messenger came to Jesus from the sisters, after he had started from Bethany. 2. The persons referred to in John 11:19 must be regarded as belongi... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him; but Mary still sat in the house._ 21. _Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord_, _if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died;_ 22 _And even now, I know that whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give it thee._ 23. _... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes on me, even though he were dead, yet shall he live;_ 26 _and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die; believest thou this?_ ” Martha has just spoken of the resurrection as of a future _event;_ Jesus sets in opposit... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 27. “ _She says to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world._ ” To see in this confession of Martha, as some have done, only a simple avowal of a want of understanding with reference to the preceding words of Jesus: “I do not comprehend... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And having said this_, _she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, The Master is here and calls thee._ 29. _She, as soon as she heard this, rises directly and comes to him._ 30. _Now, Jesus was not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him._... [ Continue Reading ]
1. There seems to be no sufficient reason to suppose, as many commentators do, that Jesus had bidden Martha to call her sister secretly. She acted probably on her own impulse possibly because she feared a meeting of Jesus with the Jews, but more probably because of the natural desire that her sister... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _The Jews therefore who were with her in the house and were comforting her, when they saw that she rose up suddenly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there._ 32. _When therefore Mary had come to the place where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell at his feet... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _When therefore Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews who were with her weeping, he shuddered in his spirit and was troubled_, 34 _and he said, Where have you laid him. They say unto him, Lord, come and see._ ” The particle _therefore_ establishes a relation of causality between the grief of Mary an... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus wept._ 36. _The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved him._ 37. _But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that this man also should not have died?_ ” The storm has passed; on approaching the tomb Jesus feels only a tender sympathy for the grief wh... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus therefore, shuddering in himself again, comes to the sepulchre; it was a cave and a stone was placed before it._ 39. _Jesus says, Take away the stone. The sister of the dead man Martha, says to him, Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he has been dead four days._ ” The new inward disturban... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus says to her, Did I not say to thee, that if thou believest thou shalt see the glory of God?_ 41. _They took away the stone therefore. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me._ 42. _As for myself, I knew indeed that thou dost always hear me; but I... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And after having spoken thus, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth._ 44. _And the dead man came forth, his feet and hands bound with bandages; and his face was wrapped in a napkin. Jesus says to them, Loose him and let him go._ ” The loud voice is the expression of a determined will wh... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Many therefore of the Jews, those who had come to Mary and had seen that which he had done, believed on him._ 46. _But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them that which Jesus had done._ ” Again a division among the spectators, and a still more profound one than on any of the previo... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 45-53. 1. The result of the miracle was the production of the desired faith, not only in the sisters and the disciples, but also in many of the Jews who had come to express their sympathy with Mary. The strict rules of construction make οἱ ἐλθόντες the s... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _The chief priests and Pharisees therefore gathered an assembly, and they said, What shall we do? For this man does many miracles._ 48. _If we let him alone, all will believe on him, and the Romans will come and they will destroy both our place and nation._ 49. _But one of them, Caiaphas, who was... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now he did not say this of himself; but being high-priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation_, 52 _and not for the nation only, but also that he might gather in one body the children of God who are scattered abroad._ ” This opinion of the high-priest was made especia... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 53. “ _From this day forth, therefore, they took counsel together to the end that they might put him to death._ ” The _therefore_ intimates that the proposition of Caiaphas was accepted (_Luthardt_), probably in silence and without the intervention of an official vote. From this day forward, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus is forced to withdraw to a retired place. On their part, the rulers take a new step in the path on which they have now entered. VV. 54-57. “ _Jesus therefore abode no more openly among the Jews; but he departed thence and went into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephrai... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 56 vividly depicts the restless curiosity of these country people who, assembled in groups in the temple, were discussing with reference to the approaching arrival of Jesus; comp. John 7:12. ῾Εστηκότες, _standing_, in the attitude of expectation. ῞Οτι does not depend on δοκεῖ; it is more natural... [ Continue Reading ]