Jesus has righteous indignation towards a lack of application of doctrine

John 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

 

Mary has not lost her doctrine. An ECS doesn’t disintegrate in four days, but her bitterness has led her to judge Jesus like Martha did for not showing up on time.

 

The principle is that when we over think a problem we will eventually get bitter and short circuit our flow of doctrine.

 

This is precisely the same remark made by Martha in verse 21.

 

However, there is a difference. Martha said it in ignorance of doctrine; Mary says it in cognisance of doctrine.

 

When Martha made this remark Jesus taught her doctrine - this was her need.

 

When Mary made this remark Jesus is silent because Mary knows the doctrine. She is not applying what she knows.

 

Three times in this context human viewpoint is expressed: by Martha in verse 21 - a believer ignorant of doctrine; by Mary in verse 32 - a believer who fails to apply doctrine; by the crowd in verse 37 - unbelievers with human viewpoint. These are helpless people in their souls.

 

Principle: Jesus who delivers from death can also deliver through death.

 

All three groups express human viewpoint because to them death makes the situation hopeless.

 

The crowd can be excused on the basis of unbelief - 1 Corinthians 2:14.

 

The sisters were believers, therefore Jesus will demonstrate - what man cannot do, God can do.

 

Therefore a principle will come out of this: Man’s extremity/ man’s impossibility is God’s opportunity - Luke 1:37. There is no problem too difficult for God.

 

Any man can show Jesus where the tomb is, that’s easy, but only Jesus Christ can bring the dead man back. But even greater than what we see in this passage is what God can do for us.

 

Luke 1:26-38

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. 36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

 

Elizabethis barren and Mary is a virgin. It’s as if God likes to do the impossible.

 

Naturally, Mary needed to be a virgin so that Christ would be born without a sin nature.

 

John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled,

 

The Greek word for weeping is klaio, which means to sob without restraint. Mary is completely overwhelmed with grief.

 

Jesus gave doctrine to Martha, but He is not going to give doctrine to Mary because she already knows it. The Lord is going to do something else.

 

“he was deeply moved” -aorist middle indicative of e)mbriaomai  [e)m= in; briaomai= to snort with anger]. So He didn’t groan, He was full of inner indignation.

 

What a silly translation. It makes it seem that the Lord feels bad for Mary. He does not. He has righteous indignation towards her.

 

This is a bona fide, legitimate indignation: How dare she come here and fall at my feet and sob in this way with no doctrine on the launching pad of her soul? In other words, the Lord expects Mary to apply what she has learned, just like He expects us to.

 

It is not wrong for her to cry; that is not the point. It is wrong for her to be doing the same kind of weeping that the unbelievers are doing.

 

The unbelievers have an excuse - ignorance; she has no excuse because she has doctrine.

           

So Jesus was indignant and he was indignant “in the spirit” - why doesn’t it say the soul?

 

Because to snort with indignation in the soul might indicate anger, but to snort with indignation in the Spirit [The Holy Spirit, not the human spirit] means that there was no sin here, it was a bona fide indignation, righteous indignation.

 

The word e)mbriaomaialso means to censor, to express strong displeasure, but He keeps His strong displeasure on the inside.

           

“and was troubled” - aorist active indicative tarasswwhich means He was really stirred up. But not out of fellowship.

 

We have terasswplus the accusative of the reflexive pronoun e(autoj, and this means He was agitated within Himself.

 

This doesn’t mean that He was aggravated but rather He was agitated or stirred up with deep compassion.

 

He shares the sorrows of the sisters. He took upon Himself their sorrows and their griefs, as well as everyone’s - Isaiah 53:4.

 

This phrase actually expresses a deep compassion and at the same time indignation. Jesus can understand their frailties and be compassionate but He is indignant that of all people Mary should be crying like a person with no doctrine when she is loaded with it.

 

Her problem is four days of operation over-think.

 

And again, notice He doesn’t comfort her. His silence towards her is His request of her to start to apply the doctrine she possesses.

 

So He gets to the task at hand.

 

John 11:34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."

 

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

 

“Jesus wept,” o( I)hsouj dakruw. He didn’t kleiw; He is indignant with kleiw. This is an ingressive aorist and it should be translated, “Jesus began to weep.” But dakruwis in contrast to kleiw. Kleiwmeans to screech and weep and wail. Dakruwis soft, quiet weeping where every tear is rooted in the soul. It is the weeping of a bona fide capacity for love.

 

You can all come to your own conclusions as to who or what Jesus is weeping over. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, the unbelievers in Israel, Israel as a nation, you can take your pick.

 

What we can say for sure is that the Lord has true divine love for members of the human race. Every status of a person is in this story.

 

Unbelievers

Believers who are negative - Martha

Believers who are positive but don’t apply - Mary

Believers who are positive and do apply - Lazarus

 

Hundreds of people are going to see this miracle and it will be reported to Jerusalem and to the Pharisees. And what is their response to this - Kill Him!

 

Those whom the Lord loves with perfect divine love want to kill him, maybe that’s the biggest reasons why he weeps from His soul.

 

Now we have a response from the crowd who witness Jesus weeping. The first ones are genuinely sympathetic, they have capacity for sympathy.

 

John 11:36 And so the Jews were saying, "Behold how He loved him!"

 

The second group is much like religious people. They are so negative that no matter how much you do for them they will still hate you.

 

John 11:37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have kept this man also from dying?"

 

And when they say “dying” they use a Greek word that means a violent death. Lazarus didn’t die a violent death, he died in bed.

 

Religious people will always inflate their negative opinions and stories that are meant to put down.

 

Religion despises grace in all its forms.

 

John 11:38 Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

 

Verse 38 - as a result of all of this complaining we have a response on the part of Jesus. “Jesus therefore again being deeply moved” - present middle participle of the same verb used in verse 33, from e)mbriazomai.

 

The word means inner indignation, strong inner displeasure. Jesus is not moved, this is inner anger, bona fide anger.

 

The occasion of this indignation is the criticism of the religious Jews in the previous verse.

 

It is because of the total injustice and the folly of such criticism.

 

The failure to orient to the plan of God causes Jesus’ inner indignation. This is righteous indignation, not anger in the sense of the sin.

“It was a cave” - this was a tomb carved out of the side of the Mount of Olives where many caves were located, and it was sealed up with a great stone. Literally, “a stone lay against it, upon it.”

 

John 11:39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."

 

Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things. Martha shows again her absorption with the details of life. She keeps a clean kitchen. She likes everything in place. She likes things done in the usual way.

 

Notice that Mary says nothing. It is very probable here that the silence of the Lord and maybe even the look in His eye of indignation woke Mary up to the doctrine she’s had for years and is now applying it.

 

Mary doesn’t exactly know yet what

 

John 11:40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 

 

John 11:41 And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.

 

John 11:42 "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me." 

 

John 11:43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 

 

John 11:44 He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."