Introduction:
In Part 4 of our online examination of the biblical account
of Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead, we will focus on Jesus' emotions. You
can compare different translations, different videos, and different approaches
toward the story. You can also skip
portions of the lesson that you don't find interesting or helpful. Earlier Parts of the study can still be
accessed through the Blog Archive menu.
I hope you will continue to check out the various features of each
lesson and let me know what you think.
Please also let me know if you see any technical issues with the
operation of the site.
Prayer:
Lord, remind me that
you are with us always, to the end of the age. Help me to relax, and to let go
of all distractions. Focus my attention
on you and broaden my understanding of what you want me to know. Amen.
Scripture:
In each part of this online study, we have looked at the
same story in a different translation.
As indicated in earlier parts of the study, the account of the raising
of Lazarus appears in the Gospel According to John, Chapter 11, verses
1-44. Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this study
(see the Blog Archive menu) have included the account as translated in the New
Revised Standard Version, the Authorized (King James) Version, and the New
International Version (NIV), respectively.
Here is the passage again, this time as translated in the New Living Translation
(NLT):
A man named Lazarus was sick. He
lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the
Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them
with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters
sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”
4 But when Jesus
heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it
happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from
this.” 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he
stayed where he was for the next two days. 7 Finally, he said to
his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 But his disciples
objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were
trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”
9 Jesus replied,
“There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk
safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 But
at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” 11 Then
he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him
up.”
12 The disciples
said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They
thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had
died.
14 So he told them
plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t
there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
16 Thomas, nicknamed
the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
17 When Jesus arrived
at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four
days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem,
19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in
their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went
to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But
even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her,
“Your brother will rise again.”
24 “Yes,” Martha
said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I
am the resurrection and the life. Anyone
who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who
lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this,
Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she
told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one
who has come into the world from God.” 28 Then she returned to
Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is
here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to him.
30 Jesus had stayed
outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the
people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they
assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When
Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you
had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her
weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up
within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put
him?” he asked them.
They told him, “Lord, come and
see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were
standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some
said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 Jesus was still
angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its
entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s
sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be
terrible.”
40 Jesus responded,
“Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So
they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father,
thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out
loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe
you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And
the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face
wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
Discussion: "Then Jesus Wept."
There is a long history of theological discussion regarding
the so-called "doctrine of divine impassability." The phrase "divine impassability"
refers to the notion that God, being sovereign, all-powerful, and eternal,
would not be subject to pain, suffering
or emotions. The Gospel of John insists
right at the beginning of the first chapter, that Jesus is the "word"
that became "flesh and dwelled among us." If Jesus is really who John
says he is, then could Jesus have experienced real emotions?
The biblical account certainly does not present Jesus as emotionless
in connection with Lazarus' death. In the
New Living Translation of the passage (shown above), Jesus is described as
"angry," "troubled," and weeping. The New International Version says he was
"deeply moved in spirit and troubled." The New Revised Standard Version describes
him as "greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved." The Authorized (King James) Version says he
"groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." In all of these
translations, Jesus is described as displaying very real emotions. Is that a scandal?
It must have seemed strange to those who saw him as a
messianic candidate. Yes, Jesus was able
to do amazing things. But how could the
real Messiah be weeping?
Church teaching has long described Jesus as having two
"natures," a fully divine nature and a fully human nature. Accordingly, he has been understood as fully
God, but also, in his full humanity, as exhibiting a full range of human
emotions, including compassion, anger, pity, annoyance, sorrow, and, of course,
love.
But what of his divine nature? Jesus repeatedly described a God who cares about humanity. According to the famous passage in John 3:16,
Jesus said, "For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only son, ..."
Many of the prophets also described God with such phrases as "slow
to anger and plentiful in mercy." Could
God really be saddened by human foolishness?
Angered by human intransigence? Delighted by human faithfulness?
It's a mystery, isn't it?
We want to think of God as too powerful to be overcome by any human
action, and too all-knowing to be fooled by any human sneakiness. But we also
want a God who really loves us. When I
was a little boy, I used to like to rough-house with my dad and my grandfather
with total abandon, confident that I could not really do anything that would
hurt them. But I also believed, quite
rightly, that they really loved me. I
wanted them to be proud of me, and happy when I behaved well. Whether I realized it or not, the idea that
they really loved me also implied that my words and actions could really hurt
their feelings. Could that be true of God too?
In this episode about the raising of Lazarus, Jesus
demonstrated at least a noteworthy human vulnerability. He visibly shared in human suffering and
sorrow. Shortly after the raising of Lazarus, he would take things
further: he would undergo the human
anguish of betrayal, the physical suffering of whipping and crucifixion, and
death itself. Assuming Jesus to be more
than just a deluded country preacher, I think those experiences only make sense
as a demonstration of divine love. To be
more than merely tragic, the death of Jesus had to be more than the execution
of Jesus the man. It also had to be a
loving, self-sacrificial gift from God.
Reflection:
Do you find it comforting or troubling to think of God as
having emotion? Is it more comforting to
think of God as above and beyond all emotion?
Is it easier to relate to Jesus, when we read about him exhibiting
understandable human emotions at Lazarus' tomb, or when we read about him
remaining super-humanly calm amid the storm on the sea?
The Bible occasionally uses "anthropomorphic"
descriptions of God, using phrases like "God was walking in the
garden," or "the breath of God" or "the hand of God." Most readers are comfortable with such phrases,
even though they do not really think of God as literally walking like a human
being or having human body parts. If God
has no emotion like love, though, how can we relate to God? Could God's "love" be just a figure
of speech?
What do you imagine the apostles thinking, as they saw Jesus
weeping at the tomb of Lazarus?
If Jesus was "angry" when he saw Mary and the
crowd weeping before him, what was his anger directed at? Was he angry at Mary or Martha? At the crowd?
At himself, for being so "deeply moved"? At death itself?
Prayer
Holy God, help us to
know you in an ever-deepening love. Help
us to understand how you seek to relate to us by sharing in our suffering. In
the midst of all the crises and sorrows of our lives, remind us that your love
never fails. Although you have shared in our suffering and tasted the reality
of death, you are not defeated. You
conquer all suffering and you destroy all death. In the name of Jesus, the invincible savior, who
raised Lazarus and who promises life to all of us, Amen.