Church Fathers Commentary John 11:33-41

"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews [also] weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved him! But some of them said, Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die? Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time the body decayeth; for he hath been [dead] four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me." — John 11:33-41 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: Christ did not answer Mary as He had answered her sister, because of the people present. In condescension to them, He humbled Himself and let His human nature be seen to gain them as witnesses to the miracle: When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping who came with her, He groaned in His spirit and was troubled.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For who but Himself could trouble Him? Christ was troubled because it pleased Him to be troubled; He hungered because it pleased Him to hunger. It was in His own power whether or not to be affected in a particular way. The Word took up a soul and flesh—the whole of man—and united it to Himself in one person. And so, according to the will of that higher nature in Him, where the sovereign power resides, He became weak and troubled.

Theophylact of Ohrid: To prove His human nature, He sometimes gives it free expression, while at other times He commands and restrains it by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord allows His nature to be affected in these ways both to prove that He is truly Man, not Man in appearance only, and also to teach us by His own example the proper measures of joy and grief. For a complete absence of sympathy and sorrow is brutal, while an excess of them is weak.

St. Augustine of Hippo: And He said, “Where have you laid him?” He knew where, but He asked to test the faith of the people.

St. John Chrysostom: He did not wish to thrust the miracle upon them, but to make them ask for it and thus dispel all suspicion.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The question also alludes to our hidden calling. The predestination by which we are called is hidden, and the sign of this is our Lord asking the question. He is, as it were, in ignorance for as long as we ourselves are ignorant. Or it is because our Lord elsewhere shows that He does not know sinners, saying, “I know you not,” because in keeping His commandments there is no sin.

St. John Chrysostom: He had not yet raised anyone from the dead and seemed as if He came to weep, not to raise to life. Therefore, they say to Him, “Come and see.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Lord “sees” when He pities, as we read, “Look upon my adversity and misery, and forgive me all my sin.”

Alcuin of York: Because He was the fountain of pity, He wept in His human nature for him whom He could raise again by His divinity.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Why did Christ weep, if not to teach men to weep?

The Venerable Bede: It is customary to mourn the death of friends, and thus the Jews explained our Lord’s weeping. Then the Jews said, “Behold how He loved him!”

St. Augustine of Hippo: Loved him. Our Lord came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?” He was about to do more than this: to raise him from death.

St. John Chrysostom: It was His enemies who said this. The very works that should have been evidence of His power, they turn against Him, as if He had not really done them. This is how they speak of the miracle of opening the eyes of the man who was born blind. They even prejudge Christ before He has come to the grave and do not have the patience to wait for the outcome.

Jesus therefore, again groaning in Himself, comes to the grave. The fact that He wept and groaned is mentioned to show us the reality of His human nature. John, who makes higher statements about His nature than any of the other Evangelists, also descends lower than any in describing His bodily affections.

St. Augustine of Hippo: And you too must groan in yourself if you wish to rise to new life. This is said to every person who is weighed down by any sinful habit.

“It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.” The dead under the stone is the guilty under the Law. For the Law, which was given to the Jews, was engraved on stone. And all the guilty are under the Law, for “the law was not made for a righteous man.”

The Venerable Bede: A cave is a hollow in a rock. It is called a monument because it reminds us of the dead.

St. John Chrysostom: But why did He not raise him without taking away the stone? Could not He who moved a dead body with His voice have much more easily moved a stone? He purposely did not do so, in order that the miracle might take place in the sight of all, to give no room for saying, as they had in the case of the blind man, “This is not he.” Now they could go into the grave and feel and see that this was the man.

St. Augustine of Hippo: “Take away the stone.” Mystically, this means: take away the burden of the law; proclaim grace.

Perhaps this signifies those who wished to impose the rite of circumcision on the Gentile converts, or people in the Church of corrupt life who cause believers to stumble.

Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, though they had often seen Christ raise the dead, did not fully believe that He could raise their brother. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time he stinks, for he has been dead four days.”

Theophylact of Ohrid: Martha said this from weakness of faith, thinking it impossible that Christ could raise her brother so long after his death.

The Venerable Bede: Or, these are not words of despair, but of wonder.

St. John Chrysostom: Thus, everything serves to silence the unbelievers. Their hands take away the stone, their ears hear Christ’s voice, their eyes see Lazarus come forth, and they perceive the smell of the dead body.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Christ reminds Martha of what He had told her before, which she had forgotten. Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?”

St. John Chrysostom: She did not remember what He said before: “He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” To the disciples He had said, “That the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” Here, however, He speaks of the glory of the Father. The difference is made to suit the different audiences. Our Lord could not rebuke her before such a crowd, but only says, “You shall see the glory of God.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: In this is the glory of God: that he who stinks and has been dead for four days is brought back to life.

Origen of Alexandria: The delay in taking away the stone was caused by the sister of the dead man, who said, “By this time he stinks, for he has been dead four days.” If she had not said this, it would not be recorded that “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’” Some delay had arisen; it is best to let nothing come between the commands of Jesus and the carrying out of them.