Reflecting on this passage in its entirety is beyond the scope of this brief article. Two high points will be our focus. The first is the Christological confession of Martha and the second is the surprising anger of Jesus and its aftermath.
Martha has received a “bad press” in the popular mind of the Church, because in Luke 10:38-42 Martha tries to pressure Jesus into sending Mary back to the kitchen (where she belongs?). Jesus affirms Mary in her “theological studies” at his feet. I am convinced that Martha’s deep concern was due to the fact that Mary was joining a band of men who were disciples of Jesus. The customs of the day did not approve of such activity and Martha was anxious to protect her little sister’s reputation.
But in the passage before us it is clear that Martha has also sat at the feet of Jesus and has learned many things from him. At the same time, she is clearly the head of the house, and no doubt the oldest of the three siblings. As Jesus approaches, Martha goes out to greet him while Mary “sat in the house” (with the guests who had come to offer condolences.) This scene is Martha’s “finest hour.” Summarized, the dialogue between Jesus and Martha is as follows:
Martha: Why didn’t you come sooner?
Jesus: Your brother will rise.
Martha: Yes, on the last day.
Jesus: a. I am the resurrection and the life.
b. Those who believe in me,
c. though they die, will live.
c. And everyone who lives,
b. and believes in me,
a. will never die.
Do you believe this?
Martha: I believe you are the Messiah,
the Son of God,
he who is coming into the world.
In Jesus’ final speech, futuristic eschatology is placed side by side with realized eschatology. The first three lines of Jesus’ self-revelation to Martha look to the future. Like Lazarus, the one who believes and dies will live again. The second three lines (which in inverse order match the first three) make clear that the life of the Resurrection is not only a future hope, but also a present reality. The victory of the Resurrection provides a quality of life in the present, not merely assurance of life after death.
In 1982 my family and I were living in Beirut, Lebanon. That summer, the Israeli invasion devastated the country with all the horrors of war. After some days we managed to evacuate to the Island of Cyprus. On our way out of Beirut, I was privileged to have a brief audience with Kerakin II, the Archbishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church. I said to him, “Your Grace, in a few days I will be flying to America. Do you have any word for me to take to Christians there?” He thought for a moment and replied, “Our world is like the ocean. On the surface, a violent storm is raging. But in the great deeps all is calm.” Kerakin II found the calmness of the great deeps in the midst of the violent storm. The resurrection life was for him a present reality, not merely a future hope.
Martha responds to Jesus’ declaration of resurrection both now and in the future with one of the highest Christological affirmations in the Gospels. Peter is rightly honored for his confession at Caesarea Philippi where he told Jesus, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). Martha makes a personal confession that advances “one giant step” beyond Peter when she adds, The one who is coming into the world. She moves us in the direction of Paul’s confession, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:17). For Martha, Jesus is not the one who has come into the world but, like a fresh mountain stream, for her he is the one who is coming into the world. With Peter, she should be honored for her extraordinary affirmation of faith.
Our second focus for this passage is the anger of Jesus. Very rarely are the readers of the Gospels allowed a window into Jesus’ inner feelings. In Mark 3: 5 Jesus is angry because the people in the synagogue are willing to use a man with a withered hand as bait to trap Jesus. But no one cares about the man and his suffering and Jesus becomes angry and then reprocesses that anger into grace as he heals the man.
In the passage before us, once again, Jesus grows angry. Luther translated John 11:33, Er ergrimmte im Geist und emporte sich (He became angry in the spirit and was furious). Since Luther, German scholarship has seen the anger of Jesus in this text. Anglo-Saxon interpreters have often softened the key Greek words used here into expressions of grief, pain, or sympathy (Beasley-Murray, John, 192). After a careful examination of the Greek text, I think the Germans are right.
So, why is Jesus angry?
A strong option for understanding Jesus’ anger in this text is to see him deeply distressed over the failure of those around him to believe that his message of “eternal life” includes a quality of life here as well as hereafter. He had hoped that his followers would not grieve like others who have no hope (I Thess. 4:13). After three years of teaching and healing by Jesus, these dear people and their friends remain despairing in the face of death. This leaves Jesus disappointed and angry.
Jesus weeps, not out of sympathetic sorrow. He has just announced that God will be glorified by means of the death of Lazarus. Rather, Jesus is upset at the sight of the continuing reign of sin and death whose power is not broken even for these enlightened few. As noted, Martha confessed that Jesus is the Messiah who “is coming” into the world. He is a continuing living presence in the world, but the death wails continue, and he weeps.
This understanding is in harmony with Jesus’ brusque command, Take away the stone, his confident prayer (v. 41) and his loud voice as he calls Lazarus out of the cave.
In the parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:12-24) and the parable of the Unjust Vinedressers (Luke 20:9-19), the master/owner reprocesses anger into grace. But Jesus does not merely describe such redeeming realities, he enacts them. As noted, his anger in Mark 3:5 turns into an act of healing. After the murder of his cousin John (Mark 6:14-29), Jesus does not call for retaliation or revenge, but offers the multitude a banquet of life to counter the banquet of death (Mark 6:30-46). So here, after anger at unbelief and deep disappointment over a failure of faith, he reprocesses his anger into grace and Lazarus is called out alive.
Has our awareness of the acceptance by Jesus of the way of sorrows in Gethsemane prevented us from reflecting on the anger behind the silent Jesus during his trial and crucifixion? In those final hours, was he once again reprocessing anger into grace?
KENNETH E. BAILEY is an author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies residing in New Wilmington, Pa.
