Return to Judea to Raise Lazarus ~ Part 3
In our last post, we explored Yeshua’s Returns to Judea to Raise Lazarus. In this post, we continue to examine His Raising of Lazarus.
Yeshua Talks to Miryam
28 After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: “The Rabbi is here and is calling for you.”
The Rabbi was a natural way of referring to Yeshua for any disciple before his resurrection.
29 When she heard this, she jumped up and went to Him. 30 Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met Him; 31 so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32 When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, He was deeply moved and also troubled. 34 He said, “Where have you buried him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Yeshua cried;
The Greek word underlying deeply moved (embrimaomai) means to feel something deeply and intensely. Yeshua was moved with profound sorrow at His friend’s death and the grief that His other friends had suffered. In addition, this sorrow was intermixed with anger at the evil of death (the final enemy) and also with a deep sense of awe at the power of God that was about to flow through him to triumph over death (in anticipation of His voice summoning the whole world to the resurrection on the last day).
Yeshua cried. Yeshua joins His friends’ sadness with heartfelt sorrow, yet underlying it is the knowledge that resurrection and joy will soon follow. Yeshua’s example shows that genuine mourning in the face of death does not indicate a lack of faith but honest sorrow at the reality of suffering and death. Whoever said, “big men don’t cry,” never read the Scriptures.
36 so, the Judeans there said, “See how He loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He opened the blind man’s eyes. Couldn’t He have kept this one from dying?” [1]
Yeshua Raises El’azar (Lazarus)
38 Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance. 39 Yeshua said, “Take the stone away!” Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, “By now, his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!”
Due to the local custom of the time, the grave would have been checked for three days to ensure that death had occurred. Marta’s remark confirms that she has given up all hope that her brother is still alive – the three-day period has passed.
40 Yeshua said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?“ 41 So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around so that they may believe that you have sent me.”
Yeshua looked upward. He prayed with His eyes open, as Jewish people do today. Gentile Believers usually pray with their eyes closed; the reason most often given is to screen out visual distractions and concentrate on God. Which to do is a matter of individual choice; the Bible does not require either.
43 Having said this, He shouted, “El’azar! Come out!” 44 The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, “Unwrap him, and let him go!” 45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam and had seen what Yeshua had done trusted in him. [2]
In our next, we will conclude our exploration of Yeshua’s Return to Judea to Raise Lazarus.
My Heart is for Israel 