And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
Many came to Martha and Mary at Bethany to comfort them after their brother Lazarus died and was laid in the tomb, while the sisters grieved and longed for Jesus to come to them. Bethany was the peaceful home where Jesus often found welcome and rest away from conflict, and He loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Jesus delayed until Lazarus had been dead four days and his body had seen corruption, that His calling him from the grave would stand as crowning proof that He is the Son of God and would point to the future resurrection to immortal life. Coming to the mourners He shared their sorrow and wept at the grave, then brought their brother from the tomb and filled their hearts with joy, leading many to believe in Him and glorify God.
Bethany Mourning And Setting
Bethany was the house of Lazarus where Jesus often found rest. Having no home of His own and depending on the hospitality of friends and disciples, when weary and thirsting for human fellowship He was glad to escape there to a peaceful household away from the suspicion and jealousy of the angry Pharisees and the weary conflict of public life. There He found sincere welcome and pure, holy friendship, a quiet home and interested listeners, and the human tenderness, courtesy, and affection He longed for. There He could speak with simplicity and perfect freedom, knowing His words would be understood and treasured, and those who received the heavenly instruction He was ready to impart were greatly blessed. While the multitudes were slow of hearing, He opened to that appreciative audience in private the volume of Providence, unfolding what He did not tell the mixed multitude and needing not to speak to His friends in parables, even as in the open fields He unfolded to multitudes the beauties of the natural world, how God's hand upholds the world, and how dew, soft rain, and bright sunshine are given alike to good and evil to call out appreciation of God's goodness and the regard bestowed on the human instrumentalities created.
The verse belongs to Bethany where the sisters lived in a home of sympathy for Jesus, and Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Lazarus died and was laid in the tomb before Jesus arrived. The verse itself does not explain the visitors' act of comforting the sisters. Martha and Mary had buried their brother and were grieving, while longing for Jesus to come and comfort them.
Martha and Mary were at Bethany after Lazarus died despite their message to Jesus and their full expectation He would come at once to heal their brother. With hearts full of anguish they watched death triumph, prepared Lazarus for burial while anxiously looking for Christ and longing to see Him and hear His words of comfort, and laid him in the grave. Then they endured two long, sorrowful days before Jesus came.
Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother after Lazarus died. The setting is one of grief in which Jesus shared their sorrow and then restored their brother to them. Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb before the gathered onlookers shortly after the visit of the comforters. That raising demonstrated His character as Saviour and Lifegiver.
Christ's Power Over Death
Lazarus died and was buried before Jesus arrived, and Jesus brought the sisters' dead brother from the grave and filled their hearts with great joy. That raising led many to believe in Him and to glorify God.
Christ called Lazarus from the tomb after he had been dead four days and in the grave four days, after his body had seen corruption. This shows Christ's power over death and points to the future resurrection, when the dead in Christ will rise to immortal life and be with the Lord. Yet Lazarus himself was restored only to mortal life and remained subject to death and decay, unlike those raised at Christ's resurrection, who were raised to everlasting life.
The raising took place amid grief and consolation, and afterward many came to see Lazarus and Jesus. Lazarus had no experience of the dead to recount, but his life after being raised testified to Christ's divine power and that He was the Son of God. This miracle gave convincing proof of Christ's divinity and revealed the Father through Christ's works.
The delay and death of Lazarus set up the last and crowning evidence to the Jews that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus did not go at once because in His immediate presence as health and strength disease was always rebuked. He could not look on suffering, disease or death without bringing relief and combatting Satan's power, so Lazarus was permitted to die that his resurrection would give that proof.
When Jesus came to the mourners and wept at the grave, He felt Satan's work in death and the dark shadow of His own coming suffering. He knew that for Lazarus's life He must pay the ransom on the cross of Calvary, bear greater pain mingled with mockery and greatest humiliation, and taste death for every man, since every rescue brought Him deepest humiliation. His tears held grief that though strong to save the whole world He could not save everyone Satan had laid low in death, but only the many, all who would avail themselves of coming back to loyalty to God, for whom He gave Himself a ransom and for whom the Father gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sin and transgression.
Breaking the slumbers of the dead in this raising stands with His healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry and comforting the sorrowful, walking upon the waves and silencing the storm with a word, casting out devils who acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, and holding thousands entranced by words of wisdom. These were works done by one touched by human woe yet driven from the people He labored to save and rejected through prejudice and hatred. Raising the dead to life shows Him just as certainly fulfilling His mission as the Pattern Man as His toiling as a carpenter while hiding His divine mission, His walking on the waves of the Sea of Galilee, and His dying as man's sacrifice on the cross to lift the whole race to a new and perfect life.
Many came to Martha and Mary at Bethany to comfort them after their brother Lazarus died and was laid in the tomb, while the sisters grieved and longed for Jesus to come to them. Bethany was the peaceful home where Jesus often found welcome and rest away from conflict, and He loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Jesus delayed until Lazarus had been dead four days and his body had seen corruption, that His calling him from the grave would stand as crowning proof that He is the Son of God and would point to the future resurrection to immortal life. Coming to the mourners He shared their sorrow and wept at the grave, then brought their brother from the tomb and filled their hearts with joy, leading many to believe in Him and glorify God.
Bethany Mourning And Setting
Bethany was the house of Lazarus where Jesus often found rest. Having no home of His own and depending on the hospitality of friends and disciples, when weary and thirsting for human fellowship He was glad to escape there to a peaceful household away from the suspicion and jealousy of the angry Pharisees and the weary conflict of public life. There He found sincere welcome and pure, holy friendship, a quiet home and interested listeners, and the human tenderness, courtesy, and affection He longed for. There He could speak with simplicity and perfect freedom, knowing His words would be understood and treasured, and those who received the heavenly instruction He was ready to impart were greatly blessed. While the multitudes were slow of hearing, He opened to that appreciative audience in private the volume of Providence, unfolding what He did not tell the mixed multitude and needing not to speak to His friends in parables, even as in the open fields He unfolded to multitudes the beauties of the natural world, how God's hand upholds the world, and how dew, soft rain, and bright sunshine are given alike to good and evil to call out appreciation of God's goodness and the regard bestowed on the human instrumentalities created.
The verse belongs to Bethany where the sisters lived in a home of sympathy for Jesus, and Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Lazarus died and was laid in the tomb before Jesus arrived. The verse itself does not explain the visitors' act of comforting the sisters. Martha and Mary had buried their brother and were grieving, while longing for Jesus to come and comfort them.
Martha and Mary were at Bethany after Lazarus died despite their message to Jesus and their full expectation He would come at once to heal their brother. With hearts full of anguish they watched death triumph, prepared Lazarus for burial while anxiously looking for Christ and longing to see Him and hear His words of comfort, and laid him in the grave. Then they endured two long, sorrowful days before Jesus came.
Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother after Lazarus died. The setting is one of grief in which Jesus shared their sorrow and then restored their brother to them. Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb before the gathered onlookers shortly after the visit of the comforters. That raising demonstrated His character as Saviour and Lifegiver.
Christ's Power Over Death
Lazarus died and was buried before Jesus arrived, and Jesus brought the sisters' dead brother from the grave and filled their hearts with great joy. That raising led many to believe in Him and to glorify God.
Christ called Lazarus from the tomb after he had been dead four days and in the grave four days, after his body had seen corruption. This shows Christ's power over death and points to the future resurrection, when the dead in Christ will rise to immortal life and be with the Lord. Yet Lazarus himself was restored only to mortal life and remained subject to death and decay, unlike those raised at Christ's resurrection, who were raised to everlasting life.
The raising took place amid grief and consolation, and afterward many came to see Lazarus and Jesus. Lazarus had no experience of the dead to recount, but his life after being raised testified to Christ's divine power and that He was the Son of God. This miracle gave convincing proof of Christ's divinity and revealed the Father through Christ's works.
The delay and death of Lazarus set up the last and crowning evidence to the Jews that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus did not go at once because in His immediate presence as health and strength disease was always rebuked. He could not look on suffering, disease or death without bringing relief and combatting Satan's power, so Lazarus was permitted to die that his resurrection would give that proof.
When Jesus came to the mourners and wept at the grave, He felt Satan's work in death and the dark shadow of His own coming suffering. He knew that for Lazarus's life He must pay the ransom on the cross of Calvary, bear greater pain mingled with mockery and greatest humiliation, and taste death for every man, since every rescue brought Him deepest humiliation. His tears held grief that though strong to save the whole world He could not save everyone Satan had laid low in death, but only the many, all who would avail themselves of coming back to loyalty to God, for whom He gave Himself a ransom and for whom the Father gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sin and transgression.
Breaking the slumbers of the dead in this raising stands with His healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry and comforting the sorrowful, walking upon the waves and silencing the storm with a word, casting out devils who acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, and holding thousands entranced by words of wisdom. These were works done by one touched by human woe yet driven from the people He labored to save and rejected through prejudice and hatred. Raising the dead to life shows Him just as certainly fulfilling His mission as the Pattern Man as His toiling as a carpenter while hiding His divine mission, His walking on the waves of the Sea of Galilee, and His dying as man's sacrifice on the cross to lift the whole race to a new and perfect life.