Lazarus
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. John 11:33 · Berean Standard Bible
When Jesus sees Mary weeping, and the mourners weeping with her, He is deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
The original language suggests more than sadness—it implies a deep groaning, even anger. Jesus isn't just sad. He's furious at death itself.
The narrator describes Jesus' powerful emotional reaction to the grief around Him.
Something rises up in Jesus that goes beyond tears. It's a deep, visceral response—grief mixed with indignation. Death was never supposed to have this kind of power over the people He loves.
Seeing Mary and the Jews weeping, Jesus is 'enebrimēsato tō pneumati kai etaraxen heauton'—the verbs describing deep agitation (embrimaomai: to snort with anger/indignation) and inner disturbance (tarassō: to trouble), suggesting anger at death's power alongside grief.
The verb 'embrimaomai' originally described a horse's snorting and implies indignation more than sorrow. Jesus' emotion may be directed at death itself, Satan's domain, or the unbelief surrounding Him. The combination of verbs suggests a complex emotional state encompassing grief, anger, and divine resolve.
The narrator describes Jesus' intense and complex emotional response to the scene of mourning.
The narrative reaches its emotional nadir: Jesus encounters the full devastation of death—beloved friends weeping, a community in grief—and responds not with detached divinity but with visceral, embodied emotion that suggests both compassion and fury at death itself.
31When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34“Where have you put him?” He asked.
35Jesus wept.
Read all of John 11 — Jesus weeps at a tomb. Then He calls a dead man out of it. The shortest verse in the Bible and the most powerful — separated by minutes.
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