July 13, 2023

A Moving Within

“When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’”  John 11:33-34 (NASB)

             I remember one day, looking at Facebook videos. I viewed one which dealt with what happens to a person after death. I wanted to see if the person knew what they were talking about, compared to my training and experiences while in 25 years of law enforcement. After viewing the video, all the next ones were about the same topic. They basically spammed me from that point with the same topic. It seems the world has a lot to say about death and their discoveries. The problem with death is no man has returned from death to give a detailed report. No one can tell us what happens when a person dies, except for Jesus Christ. He knows us to our core.

             “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,” When Jesus saw Mary audibly crying, and the others who were moved by her troubled spirit, He too was moved. When you read the passage, you might infer Jesus “was deeply moved in spirit,” meaning Jesus was upset. But what does deeply moved mean here? “A proper translation would better suited as, ‘He was indignant in the spirit,’ er ergrimmete im Geist (Luther), means that Jesus restrained his indignation. The only outward sign of deep emotion was the fact that ‘he shook himself,’ the verb ταράσσω used in its physical and not in a metaphorical sense (‘he troubled himself’), since the emotion of indignation is already indicated.”[1] Jesus was shaken by the strong inner emotion which came from inside Him. His body produced physical quivering from the inward reaction to Mary’s sobbing. Jesus however would not rebuke her with sharp words, because she was so moved. Another commentator remarked, “The affection here depicted is explained in three ways: as anger, as grief, as a general affection of the mind, in which there is a combination of different emotions.”[2] Anger produced His passionate emotional response; the power of sin and death produced death, and the unbelief of the future resurrection by the Jews. Jesus, “felt the combined misery and woe of the human family (“der Menschheit ganzer Jammer fasste Ihn an”); He was moved at once with holy indignation at sin which caused all this dreadful desolation, and with tender sympathy for the sufferers, which latter feeling found vent in tears.”[3]

            Jesus can relate to our sorrows. Isaiah tells in chapter 53:4, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried…” Hebrews tell us, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses…” (Hebrews 4:15). As I reflect today on loss, it causes me to take another look at how I size up in this area. When Jesus’ anger produced His emotion to be “deeply moved in spirit,” I wonder how I match up if Jesus saw my emotion. I know He would understand my struggle emotionally. Both Isaiah and Hebrews confirm it. But would I be able to say I am also broken by what sin has done to this world, producing the death we see each day? Would I also be able to say, that sometimes my emotion would produce unbelief like the Jews did in light of the promise of the resurrection? Maybe it calls for more faith on my part.

[1] Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The interpretation of St. John’s gospel (p. 807). Augsburg Publishing House.

[2] Lange, J. P., & Schaff, P. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: John (p. 353). Logos Bible Software.

[3] Ibid.