He groaned Mary wails to Jesus that had he arrived in time, perhaps her brother would not have died; meaning that if he could heal other peoples’ sicknesses, why would he not have healed her brother, a dear friend of his. Jesus says that ‘even now if ye have faith, ye shall see the glory of god.’ The condition was that they should have faith. Didn’t he say that faith could move mountains? He asks to be taken to the tomb. On the way, ‘he groaned in the spirit’. He was not mumbling; he was pouring out his heart and praying to God. But while he sobbed so bitterly his words were not audible enough for people around him to understand. Hence the words ‘he groaned’. On reaching the grave, Jesus ‘groaned’ again; perhaps, even more earnestly and God heard his groaning (his prayer), and Jesus received the assurance that God will fulfill his request. Now, Jesus could rest assured and command that the stone which was barring the tomb, be removed so that Lazarus could come back from the dead. Without that assurance from God, Jesus would have made a fool of himself. Avoiding misunderstanding Mary thinks of the stink because her brother had been dead for four days! But Jesus was confident and the stone was removed. Then he looked up towards heaven and said “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 11:41-42) What is all this, play - acting? Why all the drama? Because he know that these superstitious and credulous people will misunderstand the source of the miracle. They might take him for ‘God’. Giving life to the dead is the prerogative of God alone. To make doubly sure, that his people do not misunderstand, he speaks out loudly that the ‘groaning’ was actually his crying to God Almighty for help. The prayer was incoherent as far as the bystanders could discern, but the Father in heaven had accepted his prayer, viz. ‘thou hast heard me’. Furthermore, he says, ‘thou hearest me always’; in other words, every miracle wrought by him was an answer by God Almighty to his prayer. The Jews of his day understood the position well, and they ‘glorified God’, as Matthew tells us of another occasion when the Jews exclaimed “for giving such power unto men”. (Matt. 9:8) In fact, Jesus gives his reason for speaking loudly. He says, ‘that they may believe that thou has sent me.’ One who is sent is a messenger, and if he be sent by God, then he is a Messenger of God. Jesus is referred to in the Quran as a ‘Messenger of Allah’. Alas, this attempt by Jesus to prevent any misunderstanding, as to who really performed the miracle, and that he was in fact only a messenger of God, failed. Christians will not even accept the unambiguous disavowal of Jesus, nor the testimony of Peter, the ‘Rock’ upon which Jesus was supposed to build his Church. Peter truly testified “Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, A man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” (Acts 2:22)
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 14:21:39 +0000
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