Translations rarely are extremely different from one another, however certain ways of phrasing, or translation of a word, do occur. This happens not only when it comes to translating Sacred Scripture but in the ordinariness of translating books, documents, news reports, debates in dual or multilingual parliaments.
Various scholars thus translate v. 17 on the USCCB Bible website: When Jesus arrived……; the Jerusalem Bible: On arriving, Jesus…..; the New American Bible also uses: When Jesus arrived…..; the Orthodox Study Bible: So when Jesus came: phrasing which William Barclay in his commentary uses as well.
These minors variations nonetheless all highlight St. John once again indicating we should be very attentive to the life and teachings of Jesus, as he does throughout with phrases such as: In the beginning [1:1]; On the third day [2:1]; After these things [6:1]Now as Jesus passed by [9:1], each is an announcement.
When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. [v.17]
A gentle way of emphasizing that Lazarus was truly dead, dead enough to have been buried.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. [v.18] While bringing us closer to the great teaching we are about to receive from Jesus, and the miracle we are about to witness, St. John is reminding us the whole purpose of Jesus moving from His place where He rested by the Jordan, is to get to Jerusalem and allow Himself to be arrested, tortured, executed for our salvation.
And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. [v.19] This particular apostolate, over the millennia in most cultures and religions, of women as the comforters in times of grief is, for believers and unbelievers alike, a blessing and a reminder, or should be, we are human beings, persons of one family on this earth and while the birth of a child is a gift to all, the death of a human being should rightly be experienced by each one of us as a loss.
From an Orthodox Prayer for the Dead: O God of spirits and of all flesh, Who hast trampled down death and overthrown the Devil, and given life to Thy world, do Thou, the same Lord, give rest to the souls of Thy departed servants in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose, where all sickness, sighing, and sorrow have fled away…..From a Roman Catholic Prayer for the Dead: Lord, those who die still live in Your presence, their lives change but do not end. I pray in hope for my family, relatives and friends, and for all the dead known to You alone. A Jewish Prayer for the Dead: God, full of mercy, who dwells in the heights, provide a sure rest upon the wings of the Divine Presence, within the range of the holy, pure and glorious, whose shining resemble the sky’s, to the soul of (Hebrew name of deceased)……., the Master of Mercy will protect him forever, from behind the hiding of His wings, and will tie his soul with the rope of life….. Sadly, for those without faith or hope at secular funerals, among other dirges often this from the poet Dylan Thomas is read instead of a prayer: "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
How we must pray that all our brothers and sisters may come to know, believe in, follow Jesus.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” [vs. 20-22]
Martha and Mary are icons of the active and contemplative life. If our actions are to be replete with the light of the Gospel then we must first through contemplation be deep in union with Christ and, since Christ Himself moves from prayer to the active love of service, if our contemplation is to be fruitful we must likewise actively love and serve our brothers and sisters.
Like others in the Gospel accounts asking something of Jesus, Who often asks the petitioner if they have faith – and who among us, like the father asking a miracle for his child, does not often have to respond with the sheer honesty of: “I do believe, help me unbelief.” [Mk.9:24] – Martha here does articulate faith in and trust in Jesus and the power of His prayer.
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” [v.23] Martha asking for her brother back, and her assertion to Jesus had He been there Lazarus would not have died, shows that for all her trust in Jesus she still does not grasp that He is God, so had no need to be there to have prevented the death of Lazarus.
Jesus in fact is seeking to teach, through His replies to Martha, a great truth.
Martha said to Him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” [v.24] It would appear Martha took to heart the teachings of the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection of the dead, and not those of the Sadducees who denied it.
Now Jesus has the opening for His teaching, and Martha embraces it and finally completes her act of faith: Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” [vs. 25-27]
Clearly Martha was not only being attentive to the words, teaching of Jesus, but to Jesus Himself and His love for her. Everyone who is simultaneously open to the love radiating into us from Jesus and to His words will also, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, be able to proclaim our act of faith.
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to Him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met Him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. [vs.28-31]
Faith in Jesus must open us to metanoia/conversion of heart, which deepens discipleship and discipleship must lead to proclamation, both by word and acts of charity, as we are reminded in the title of the 3rd Mystery of the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary: The Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Repentance.
When Mary came to where Jesus 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.” [v.32]
Like her sister Martha before her Mary does not yet grasp that Jesus, true God and True man, need not be physically present as man to act as God.
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was deeply troubled…….[v.33] Jerusalem Bible translation renders this line as: Jesus said in great distress and with a sign that came straight from the heart….Once again what we are witnessing here is the infinite compassionate love Jesus has for every human being in distress and part of what troubles, pains Jesus is obtuseness, deafness, blindness when it comes to seeing and hearing how beloved we are……and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. [vs.34,35]
Precisely as the Incarnate One, Jesus, True God and True Man, having emptied Himself of His Divinity [kenosis] had no, as it were, shield of protection from the elements, cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, etc., and like us had an intellectual and emotional-psychological life.
As St. John Paul teaches us: ….the heart of Jesus’ psychological life. He experienced human feelings of joy, sadness, anger, wonder and love. For example, we read that “Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit [Lk.10:21]. He wept over Jerusalem. “He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If this day you only knew what makes for peace.’” [Lk.19:41-42]. He also wept after the death of His friend Lazarus. “When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Sir, come and see.’ And Jesus wept.” [Jn. 11:33-35] [1]
So the Jews said, “See how He loved Him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” [vs. 36, 37]
How little did they know just what Jesus was about to do for His friend!
[1] From St. John Paul’s General Audience of February 3, 1988
© 2020 Fr. Arthur Joseph
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