John 11:32Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"And she fell at His feet." She was more ardent than her sister. She was ashamed neither of the crowd nor of the evil opinion held about Christ. Many of His enemies were present, who also said, "Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"; Jn 11:37. In the presence of the Teacher, she cast aside everything human and cared only to honor the Teacher. And what does she say? "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." See Jn 11:21.

Mary came to Christ with greater fervor than her sister Martha. Seeing Him, she fell at His feet, not ashamed of the crowd and paying no attention to the fact that some present were hostile to Christ.

In the presence of the Teacher she cast aside all human considerations and cared only to honor Him.

She says, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Martha does nothing of the kind. She does not fall before Him.

On the contrary, when Christ gives good hope concerning her brother, she appears unbelieving.

Mary too is imperfect when she says, "If You had been here, my brother would not have died." Yet Christ does not say to her anything like what He said to her sister.

Mary says that death came prematurely to her brother because of the Lord's absence. She says that He came to her dwelling when the time for healing Lazarus had already passed.

From this one may conclude that she spoke to Him as to God, though she did not express herself precisely. She thought He was not present, though He was absent only in body.

Yet being more precise and wiser than Martha, she did not say, "Whatever You ask of God, God will give You" (Jn 11:22).

Therefore the Lord says nothing to her, although He addressed a long discourse to Martha. He does not reprove Mary, who was overwhelmed by grief.

She said, "If You had been here," to Him who fills all creation. He does this also as a pattern for us, that we may not go to excess in sorrow.

On the contrary, He condescends, revealing His human nature. He weeps and is troubled, seeing her weeping and the Jews who came with her.

Although Mary surpassed her sister in the deeper reverence that she bore toward Jesus Christ, since even now she fell at His feet, she nevertheless says the same thing as her sister, because she has the same understanding of Him.

Having the same feelings as her sister, she also greets Him with the same words. See how much Mary does in a short time. She meets Him as God, falls down, takes courage, and declares that Lazarus has died. Not only this, but she also says that premature death could have occurred only in His absence. She says that He came only when time had rendered every remedy ineffective, as though rejected by death. From this one may conclude that she took Him for God and spoke with Him as with God, though she erred in the words, "If You had been here."

After this, she hastened to her sister and said to her, "The Teacher is asking for you," although He had not actually asked for her.

Mary was immersed in her grief. Only love for Him whose words she was accustomed to receive with calm devotion was strong enough to draw her out of her state.

She hastened to Jesus, who was still outside the village. Her first words were the same as Martha's. It was clear how much this thought had occupied them until then.

Yet these words, spoken with tears by Mary as she fell at Jesus' feet, were filled with deeper feeling than they had been on Martha's lips. There was no reproach in them. Yet both grief and devotion were expressed more fully than by Martha.

After this conversation with the Lord, Martha went into the house and told Mary secretly, because there were also people in the house who were ill-disposed toward the Lord, that the Teacher was there and was calling her.

When Mary, rejoicing at this news, rose quickly and went out, the Jews who were in her house thought she was going to Lazarus's tomb. They followed her.

When she came to the Lord, Mary fell at His feet and expressed to Him the same sorrow with which Martha had met Jesus. When He saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He Himself groaned in spirit and was troubled.

Mary came to Jesus, fell at His feet with tears, and said, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died."

Mary was bathed in tears, and the Jews who came with her were weeping. Mary's tears, drawn from the depth of her grief-stricken soul, brought tears also to the eyes of Jesus. But the feigned tears of the Jews accompanying her stirred His indignation.

"Jesus... groaned in spirit and was troubled" (Jn 11:33). The Greek word translated "groaned" includes the sense of indignation, anger, and revulsion caused by an outrageous act. The word translated "was troubled" includes the idea of trembling and inward shock. Thus the whole expression would be rendered more precisely: He was indignant and shuddered.

This conversation completely encouraged her, and she went for her sister Mary. Secretly she told her the joyful news: "The Teacher is here and is calling you." Mary immediately went at her sister's direction. Seeing her beloved Teacher and Lord, she fell at His feet and said with a crushed heart the same thing as her sister: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

"She fell at His feet." This is a stronger expression of the feelings moving Mary than we see in Martha, of whom this is not narrated. Compare Lk 10:39 and Jn 12:3.

When people fell at another's feet, they often embraced and kissed them. Probably Mary too, in the strength of her feeling, acted in this way.

"If You had been here," and so forth. These are the very same words that Martha pronounced.

Probably, in the grief of their hearts, they had often spoken and repeated this hope between themselves: that their brother would not have died if their Lord and Teacher had been with them during the illness.

Now, without having agreed together, both express this hope in the same way before the Lord.

Verses 31-38. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He rebuked His spirit and troubled Himself."

Ενεβριμησατο τω πνευματι και εταραξεν εαυτόν. Ενεβριμ. means either "He was indignant" or "He sorrowed."

Admitting the first meaning, some thought that Jesus was displeased either with the unbelief of the Jews, as Theodore of Mopsuestia and Leontius say, or with the disturbance of His own soul, as Chrysostom, Apollinarius, and Euthymius say.

But this is not justified by the context. The ancient versions, Coptic and Arabic, have: "He was grieved in soul and troubled Himself."

After meeting the Lord, Martha hastened to her sister to share with her news that could comfort her in sorrow. Yet she told her sister only in a whisper that the Lord was there, as though avoiding speaking of it before the Jews from Jerusalem.

Mary also seems not to have wished to tell them this news. She probably wanted to fall at the Lord's feet and pour out her grief before Him without witnesses. But the glorious miracle soon to take place had to be performed before a considerable number of people, most of them hostile to the Lord.

The Jews, thinking that Mary was going to Lazarus's tomb to weep for her brother, followed her. Unexpectedly, they came face to face with the Lord Jesus, whom they had sought to kill.