[And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said.] We now reach a point of thrilling and breathless interest. The stone had been re- moved from the mouth of the cave. Our Lord stands before the open grave, and the crowd stands around, awaiting anxiously to see what would happen next. Nothing appears from the tomb. There is no sign of life at present ; but while all are eagerly looking and listening, our Lord addressed His Father in heaven in a most solemn manner, lifting up His eyes, and speaking au- dibly to Him in the hearing of all the crowd. The reason He explains in the next verse. Now, for the last time, about to work His mightiest miracle, He once more makes a public dec- laration that He did nothing separate from His Father in heaven, and that in this and all His works there is a mysterious and in- timate union between Himself and the Father.
We should note how He suits the action to the word. " He lifted up His eyes." (Compare John xvii. 1.) He showed that He was addressing an unseen Father in heaven.
[Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.] This is a re- markable expression. Our Lord begins with " thanks," when man would have expected Him to offer prayer. How shall we explain it?
(a) Some think that our Lord refers to prayer He had put up to the Father concerning the death of Lazarus, from the moment that He heard of his illness, and to His present firm conviction that those prayers had been heard, and were going to receive a public answer.
(6) Others think that there is no reason to suppose that our Lord refers to any former and remote prayer, — that there was a constant, hourly, minutely communication between Himself and His heavenly Father, — and that to pray, and return thanks for the answer to prayer, were actions which in His experience were very closely connected.
The subject is a deep and mysterious one, and I shrink from giving a very positive opinion about it. That our Lord con- stantly prayed, on all occasions, we know from the Gospels. That He prayed sometimes with great agony of mind and with tears, we also know. (Heb. v. 7.) But how far He could know anything of that peculiar struggle which we poor sinners have to carry on with doubt, fear, and anxiety, in our prayers is another question altogether, and very hard to answer. One might suppose that One who was as man, entirely holy, humble, and without sin, might be able to thank for prayer heard, almost as soon as prayer was offered. Upon this theory the sentence before us would be plain: "I pray that Lazarus may be raised ; and I thank Thee at the same time for hearing my prayer, as I know Thou dost."
And yet we must not forget two of our Lord's prayers not granted, apparently: " Father, #save Me from this hour;"—