But alas, though all were affected, yet, it seems, all were not well affected at seeing JESUS weep! For we are told, verse 37. that some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?” One would imagine, that Satan himself could scarce have uttered a more perverse speech: every word is full of spite and rancour. Could not this man, this fellow, this deceiver, who pretends to say, that he opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that this man, whom he seems to love so, should not have died? Is not this a sufficient proof that he is a cheat? Have we catched him at last? Is it likely that he really helped others, when he could not help his own friend?――――O how patient ought the servants of our LORD to be! And how may they expect to be censured, and have their good deeds questioned, and lessened, when their blessed Master has been thus treated before them! However, JESUS will do good, notwithstanding all these slights put upon him; and therefore, again groaning in himself, “he cometh to the grave; it was a cave, (or vault, as is customary in great families) and a stone lay upon it; JESUS said, verse 39. Take ye away the stone.” How gradually does our LORD proceed, in order to engage the people’s attention the more! Methinks I see them all eye, all ear, and eagerly waiting to see the issue of this affair. But _Martha_ now returning with the rest of the company, seems to have lost that good frame which she was in when she went to call her sister; “She saith unto him, (verse 39.) LORD, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been _either_ dead _or_ buried four days.” O the dismal effects of carnal reasoning! How naturally do we fall into doubts and fears, when we have not our eye simply directed to the blessed JESUS! _Martha_, instead of looking up to him, looks down into the grave, and poring upon her brother’s stinking corpse, falls into a fit of unbelief: “By this time he stinketh;” and, therefore, a sight of him will only be offensive. Perhaps she might think our LORD only wanted to take a view of her brother _Lazarus_; JESUS, therefore, to give her yet a further hint, that he intended to do something extraordinary, saith unto her, verse 40. “Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of GOD?” Our LORD speaks here with some degree of warmth: for nothing displeases him more than the unbelief of his own disciples. “Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of GOD?” When CHRIST first spoke these words unto her, we are not told; it might be, this was part of their conversation upon another occasion some time before: however, he checks her openly for her unbelief now: for those whom JESUS loves, must expect to be rebuked sharply by him, whenever they dishonour him by unbelief. The reproof is taken.
Without making any more objections, “They took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.” And now behold with what solemnity the holy JESUS prepares himself to execute his gracious design! “And JESUS lift up his eyes, 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.” Who can express with what fervor and intenseness of spirit, our glorious High-priest uttered these words! They are a thanksgiving arising from an assurance that his Father had heard him: for CHRIST, as Mediator, was inferior to the Father. “I knew that thou hearest me always (and so may every believer in his degree say too); but because of the people which stand by, I said it.”――Said what? We do not hear that JESUS said any thing by way of prayer before; and that is true, if we mean vocally, but mentally he did say something, even when he groaned in the spirit once and again, and was troubled. There is a way of praying, even when we do not, and cannot speak. “Why cryest thou,” said GOD to _Moses_; though we do not hear that he spoke one single word: but he cried in his heart. And I observe this for the comfort of some weak, but real christians, who think they never pray, unless they can have a great flow of words; but this is a great mistake: for we often pray best, when we can speak least. There are times when the heart is too big to speak: and the spirit itself maketh intercession for the saints, and that too according to the will of GOD, with groanings that cannot be uttered. Such was _Hannah_’s prayer for a son, “She spake not, only her lips moved:” and such was our LORD’s way of praying at this time. And perhaps the soul is never in a better frame, than when in a holy stillness, and unspeakable serenity, it can put itself as a blank in JESUS’s hand, for him to stamp on it just what he pleases.