I am preparing a lesson for our middle school class this week on John 11. The emphasis I am used to hearing on this chapter is how Jesus loved Lazarus and weeped for him. But I also remember James Efird teaching my Greek class that the word translated "Jesus was deeply moved" is more along the lines of "Jesus was indignant." In this light, he suggested that Jesus did not weep out of love, but out of the frustration with how slow his followers were to understand that when he said he was the resurrection and the life--that he really was. Mary, Martha, and the disciples are dumbfounded as to why Jesus did not come immediately to heal Lazarus. Perhaps rather than being moved to tears in grief, Jesus was moved to tears in frustration. "Jesus was greatly disturbed."
This concept of allowing the loving Jesus to also be a Jesus who becomes frustrated with his people makes me wonder if Jesus is ever frustrated with me. Do my prayers reveal a lack of understanding about the identity of the God I serve?
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Hey Eric - good to see you yesterday (at a LONG afternoon - good content, but I find myself mentally wiped on Sunday afternoons). I laughed when he mentioned getting in age groups - I think you and I would be the only ones in our general category in the room!
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