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JOHN 11:39 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 11:38John 11:40
Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
'Take away the stone,' he said. But, Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days' — Jesus commands the removal of the stone, but Martha objects, citing the advanced decomposition inevitable after four days of burial in the warm Mediterranean climate. Her objection is practical and reflects the reality of physical death and decay, suggesting reluctance to witness the corrupted remains.

Church Fathers on John 11:39

Christ did not answer Mary, as He had her; sister, on account of the people present. In condescension to them He humbled Himself, and let His human nature be seen, in order to gain them as witnesses to the miracle: When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in His spirit, and was troubled.

Chrysostom · 4th century

For who but Himself could trouble Him? Christ was troubled, because it pleased Him to be troubled; He hungered, because it pleased Him to hunger. It was in His own power to be affected in this or that way or not. The Word took up soul and flesh, and whole man, and fitted it to Himself in unity of person. And thus according to the nod and will of that higher nature in Him, in which the sovereign power resides, He becomes weak and troubled.

Augustine · 4th century

To prove His human nature He sometimes gives it free vent, while at other times He commands, and restrains it by, the power of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord allows His nature to be affected in these ways both to prove that He is very Man, not Man in appearance only; and also to teach us by His own example the due measures of joy and grief. For the absence altogether of sympathy and sorrow is brutal, the excess of them is womanly.

Theophylact · 11th century
Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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