Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 11:21
Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
21. if thou hadst been here ] Not a reproach, however gentle (she does not say ‘hadst Thou come ’), but an expression of deep regret. This thought had naturally been often in the sisters’ minds during the last four days (comp. Joh 11:32). They believe that Christ could and would have healed Lazarus: their faith and hope are not yet equal to anticipating His raising him from the dead. The gradual progress of Martha’s faith is very true to life, and reminds us of similar development in the woman of Samaria (Joh 4:19) and the man born blind (Joh 9:11), though she starts at a more advanced stage than they do. If all these three narratives are late fictions, we have three masterpieces of psychological study, as miraculous in the literature of the second century as would be a Gothic cathedral in the architecture of that age. For the construction comp. Joh 4:10, Joh 14:28.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 21. If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.] Mary said the same words to him a little after, Joh 11:32, which proves that these sisters had not a complete knowledge of the omnipotence of Christ: they thought he could cure at hand, but not at a distance; or they thought that it was because he did not know of their brother’s indisposition that he permitted him to die. In either of these cases it plainly appears they had not a proper notion of his divinity; and indeed the following verse proves that they considered him in no other light than that of a prophet. Query – Was it not proper that Christ should, in general, as much as might be, hide the knowledge of his divinity from those with whom he ordinarily lodged? Had they known him fully, would not the reverence and awe connected with such a knowledge have overwhelmed them?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mary saith the same, Joh 11:32. They were both in an error, for Lazaruss death was appointed and determined by an eternal counsel; and he was both sick and died for a wise end, that God might be glorified and his Son glorified in raising him from the dead; as we were before told, Joh 11:4. But it lets us see the vanity of our natures, who in the loss of our friends are ready to think, if such or such means had been used, we had not lost our friends; never considering our days are appointed, and we cannot pass the number of them. If any rational, probable means for continuing their lives be omitted, that also is not without the counsel of God, who having determined the issue, concealeth diseases, or the true and proper means for their cure, from physicians, or such as are about the sick persons. Nor did Martha and Mary fail in this only, but in that they made the Lords presence necessary to the preserving of the life of their brother, who, had he pleased, could, though absent, have kept him from death.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Then said Martha . . . Lord, ifthou hadst been here, my brother had not diedAs Maryafterwards said the same thing (Joh11:32), it is plain they had made this very natural remark toeach other, perhaps many times during these four sad days, and notwithout having their confidence in His love at times overclouded.Such trials of faith, however, are not peculiar to them.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When said Martha unto Jesus,…. When she was come to him,
Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died: which expresses much faith, but with a mixture of weakness, as if the presence of Christ was necessary for the working a cure; whereas he could as well have restored her brother to health absent, as present, had it been his will, as he did the centurion’s servant, and the nobleman’s son of Capernaum.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died (, ). Condition of the second class with and the imperfect (no aorist of , to be) in the condition and with the second aorist active indicative of . Mary (verse 32) uses these identical words to Jesus. Clearly they had said so to each other with wistful longing if not with a bit of reproach for his delay. But they used , not or . But busy, practical Martha comes to the point.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then said Martha unto Jesus,” (eipen oun he Martha pros lesoun) “Then Martha said personally to Jesus;- Like Peter among the twelve apostles, Martha was the energetic, quick spoken, always ready to give advice, and impulsive worker who took advantage of the first opportunity to go out, put people in their place, to greet Jesus, without even letting Mary know He was coming, Joh 11:28-29.
2) “Lord if thou hadst been here,” (kurie ei en hode) “Master if you had been here;- With sorrow and regret, without complaint, she gave this testimony of utter faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Master, 1Co 12:3. This she did only by the Holy Spirit.
3) “My brother would not have died.” (ouk an apethanen ho adelphos mou) “My brother would not have died.” This was a mutual faith, expressed by both her and her sister, and later confirmed by many mourners and Jewish friends who had known our Lord’s former labors and miracles among them in Judea, and in the Jerusalem area, Joh 11:32; Joh 11:37. Here are three testimonies that Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying had He been present in his hour of critical illness: 1 ) Martha, Joh 11:21; Joh 11:2) Mary, Joh 11:32; Joh 11:3) Many Jews, Joh 11:36-37.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. Lord, if thou hadst been here. She begins with a complaint, though in doing so she modestly expresses her wish. Her meaning may be expressed thus — “By thy presence thou mightst have delivered my brother from death, and even now thou canst do it, for God will not refuse thee any thing.” By speaking in this manner, she gives way to her feelings, instead of restraining them under the rule of faith. I acknowledge that her words proceeded partly from faith, but I say that there were disorderly passions mixed with them, which hurried her beyond due bounds. For when she assures herself that her brother would not have died, if Christ had been present, what ground has she for this confidence? Certainly, it did not arise from any promise of Christ.
The only conclusion therefore is, that she inconsiderately yields to her own wishes, instead of subjecting herself to Christ. When she ascribes to Christ power and supreme goodness, this proceeds from faith; but when she persuades herself of more than she had heard Christ declare, that has nothing to do with faith; (317) for we must always hold the mutual agreement between the word and faith, that no man may rashly forge anything for himself, without the authority of the word of God. Besides, Martha attached too much importance to the bodily presence of Christ. The consequence is, that Martha’s faith, though mixed up and interwoven with ill-regulated desires, and even not wholly free from superstition, could not shine with full brightness; so that we perceive but a few sparks of it in these words.
(317) “ Cela n’a rien de commun avec la foy.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.We have exactly the same words spoken by Mary in Joh. 11:32. They are the utterance of the thought which had already been expressed in their message (Joh. 11:3), and had, we may think, been spoken more than once by the sisters to each other. These sisters are among the many who had received our Lord in the fulness of a true faith, of whom the Gospel narrative tells us nothing, or gives us, as here, but a passing glimpse. Their belief is stated in the definiteness of full conviction; but they, like the courtier, connect the power to save with the bodily presence of our Lord. (Comp. Joh. 4:49.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. If thou hadst been here Mary meets the Lord with the same first words, (Joh 11:32.) Stier beautifully paraphrases their correspondent utterances: “‘Alas, Lord, we have thought it a hundred times since our brother died;’ and they must tell him as soon as they saw him.” It was not reproach, for Lazarus died on the very day of their message; too soon for Jesus’s possible coming. But it is, “O that thou hadst been here! then my brother had not died.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Martha therefore said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here my brother had not died. And even now I know that whatever you will ask God he will give it to you.”
It is noteworthy that Martha still retained hope. She had sublime confidence in Jesus. ‘Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died’. This was not a complaint, but a quiet statement of faith. She had no doubt at all that Jesus could have prevented it.
‘Yet even now I know that whatever you request from God, God will give you’. She knew what Jesus could do, what she did not know was whether He would. Many were dying in Judea. Why should this one be any different? Here Martha’s activity produced a faith which a less active person might not have achieved. She just could not sit still and let things happen, even if what she asked for was hopeless.
It is noteworthy that in this incident it was Martha whose faith shone out. In Luke it was Mary whose faith was commended, but the same one who was wrapped up in Jesus’ presence there, was now wrapped up in grief for her brother. It was Martha who looked for Jesus to do something.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 11:21-22. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Martha’s intention, no doubt, was to welcome Jesus; but being in an excess of grief, the first thing she uttered was a complaint, that he had not come sooner. Imagining that he could not cure her brother while at a distance from him, she thought that, by delaying to come, he had neglected to save her brother’s life: Lord, if thou hadst been here, &c. Thus Martha, in one respect, betrayed a mean notion of our Lord’s power; though, in another, her faith aimed at something very high; for she immediately added, But I know, &c. Joh 11:22 insinuating, that she believed hisprayer might yet restore her brother to life: however, as she thought he could not of himself raise the dead, she founded her hopes not on his own power, but on the power of God, in a general sense, to be exerted at his intercession. It seems, she had not heard of theresurrection either of Jairus’s daughter, or of the widow of Nain’s son; or, if she had heard of them, she might think her brother’s resurrection more difficult than theirs, as he had been so long in a state of death.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 11:21-22 . ] Not a reproach, but a lament: if Thou wert here , and stayedst not in the distant Peraea.
] Without (see the critical note) the expression simply connects past and present: and now , when he is dead. She then gives expression indirectly (“ob voti magnitudinem,” Grotius) to her confidence , which had quickly arisen in consequence of the arrival of Jesus, that by His prayer He would be able to raise the dead one to life. Having the confidence, she expresses the wish . We can understand from Joh 11:4 why, now that the healing could no longer be effected, she should think of a resurrection ; for with her faith in Jesus, and her knowledge of His wonderful works, she must have felt sure that the declaration of Joh 11:4 would be fulfilled in some way or other. The less, therefore, may we adopt Calvin’s judgment: “magis affectui suo indulget , quam se contineat sub fidei regula.”
The position of the words , is emphatic; their emphatic character is further heightened by the repetition of (comp. Xen. Mem . i. 3. 2 : ). This word , to beg for oneself , is not elsewhere used of Jesus praying to God (but , , , ); it corresponds to the intensity of Martha’s emotion , which would lead her to choose the more concrete, more human expression (comp. Mat 7:9 ; Joh 15:16 , al .). Thus naively , as to form , does she speak in the excitement of her feeling; for the idea of the superhuman relation of Jesus to God had not as yet presented itself in any way to her mind. But as to substance she was right; see Joh 11:41-42 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Ver. 21. Lord, if thou hadst been here, &c. ] Was she sure of that? but why was he dead, if Christ would not, though he were not there? We are all too much fastened to his bodily presence: howbeit, we never come to believe indeed till we are well persuaded of his omnipotence. But how fitly may many a poor soul say to the bloody non-resident, Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother, child, husband, had not been dead in his sins?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21. ] This saying has evidently been the leading thought of the four days since their brother’s death. Mary repeats it, Joh 11:32 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 11:21 . Martha’s first words to Jesus, , “hadst Thou been here my brother had not died,” are “not a reproach but a lament,” Meyer. Mary uses the same words (Joh 11:32 ), suggesting that this had been the burden of their talk with one another; and even, as Bengel says, before the death “utinam adesset Dominus Jesus”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
21.] This saying has evidently been the leading thought of the four days since their brothers death. Mary repeats it, Joh 11:32.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 11:21. , if Thou hadst been here) Thus Mary also expresses herself, Joh 11:32. From which it may be inferred that this was their language before their brothers death, Would that the Lord Jesus were here. Himself stirs up the spark of faith, that lies hid in these words.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 11:21
Joh 11:21
Martha therefore said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died-Jesus had healed many sick, and the thought first expressed was that if Jesus had been there before his death he could have saved him from death.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
if: Joh 11:32, Joh 11:37, Joh 4:47-49, 1Ki 17:18, Psa 78:19, Psa 78:41, Mat 9:18, Luk 7:6-10, Luk 7:13-15, Luk 8:49-55
Reciprocal: Mar 5:35 – why Luk 8:41 – and besought Joh 6:9 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
Martha presumed that Jesus would have prevented the death of her brother had he been there. Whether he would have seen lit to prevent it is another matter, for he would have been able to prevent it though absent. He prevented the death of the nobleman’s son though absent (chapter 4:46-53). But the remark of Martha showed her faith in Jesus, and the feeling of friendship on which she based it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 11:21. Martha therefore said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Her first words express no reproach, but only the bitter thought of help come too late. In His presence her brother could not have died (comp. Joh 11:15). Of the possibility that Jesus might have spoken the word of help, even though their message might reach Him too late to bring Him to their dying brother, she says nothing, though the Jews, unchecked by the reverence of love, freely ask the question among themselves (Joh 11:37).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Martha addressed Jesus respectfully but probably not reverentially as "Lord." Some readers of the story have interpreted Joh 11:21 as containing a rebuke, but Martha’s words there do not necessarily imply criticism. At least they convey Martha’s grief and her confidence in Jesus’ power to heal people. In view of Joh 11:24; Joh 11:39, Joh 11:22 probably does not mean that Martha believed that Jesus could raise Lazarus back to life. More likely Martha was reaffirming her confidence in Him that her loss had not shaken. Her words in both verses expressed what many others who had faith in Jesus believed.