DAILY, WEEKEND, AND HOLIDAY INTERNET EVANGELIZE TO THE WORLD MINISTRY

Mary, However, remained “Seated in the House” Excerpt The custom was for the bereaved to remain seated in the house and for the guests to come and sit in silence and periodically support the grieving parties with sympathetic tears and moans.315 For me the experience of having observed modern wakes in the Middle East has left an unforgettable memory of what “sitting in the house,” crowded on benches in the heat of day and mourning for the dead, can mean. Moreover, one must not forget that it was the brother (the obvious wage earner of that home) who had died. The loss was an intense one. Reading again  Ruth 1:6–14  will provide some sense of the feelings that probably were present in that room.  More Borchert, Gerald L.  John 1–11 . Vol. 25A. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996. Print. The New American Commentary.

Mary, However, remained “Seated in the House” The sisters’ home was Bethany ( 11:1 ), which here is described as lying “fifteen stadia” (in the Greek text), or about one and three-fourths miles, from Jerusalem ( 11:18 ; the NIV “less than two miles” is an appropriate approximation; a stade was about 607 feet). The mourning events for the family of Lazarus apparently drew a significant number of Jews ( “many,” 1:19 ). The use of the “Jews” here does not seem to carry the usual political overtones of Jesus’ opponents. The reference to “many” may suggest that Lazarus had been a person of some influence. But perhaps its primary significance for John was to indicate to the reader that this work of Jesus was witnessed by many people and therefore could not be dismissed easily by the authorities ( cf . 12:9 ; note also the interesting contrast between the Jews and the authorities at 12:9–10 ). The statement at 11:20 clarifies the fact that Jesus had arrived in the vicinity of Betha...

Mary, However, remained “Seated in the House” Excerpt The custom was for the bereaved to remain seated in the house and for the guests to come and sit in silence and periodically support the grieving parties with sympathetic tears and moans.315 For me the experience of having observed modern wakes in the Middle East has left an unforgettable memory of what “sitting in the house,” crowded on benches in the heat of day and mourning for the dead, can mean. Moreover, one must not forget that it was the brother (the obvious wage earner of that home) who had died. The loss was an intense one. Reading again  Ruth 1:6–14  will provide some sense of the feelings that probably were present in that room.  More Borchert, Gerald L.  John 1–11 . Vol. 25A. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996. Print. The New American Commentary.