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John 11:33 – Angry at Death
John 11:33 [HCSB] “When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved.”
Do you see the phrase, “angry in His spirit”? Many translations read, “deeply moved in spirit” instead. The Greek is made up of two words: “to engage in” and “to snort” and therefore to “snort like an angry horse” or “snort (roar) with rage which expresses strong indignation, i.e. deep feeling that is moved to sternly admonish”. So both translations above work although “angry in spirit” captures why or how Jesus was deeply moved. Death made Jesus angry.
Now look at the second description in the HCSB. It reads “deeply moved” (the translation used in other translations for the first word). Others here read, “troubled”. If used to describe a physical reaction, it means “to agitate back-and-forth, shake to-and-fro.” Now take that idea and apply it to the emotional state of Jesus.
Put together and if taken taken physically and literally, Jesus was angrily snorting like a horse pacing back and forth. Now whether any of this was visible or instead only described Jesus’ inward emotional state, we now can hopefully have a deeper understanding of the effect of death on Jesus.
As concerning the first word which is difficult to translate, the NET notes read, “he was angry because he found himself face-to-face with the manifestations of Satan’s kingdom of evil. Here, the realm of Satan was represented by death.” The second word in verb form “describes how Jesus reacted to the thought of being betrayed by Judas, into whose heart Satan had entered.”
All this is to say something that I often want to do but never do for fear of being misunderstood: When someone shares on Facebook concerning the loss of a loved one, I usually click the “sad” or “love” reaction button. Instead I want to select “angry.” Death makes me sad. Death reminds me of how much we love. Death is the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), Satan’s touch. Death makes me angry! Contributing to Satan’s work and hatred, I am both sad and angry that, because I sin, I share my own upcoming death with Satan. Thank God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus, there is a resurrection (John 11:25)! And that makes me happy!
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