Jesus therefore again groaning in himself came to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
All Commentaries on John 11:38 Go To John 11
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Jesus therefore, again groaning in Himself, &c. Note that Christ was here thrice greatly distressed, and wept. First, when He sees Mary and the Jews weeping (ver33). Secondly, when He saw the sepulchre of Lazarus (ver34). Thirdly, here, when He came to it, to show how pitiable was the lot of Lazarus when dead, and typically of sinners spiritually dead by their sins, and hereafter to die perpetually in the torments of hell. For it was they who drew forth from Him in the agony of His Passion tears of blood (Luke xxii44).
It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. For the more noble of the Jews were buried in caves or underground chambers, as appears in the case of the sepulchre of Abraham ( Genesis 23:9), Isaac and Jacob ( Genesis 49:31), Joseph of Arimathea ( Matthew 26:60).
Mystically, S. Augustine says: "This stone denotes the Mosaic Law, which was written on tables of stone, and included all under sin."
Typically, the same says (Serm44 , on S. John) "That mass placed on the sepulchre is the force of evil custom with which the soul is weighed down, nor permitted to rise up nor breathe."
