They tried to cultivate an attitude of detachment and indifference in the face of death, a sort of cool, rational acceptance of the inevitable. That is often the secular person's response to the fact of death. You simply have to accept it, learn to live with it, not be too upset by it. Well, there is no acceptance in Jesus' reaction. He hated death, he loathed it with an intensity that made him shake and tremble and groan.
Death is the enemy, the last enemy.
Death is the consequence of sin, and all the hatred which God feels toward sin he also feels toward this bitter fruit of sin. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage, and he advances to the tomb as a champion who prepares for conflict. The raising of Lazarus thus becomes not an isolated marvel, but . . . a decisive instance and open symbol of Jesus' conquest of death and hell . . . Not in cold unconcern, but in flaming wrath against the foe, Jesus smites in our behalf. Jesus' encounter with Lazarus, the friend who was four days dead and buried, is a revelation of the feelings of God in the face of human suffering.