Saint John - Chapter 11
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| Lazarus. J-J Tissot |
Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and Martha her sister.
Lazarus, a man honourable and rich, and therefore another person than the Lazarus who lay full of sores at the doors of the rich glutton (Luke 16)
Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha, in which, i.e., they dwelt as honoured residents, and as disciples and hostesses of Christ.
Mystically, Bethany is in the Hebrew the house of affliction, according to the Syriac version, and this agrees to the circumstances; for the sickness and death of Lazarus afflicted both him and his sisters.
Secondly, Bethany is house of obedience.
Thirdly, Bethany, says Pagninus, is the same as the house of reply, or of the Lord’s hearing, because there Christ heard the prayer of Martha and Mary, interceding for the life of Lazarus.
John passes from what Christ did in the Feast of the Dedication, as appears from 10:22, to the doings of Christ a little before the last Passover, as appears in v. 55; that is, he leaps from December to March: he omits therefore the doings of Christ in January and February, because Luke relates those at length from chapters 15 to 19.
[2] ( Maria autem erat quae unxit Dominum unguento, et extersit pedes ejus capillis suis : cujus frater Lazarus infirmabatur.)
(And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair (Luke 7:37). I have shown that the Mary who twice, or as some say, three times, anointed Christ, was without doubt the same as Mary Magdalene; although some think that there were two, and others three.
Whose brother Lazarus was sick. John adds this, to suggest a cause for the raising of Lazarus, namely, that he was the brother of the Magdalene, who was wholly devoted to Jesus, and besought of Him the raising up of her brother Lazarus.
[3] Miserunt ergo sorores ejus ad eum dicentes : Domine, ecce quem amas infirmatur.
His sisters therefore sent to him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Therefore his sisters sent, &c. Cyril, Theophylact, and Leontius think that these are words of astonishment and as of a person wondering, How is it possible that one should be stricken down by disease whom Thou lovest, Lord, who hast the power of life and death? how can sickness have dared to attack one who is filled with love of Thee? and how can weakness hold him in whom Thy love dwells?
Others, more simply, think the sisters to have spoken that out of faith and confidence. As S. Augustine, and from him Bede: They did not say, Come, for to one who loved it was enough only to announce the fact. They did not dare to say, Come and heal; they did not dare to say, Give the command there, and here it shall come to pass, for why shall it not be so with them, if the faith of that centurion is praised by speaking thus? For he said, Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. None of these things said they; but only, Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick; it is enough that Thou knowest it; for Thou wilt not love and leave uncared for! This then is the prayer implied, but hidden and implicit, because it signifies the necessity and the desire for help; which is often more efficacious than an open solicitation, because it is more humble, modest, relying, and trustful. So out of S. Thomas Suarez’ Treatise on Prayer.
Therefore this petition of the sisters shows,
- First, great faith; for they do not say, Come, hasten, lest death be beforehand with Thee. For they believe that Christ is able to cure even when absent; yea, even to raise again the dead. So Cyril, Theophylact, Rupertus.
- Secondly, great trustfulness, in that they confided that Christ, at the mere hearing of the sickness, would bring a remedy to it, whence they do not multiply words and petitions.
- Thirdly, great love: Behold, he whom Thou lovest; as if they would say, Thou lovest us, and we Thee: it is sufficient for one who loves to announce the danger of the loved one. For love outweighs all prayers.
- Fourthly, resignation; for they resign themselves wholly to the providence of Christ, that concerning the disease and the sufferer, He should order and dispose as should befit His providence and love.
Figuratively, Rabanus and from him the Gloss: Lazarus, he says, is a sinner and is loved by the Lord; for He has not come to call the righteous, but sinners; the sisters are holy men, or good thoughts, who pray for the loosing of sins.
Lastly, the sisters did not themselves come to Jesus, but only sent messengers, both because they were women, to whom the care of the house pertained, and to whom a long journey would have been unfitting; and because their brother Lazarus, who was nigh unto death, needed their assistance; and because, trusting in the goodness and love of Christ, they thought a messenger sufficient. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and Euthymius.
[4] Audiens autem Jesus dixit eis : Infirmitas haec non est ad mortem, sed pro gloria Dei, ut glorificetur Filius Dei per eam.
And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it.
When Jesus heard that He said, This sickness is not, &c. First, because this death of Lazarus shall not be so much death, as sleep; for he shall wake again and rise from it. Whence (ver. 11) He saith: Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Secondly, as if He said: The end and object of the sickness of Lazarus is not death, but the glory of God; for God did not send it on him in order that it should deprive him of life by death, but rather that it should restore life to him in greater measure, and thus be to the greater glory of God. So S. Augustine: “It is not to death,” he says, “because death itself is not to death, but rather to the giving occasion for a miracle, by the performing of which men may believe in Christ, and avoid the true death.” Thirdly, it is not to death, that is, to such a death as is usually common to men, namely, that man should remain in it nor return any more to this life and this world: for although death might separate the soul of Lazarus from his body, yet it did not end this world [for him] so that he should not return to it; which is the thing death does. For he was speedily raised up again by Christ, and returned to life more living and vigorous than before. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others. Whence Nonnus renders, it is not to everlasting death.
But for the glory of God. By glory, first, Andreas Cretensis understands the Cross and death of Christ; for this the envious Jews determined upon because of His raising up Lazarus, and this greatly glorified Christ. Secondly, Theodorus takes it of the glory which was to come to Christ because of the publicity and fame throughout all Judea, and indeed through the whole world, of this raising of Lazarus performed by Him. Thirdly, and rightly, take the glory of God, because men seeing Lazarus raised up by Christ, believed on Him as the Messiah and Son of God, and therefore glorified both Christ and God the Father. For so John explains this glory in ver. 45: Many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him. Whence S. Augustine, “Such a glorifying did not exalt Him, but profited us.”
[5] Diligebat autem Jesus Martham, et sororem ejus Mariam, et Lazarum.
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus.
Now Jesus loved Martha, &c. Because of the singular love, devotion, and liberality with which they used to provide for Jesus and His disciples, for Martha had hospitable care for Jesus. Mary having been healed and converted by Christ, devoted herself wholly to Him, and indeed used to accompany Him when He went from town to town preaching, and ministered to Him of her substance (S. Luke 8:2, 3). Lazarus imitated his sisters. John here inserts the mention of the love of Jesus, not so much that he may assign that cause for the sickness of Lazarus, as Cyril thinks, as if Jesus sent the sickness to Lazarus, because He loved him and his sisters, according to Rev. 3:19, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten;” but to signify that Jesus, after He had received the news of the sickness of Lazarus, plainly had a fixed purpose to heal him, but in suitable time and way. For His love made Him anxious respecting the welfare of Lazarus, and therefore He did all things which John narrates in order. Finally, Jesus so loved Lazarus and his sisters, that on their account He raised Lazarus from death, even although He knew that the raising of Lazarus would be to Himself the cause of the Cross and death. The life therefore of Lazarus was the death of Christ.
[6] Ut ergo audivit quia infirmabatur, tunc quidem mansit in eodem loco duobus diebus;
When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he still remained in the same place two days.
When he had heard, &c. He remained therefore in the same place for two days, during which Lazarus died, because He willed not to cure a sick man, but to raise one dead, and even four days buried and decaying; which was a far greater benefit and miracle, and was not open to the calumnies of the Jews, who might say that Lazarus was not truly dead, and therefore not raised, but only in a swoon or faint, from which he recovered, not by the help of Christ, but by the force of nature and youth.
[7] deinde post haec dixit discipulis suis : Eamus in Judaeam iterum.
Then after that, he said to his disciples: Let us go into Judea again.
Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into Judea again. By thus forewarning, Christ calms the fears of His timid disciples; for they feared to return with Him into Judea, because the Jews had a little before sought to stone Him (10:31). So S. Chrysostom: “Never at any other time did the Lord announce to His disciples whither He was about to go; but here they were greatly afraid of being harassed should He set out without warning. They feared both for Him and for themselves, for they were not strong in the faith.” S. Augustine says: “Christ departed, as a man, from Judea, that He might not be stoned: but in returning, forgetful of His weakness, He showed His power.”
[8] Dicunt ei discipuli : Rabbi, nunc quaerebant te Judaei lapidare, et iterum vadis illuc?
The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone thee: and goest thou thither again?
His disciples say, &c. The disciples say this, because they feared the Jews on account of Christ, and still more for themselves.
[9] Respondit Jesus : Nonne duodecim sunt horae diei? Si quis ambulaverit in die, non offendit, quia lucem hujus mundi videt :
Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world:
Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? Lyra and those who follow him expound thus, as if it were “As the twelve hours change through the day, and the breezes change with them, so the minds of the Jews may easily be changed, that those who before hated Me may now love and receive Me!”
Secondly, S. Augustine, Bede, and Rupertus: “As the twelve hours follow the day, that is, the course of the sun, so that they succeed each other in turn, so it is your duty to follow Me; for I am as it were your sun and day, but ye accompany Me as the twelve hours.” And the Gloss: “Christ calls Himself the day, in which they ought to walk, that they may not stumble, and without whom if they walk they stumble; as the disciples just now did in being unwilling that He should die, who came to die for men; but them He calls hours, because these follow the day.”
Thirdly, S. Cyril, as if: “Some hours of My day, that is, of My life, shall remain, in which it behoves Me to preach and to benefit the Jews: the night will come, that is, My Passion and Death; because of which I shall encompass them in the shades of slaughter and calamity: for night is the symbol of wrath and calamities.”
Fourthly and rightly: Certain and fixed is the period of day, that is, of twelve hours, within which any one may walk without stumbling, because he has the light by which he sees and avoids obstacles: so and with equal certainty the time of My life is fixed by God the Father, in which I have to live and do the works which I have been sent to perform. This therefore I call the day; and in this I have no danger to fear from the Jews for Myself or for you, nor can I be slain before the time foreordained for Me by My Father; that is, before the setting and night of My life shall come.
[10] si autem ambulaverit in nocte, offendit, quia lux non est in eo.
But if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
But if a man walk in the night, &c. While it is day, that is, while the time of life remains to Me, ye will not stumble. O disciples, while following Me into Judea; but when the night shall have come, that is, death and the close of My life, then the Jews will persecute and kill you as My disciples, as they have persecuted and killed Me. So Rupertus. Mystically he who follows the day, that is, the sun and light of faith and grace, does not stumble, does not fall into offences; but he who walks in the night, that is, in the darkness of ignorance and concupiscence, he falls into various faults and penalties. Eph. 5:8.
[11] Haec ait, et post haec dixit eis : Lazarus amicus noster dormit : sed vado ut a somno excitem eum.
These things he said; and after that he said to them: Lazarus our friend sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
These things said He, &c. He calls death sleep, because Lazarus was soon to be aroused and awakened from it. Hear S. Augustine: To the Lord, who called him from the sepulchre with as much ease as thou callest one sleeping from his bed, he was merely asleep; to men, who were not able to raise him up, he was dead. So Paul calls the dead who are to rise again, sleepers (1 Thess. 4:14).
[12] Dixerunt ergo discipuli ejus : Domine, si dormit, salvus erit.
His disciples therefore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. For in the sick sleep is usually the sign and forerunner, and often the cause, of health. The sense is as if it were said, Let us suffer him to sleep, that he may the more quickly recover: wherefore there is no reason that we should go to him. So S. Augustine and Cyril.
[13] Dixerat autem Jesus de morte ejus : illi autem putaverunt quia de dormitione somni diceret.
But Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep.
Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, &c. Because they took the “sleepeth” simply, not symbolically, of death, as Christ meant it.
[14] Tunc ergo Jesus dixit eis manifeste : Lazarus mortuus est :
Then therefore Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead.
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. He showed Himself to be a prophet, yea, the Son of God, inasmuch as He reveals things secret and distant: for such was this death of Lazarus, which He here clearly declares, to take away the disciples’ error as to his sleep. For the messenger had announced to Christ only his sickness, not his death.
[15] et gaudeo propter vos, ut credatis, quoniam non eram ibi, sed eamus ad eum.
And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may believe: but let us go to him.
And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. Christ therefore declaring his death, showed that He knew it not in a human manner, but in a Divine. For how, says Augustine, should the thing be hidden from Him who had created the man who was dying? and into whose hands his soul had gone forth? Nevertheless let us go unto him. Christ speaks of the dead as though he were living, because He was about to make him so, by raising him from the dead. So Cyril.
[16] Dixit ergo Thomas, qui dicitur Didymus, ad condiscipulos : Eamus et nos, ut moriamur cum eo.
Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Then said Thomas, &c. Thomas was not doubly named, as if his first name had been Thomas, his second Didymus; but they were one and the same: for the Hebrew word Thomas is the same as the Greek Didymus, that is, a twin.
Let us also go, that we may die with Him. Not with Lazarus, as some will have it, for this seems foolish; but with Christ, who a little before had said, Let us go to him. Thomas, says Bede, exhorts his companions beyond all, that they should go and die with Christ, in which his great constancy appears. (And the Interlin.) Behold the true disposition of loving souls, either to live with Him or to die with Him; such as were the Soldurii among the Gauls, whose law and covenant in war was, either to conquer together or to die together, as Julius Cæsar bears witness in his Commentaries (De Bell. Gall. 111. 22), whom S. Paul seems to have alluded to when he says, in 2 Cor. 7:3, Ye are in our hearts to live and to die with you. Furthermore, that which S. Thomas says, Let us also go, that we may die with Him, is as if he had said, “If we go with Jesus, we must die with Him, because of the violent hatred of the Jews towards Him. If then He goes, let us also go, as brave disciples and soldiers, and die with Him courageously as our Leader; if He disregards death, and even advances to meet it, let us also disregard it and meet it.” For he had not sufficiently understood what Christ (ver. 9) intimates, that no danger threatened Him yet from the Jews. So Cyril. Therefore he offers himself for Christ to certain death, for he considered it was impending; which was a remarkable proof of his great bravery, and singular love for Christ.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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