St John Chapter xi : Verses 17-27
Contents
- St John Chapter xi : Verses Verses 17-27. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate);
- Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)
St John Chapter xi : Verses Verses 17-27
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| Martha. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
18 (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.)
19 And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus had come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home.
21 Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But now also I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live:
26 And every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?
27 She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world.
17 Ἐλθὼν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εὗρεν αὐτὸν τέσσαρας ⸂ἤδη ἡμέρας⸃ ἔχοντα ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ.17 Venit itaque Jesus : et invenit eum quatuor dies jam in monumento habentem.18 ἦν δὲ ⸀ἡ Βηθανία ἐγγὺς τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ὡς ἀπὸ σταδίων δεκαπέντε.18 ( Erat autem Bethania juxta Jerosolymam quasi stadiis quindecim.)19 ⸂πολλοὶ δὲ⸃ ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐληλύθεισαν πρὸς ⸀τὴν Μάρθαν καὶ ⸀Μαριὰμ ἵνα παραμυθήσωνται αὐτὰς περὶ τοῦ ⸀ἀδελφοῦ.19 Multi autem ex Judaeis venerant ad Martham et Mariam, ut consolarentur eas de fratre suo.20 ἡ οὖν Μάρθα ὡς ἤκουσεν ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἔρχεται ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ· ⸀Μαρία δὲ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ἐκαθέζετο.20 Martha ergo ut audivit quia Jesus venit, occurrit illi : Maria autem domi sedebat.21 εἶπεν οὖν ⸀ἡ Μάρθα πρὸς ⸀τὸν Ἰησοῦν· Κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε ⸂οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανεν ὁ ἀδελφός μου⸃·21 Dixit ergo Martha ad Jesum : Domine, si fuisses hic, frater meus non fuisset mortuus :22 ⸀καὶ νῦν οἶδα ὅτι ὅσα ἂν αἰτήσῃ τὸν θεὸν δώσει σοι ὁ θεός.22 sed et nunc scio quia quaecumque poposceris a Deo, dabit tibi Deus.23 λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου.23 Dicit illi Jesus : Resurget frater tuus.24 λέγει αὐτῷ ⸀ἡ Μάρθα· Οἶδα ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.24 Dicit ei Martha : Scio quia resurget in resurrectione in novissimo die.25 εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή· ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ κἂν ἀποθάνῃ ζήσεται,25 Dixit ei Jesus : Ego sum resurrectio et vita : qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet :26 καὶ πᾶς ὁ ζῶν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· πιστεύεις τοῦτο;26 et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in aeternum. Credis hoc?27 λέγει αὐτῷ· Ναί, κύριε· ἐγὼ πεπίστευκα ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐρχόμενος.27 Ait illi : Utique Domine, ego credidi quia tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi, qui in hunc mundum venisti.
Annotations
17. Jesus therefore came[to Bethany, as some Greek Codices add], and found that he had been four days already in the grave. He found that he had lain in the grave four days already. That is, he had been buried four days ago. For the messenger respecting the illness of Lazarus came from the sisters to Jesus (says Chrysostom) on the day on which Lazarus died; the two following days Jesus remained in Bethabara; on the fourth day He went at length to Bethany. Therefore Lazarus seems to have died and been buried on the same day on which the sisters sent a messenger to Jesus; for otherwise Lazarus would not have been four days dead and buried when Christ came, as is here said.
More probably, Euthymius and Maldonatus think that Lazarus died indeed on the day on which the messenger came to Christ, but was buried on the following day, lest perhaps there might remain in him some signs of hidden life; that Christ remained two days in Bethabara, and on the fourth day departed thence towards Bethany; but because this journey was one of about ten hours, it could scarcely have been traversed by Christ and the apostles in one day on foot; hence Christ reached Bethany on the following morning, which was the fifth from the burial of Lazarus and then raised him from the dead; for neither was it becoming that he should be raised in the evening (lest it might seem a fancied and illusive raising), but in the morning, or in full day. Wherefore Lazarus had already been four complete days in the tomb or sepulchre, and the fifth from his burial was begun; so that it might well appear to all that he was not only dead, but decaying and devoured by worms. 👉Hence the raising of Lazarus performed by Christ was a most certain and wonderful miracle, which could in no way be hidden, or carped at by the scribes.
Typically, one buried four days is a sinner having the habit of sinning, who is dead in sin and as it were buried in it, and lies past cure, without hope of forgiveness and spiritual life. For the ➤first day is that in which any one sins by the consent of the will. The ➤second, on which any one completes the sin in act. The ➤third, on which he repeats it again and again, and brings upon himself a custom and habit of it. The ➤fourth, on which this habit becomes obstinate, and is, as it were, turned into nature; according to S. Augustine (Confess., Lib. viii.),
➤“Out of the perverted will a lust is formed; and when the lust is served, it becomes a custom; and when the custom is not resisted, it becomes a necessity, and thus being connected together by certain (as it were) cramps, they formed what I have called a chain, and a hard slavery held me bound. Such a sinner, then, is by the great and rare grace of Christ to be raised from this sepulchre again; which, that Christ might signify, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”
So also S. Augustine (On the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount): “As we come to sin by three degrees,
➤by suggestion, by ➤delectation, by ➤consent; so also of the sin itself there are three differences;➤in heart, ➤in action, ➤in custom—three deaths, as it were.
One, so to speak, in the house, when in the heart consent is given to the desire; a second, now carried forth, as it were, beyond the door, when consent goes on into action; a third, when the mind, being weighed down by the force of evil custom, as it were by a mass of earth, is, so to speak, already decaying in the grave. And whosoever has read the Gospels recognises that the Lord has raised up these three kinds of dead. And he perhaps considers what differences there were in the word itself of Him who raised them: in one place. “Maiden, arise,” and in another, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise;” and in another, He groaned in spirit, and wept, and again He groaned, and then afterwards He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth!
Thirdly, the Gloss, out of S. Augustine and Bede. The ➤first day of death is that in which we are born with original sin. The ➤second, that in which, coming to years of discretion, we transgress the natural law. The ➤third, in which we despise the written law. The ➤fourth, in which we disdain also the Gospel of Christ and His grace. Contrariwise, S. Bernard takes the four days for the four motives and actions of a penitent; the 👉first of fear; the 👉second of conflict against sins; the 👉third of grief; and the 👉fourth of shame for the same.
18. (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) A stadium /furlong is the eighth part of an Italian mile, and contains therefore 125 paces. John adds this to signify that many had come to Bethany from Jerusalem, inasmuch as it was so near, that they might comfort Martha and Mary, who were sorrowing for the death of Lazarus.
19. And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Many, especially relations, connections, friends; for these sisters were rich, noble, honoured, such as are accustomed to have many, either friends or dependent followers. Besides, the grief for a brother’s death is very keen, and many, even strangers, and not known, are accustomed to assemble for the purpose of comforting persons under such a loss. For the grief for death is common to all; and in it the consolation of all is common also.
20. Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus had come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home. At leisure for silence, grief, and prayer, according to her custom; wherefore the news of the coming of Christ reached not Mary but Martha, for Martha was the senior, and was over the house, and was active and busy, wherefore all letters and messengers were first brought to her, not to Mary. But why did not she herself signify the coming of Christ to Mary? I reply, first, because the near approach of Christ did not allow of any delay. For Christ seems to have been near the house when Martha met Him. Secondly, because Martha wished to confer secretly with Christ, that she might find out from Him whether there were any hope of raising up or helping her brother. Thirdly, because 👉Mary, as I have said, was given to quiet and prayer. Fourthly, because, if she had called out Mary, all the Jews would have followed her, and a tumult would have arisen; they would have contended and disputed with Christ. So Leontius. Finally, her joy at the approach of Christ drew her at once to meet Him, so that she did not think of calling her sister. I prefer to say this, rather than what some suppose, that she desired to deprive her sister of this commendation, viz. [of going to meet] the coming of Christ, for this appears to me too foolish and womanish, and unworthy of so holy a heroine.
21. Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Because I know Thee to be so powerful, that Thou art able to drive away death, and to love both him and us so well, that Thou wouldest not have permitted him to die. In her grief, says Chrysostom, she silently, but reverently, seems to blame Christ for coming too late. But rather in fact she accuses herself, that she had not sent the messenger sooner to Christ; or generally, she bewails and laments His absence, as we lament a casual absence of the physician, if, while he is absent, death takes place.
22. But I know that even now, whatsoever Thou will ask of God, God will give it Thee. And consequently, if Thou shouldest beg of God the raising again of Lazarus, although he has been four days in the tomb, God will give it Thee. “She thought,” says Cyril, “that Christ came, not that He might raise up Lazarus, but that He might comfort her and Mary; and therefore she begs of Him that He will raise Lazarus, but indirectly, and with a modest and humble resignation of her will to His.” Whence, as S. Augustine notes, she did not say: But now I pray Thee to raise my brother; for whence should she know whether it were good for her brother to rise again? This only she said, I know that Thou art able; do this, if Thou wilt; but whether Thou wilt do it or not is a matter for Thy judgment, not for my presumption to determine.
Hence learn by way of moral, that 👉God often suffers us to fall into tribulations, and allows them to increase unto the utmost, and then powerfully helps us, that He may show His Omnipotence and providential mercy. 👉Wherefore the faithful Christian must not then despair, but increase in hope, and pray the more earnestly. For when every human help fails, then the Divine help approaches and is very near. For so God helped Abraham when placed in difficulties (Gen. xx), and Joseph, forgotten in prison (Gen. xli. 14). Also when the Hebrews were oppressed by Pharaoh (Exod. i.), and especially when the same people were everywhere surrounded; on one side by the sea, on the other by the mountains, and elsewhere by the army of Pharaoh. Then He divided the Red Sea and led them safely through, while Pharaoh, pursuing them through the bed of the sea, was overwhelmed with his whole army (Exod. xiv.) So in the time of the Judges, He permitted the same people to be oppressed, now by the Midianites, now by the Moabites, now by the Ammonites, now by the Philistines, that He might bring them to fervent prayer, and to appeal to Him; and when they did this, He sent them Gideon, Ehud, Samson, and other Judges to free them. So He freed, by means of Judith, the Jews destined to death by Holofernes, and those by Haman He freed through Mordecai, and those by Antiochus through the Maccabees. So He freed David besieged in the cave by Saul, a messenger being sent to Saul that the Philistines were laying waste Judea (1 Sam. xxiii. 24) It is therefore the proper attribute of God to supply the defect of nature, and so also to help the lost and hopeless, according to the saying: “For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever.” (Ps. ix. 19).
23. Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again. Jesus solaces Martha sorrowing for the death of her brother, by a hope of his resurrection, but an ambiguous one, that He might raise her by degrees to faith and hope of so great a miracle as that by which He was soon to raise him, so that she might dispose herself to it, and, as it were, merit it. So Leontius.
24. Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day. Christ had said that Lazarus should rise again, not explaining whether now, or in the day of judgment. Martha, then, to elicit an explanation of this ambiguity from the mouth of Christ, adds, I know that he shall rise again in the day of judgment; but this will not be any benefit peculiar to him, but the common lot of all men. But if he shall rise before that time, and be raised by Thee now, this will be a singular privilege to him and to us all; and I would that Thou wouldest say the word openly. Learn hence, that the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, believed in the immortality of the soul, and from thence the resurrection of the body; and this appears from 2 Macc. xii. 44, Job xix. 26.
25. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live: I am He who recalls to life, I am He who gives life; by Me both the dead rise and the living live; therefore I am able now, immediately, before the general resurrection, to raise up thy brother from death. Whence S. Augustine: She says, My brother shall rise again in the last day. Thou sayest truly; but He by whom he shall then rise is able [to raise him] also now, because He is the Resurrection and the Life: that is, Christ saith, “I am the cause of the Resurrection and Life, so that all rise again by Me, and no one except by Me can rise.” Others explain thus, “I am the resurrection to life,” which is an hendiadys. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
To Martha asking that the life of the body should be restored to Lazarus, Christ replies more fully, and 👉assigns assuredly life also to the soul; so that his soul should live here a new life by greater grace, and in the future by glory. “The soul shall live,” says Augustine, “until the body shall rise again, never afterwards to die!” The sense then is, “Not only thy brother shall rise again by My power, but whosoever is faithful, who believes in Me with a living faith, working by love, shall live even though he were dead: as well because his soul shall live always by Me a life of love and grace, and of glory in heaven; as because his body shall be raised by Me from death to a life blessed and eternal in the day of judgment;” to which Christ here chiefly alludes. 👉“Wherefore, although it (the body) may die, yet this will be for a short time only, so that death will seem not so much death as sleep and repose; from which it shall awake and arise on the day of judgment.
S. Cyprian (De Mortalit.) cites this place and explains: “If we believe in Christ, let us have faith in His words and promises; and since we shall not die for ever, let us come in glad security to Christ, with whom we shall live and reign for ever.”
26. And every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou this? I, as I will raise up the faithful, though dead, to a new and blessed life, so those also who are still alive, who believe in Me, I will keep in life eternal, and I will provide that they shall not die for ever: for although from the debt of nature they shall die for a brief time, yet I will soon raise them up from death to life eternal, so that they shall seem not so much to die as to sleep. Wherefore I am the Resurrection and the Life of all the faithful whether dead or living, because I will bestow upon them eternal life through the resurrection.
Believest thou this? Christ requires faith in the Resurrection, not from Lazarus, inasmuch as he was dead, but from his sister Martha, so that she may be at once excited to greater trust in it and hope for it, and therefore may prepare herself for it with greater desire and reverence. So Christ required from the father who begged that his son should be freed from the evil spirit, that he should believe Him to be able to do this (S. Mark ix. 23); and from those who carried the paralytic He required a similar faith (S. Matt. ix. 2).
27. She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world. The Christ, the Son of God, that is, that Son., viz., the true and only Son by nature. Christ perfected the imperfect faith of Martha, saying, I am the Resurrection and the Life. Wherefore she, being thus enlightened by Christ, burst forth into a perfect act of faith, and said: I believe that Thou art Messiah, the true Son of God, and therefore God, the first cause of all life and resurrection. I believe that Thou, as God, art therefore able to raise up and give life to Lazarus and to whomsoever of the dead Thou willest.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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