Lazarus is dead. St John Chapter xi. 6-16

St John Chapter xi : Verses 6-16

Contents

• St John Chapter xi : Verses Verses 6-16. 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 6-16

Lazarus. J-J Tissot.
Brooklyn Museum.

6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he still remained in the same place two days.  

7 Then after that, he said to his disciples: Let us go into Judea again. 

8 The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone thee: and goest thou thither again?  

9 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:  

10 But if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.

11 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.  

12 His disciples therefore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.  

13 But Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep.  

14 Then therefore Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead.  

15 And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may believe: but let us go to him.

16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him.

6 ὡς οὖν ἤκουσεν ὅτι ἀσθενεῖ, τότε μὲν ἔμεινεν ἐν ᾧ ἦν τόπῳ δύο ἡμέρας·

6 Ut ergo audivit quia infirmabatur, tunc quidem mansit in eodem loco duobus diebus;  

7 ἔπειτα μετὰ τοῦτο λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Ἄγωμεν εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν πάλιν.

7 deinde post haec dixit discipulis suis : Eamus in Judaeam iterum.  

8 λέγουσιν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί· Ῥαββί, νῦν ἐζήτουν σε λιθάσαι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ πάλιν ὑπάγεις ἐκεῖ;

8 Dicunt ei discipuli : Rabbi, nunc quaerebant te Judaei lapidare, et iterum vadis illuc?  

9 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Οὐχὶ δώδεκα ⸂ὧραί εἰσιν⸃ τῆς ἡμέρας; ἐάν τις περιπατῇ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, οὐ προσκόπτει, ὅτι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου βλέπει·

9 Respondit Jesus : Nonne duodecim sunt horae diei? Si quis ambulaverit in die, non offendit, quia lucem hujus mundi videt :  

10 ἐὰν δέ τις περιπατῇ ἐν τῇ νυκτί, προσκόπτει, ὅτι τὸ φῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ.

10 si autem ambulaverit in nocte, offendit, quia lux non est in eo. 

11 ταῦτα εἶπεν, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο λέγει αὐτοῖς· Λάζαρος ὁ φίλος ἡμῶν κεκοίμηται, ἀλλὰ πορεύομαι ἵνα ἐξυπνίσω αὐτόν.

11 Haec ait, et post haec dixit eis : Lazarus amicus noster dormit : sed vado ut a somno excitem eum.  

12 εἶπαν οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ ⸀αὐτῷ· Κύριε, εἰ κεκοίμηται σωθήσεται.

12 Dixerunt ergo discipuli ejus : Domine, si dormit, salvus erit.  

13 εἰρήκει δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς περὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ. ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἔδοξαν ὅτι περὶ τῆς κοιμήσεως τοῦ ὕπνου λέγει.

13 Dixerat autem Jesus de morte ejus : illi autem putaverunt quia de dormitione somni diceret.  

14 τότε οὖν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς παρρησίᾳ· Λάζαρος ἀπέθανεν,

14 Tunc ergo Jesus dixit eis manifeste : Lazarus mortuus est :  

15 καὶ χαίρω δι’ ὑμᾶς, ἵνα πιστεύσητε, ὅτι οὐκ ἤμην ἐκεῖ· ἀλλὰ ἄγωμεν πρὸς αὐτόν.

15 et gaudeo propter vos, ut credatis, quoniam non eram ibi, sed eamus ad eum. 

16 εἶπεν οὖν Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος τοῖς συμμαθηταῖς· Ἄγωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἵνα ἀποθάνωμεν μετ’ αὐτοῦ.

16 Dixit ergo Thomas, qui dicitur Didymus, ad condiscipulos : Eamus et nos, ut moriamur cum eo.

Annotations

    6. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he still remained in the same place two days. 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. Then after that, he said 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 (x. 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. The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone thee: and goest thou thither again? The disciples say this, because they feared the Jews on account of Christ, and still more for themselves.

    9. 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:  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. But if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. 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. v. 8.

    11. 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. 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. iv. 14).

    12. His disciples therefore said: 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. But Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep. Because they took the “sleepeth” simply, not symbolically, of death, as Christ meant it.

    14. Then therefore Jesus said to 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. And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may believe: but let us go to him. 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? 

    but let us go to 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. Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him. 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, but 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. vii. 3, For we have said before, that you are in our hearts, to die together, and to live together. 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.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

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.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.