Church Fathers Commentary John 11

The Venerable Bede: After our Lord had departed to the other side of the Jordan, it happened that Lazarus fell sick: A certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany. In some copies, the copulative conjunction precedes this to mark the connection with the preceding words. Lazarus means “helped.” Of all the dead whom our Lord raised, he was helped the most, for he had lain dead for four days when our Lord raised him to life.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The resurrection of Lazarus is spoken of more than any of our Lord’s other miracles. But if we keep in mind who He was who performed this miracle, we will feel not so much wonder as delight. He who made the man, raised the man; and it is a greater thing to create a man than to revive him. Lazarus was sick at Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. The place was near Jerusalem.

Alcuin of York: And as there were many women with this name, He distinguishes her by her well-known act: It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

St. John Chrysostom: First, we are to observe that this was not the harlot mentioned in Luke, but a virtuous woman who treated our Lord with marked reverence.

St. Augustine of Hippo: John here confirms the passage in Luke, where this is said to have taken place in the house of a Pharisee named Simon. Mary had therefore done this act on a previous occasion. That she did it again at Bethany is not mentioned in the narrative of Luke but is in the other three Gospels.

A cruel sickness had seized Lazarus; a wasting fever was eating away the body of the wretched man day by day. His two sisters sat sorrowful at his bedside, continually grieving for the sick young man. Therefore, his sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”

They did not say, “Come and heal.” They dared not say, “Speak the word there, and it shall be done here.” They only said, “Behold, he whom you love is sick.” It was as if to say, “It is enough that you know. You are not one to love someone and then desert them.”

St. John Chrysostom: They hoped to arouse Christ’s pity with these words, since they still thought of Him as only a man. Like the centurion and the nobleman, they sent a message rather than going to Christ themselves. This was partly from their great faith in Him, for they knew Him intimately, and partly because their sorrow kept them at home.

Theophylact of Ohrid: This was also because they were women, and it was not proper for them to leave their home if they could avoid it. Great devotion and faith are expressed in the words, “Behold, he whom you love is sick.” Their idea of our Lord’s power was such that they were surprised that someone He loved could be seized with sickness.

St. Augustine of Hippo: When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not to death.” For this death itself was not leading to final death, but was to provide an opportunity for a miracle, by which people might be brought to believe in Christ and so escape true death.

It was for the glory of God. In this, observe that our Lord implies He is God, thus confounding the heretics who say that the Son is not God. For the glory of what God? Listen to what follows: “that the Son of God might be glorified by it” (that is, by that sickness).

St. John Chrysostom: Here, the word “that” signifies not the cause, but the result. The sickness arose from natural causes, but He used it for the glory of God.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He is sick, they are sorrowful, all are beloved. For this reason they had hope, because they were beloved by Him Who is the Comforter of the sorrowful and the Healer of the sick.

St. John Chrysostom: In this, the Evangelist instructs us not to be sad if sickness ever befalls good people and friends of God.

Alcuin of York: Our Lord heard of Lazarus's sickness but allowed four days to pass before He cured it, so that the recovery might be all the more wonderful. Therefore, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed for two more days in the place where He was.

St. John Chrysostom: He did this to allow time for his death and burial, so that people might say, "He stinks," and no one could doubt that he was raised from death and not merely from a trance.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This was the place where He had just escaped being stoned, which was the reason He left. Indeed, He left as a man in weakness, but He returns in power.

St. John Chrysostom: He had not yet told His disciples where He was going, but now He tells them to prepare them beforehand, for they were greatly alarmed when they heard of it. His disciples said to Him, "Master, the Jews there recently sought to stone you, and you are going there again?" They feared for both Him and themselves, for their faith was not yet strong.

St. Augustine of Hippo: When men presumed to give advice to God, and disciples their Master, our Lord rebuked them. Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

He showed Himself to be the Day by appointing twelve disciples (counting Matthias in place of Judas and passing over the latter entirely). The hours are illuminated by the Day, so that through the preaching of the hours, the world might believe in the Day.

His command, therefore, is to follow Him so as not to stumble, and He explains why: If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him.

St. John Chrysostom: This is as if to say that the upright need not fear any evil; only the wicked have cause to fear. We have done nothing deserving of death and are therefore in no danger. Or, if anyone who sees this world's light is safe, how much more safe is the one who is with Me.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Some understand "the day" to mean the time before the Passion, and "the night" to mean the Passion itself.

In this sense, the phrase "while it is day" would mean "before My Passion." You will not stumble before My Passion because the Jews will not persecute you; but when the night—that is, My Passion—comes, then you will be beset with darkness and difficulties.

St. John Chrysostom: After comforting His disciples in one way, He comforts them in another by telling them they were not going to Jerusalem, but to Bethany. After saying this, He told them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. It was as if to say, “I am not going to dispute with the Jews again, but to awaken our friend.” He calls him “our friend,” He says, to show how strongly they were obligated to go.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It was true that Lazarus was sleeping. To our Lord, he was sleeping; but to men, who could not raise him again, he was dead. Our Lord awoke him from his grave with as much ease as you would awaken a sleeper from his bed. He calls him “asleep,” then, with reference to His own power, just as the Apostle says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, concerning them which are asleep.

He says “asleep” because He is speaking of their future resurrection. But just as it matters to those who sleep and wake daily what they see in their dreams—some pleasant, others painful—so it is in death. Everyone sleeps and rises again with his own account to give.

St. John Chrysostom: The disciples, however, wished to prevent Him from going to Judea. His disciples said, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. They reasoned that sleep is a good sign in sickness, and therefore, if he was sleeping, there was no need to go and awaken him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The disciples replied according to their own understanding. Jesus spoke of Lazarus’s death, but they thought He had spoken of taking rest in sleep.

St. John Chrysostom: But if anyone says that the disciples must have known our Lord meant Lazarus’s death when He said He would “awake him”—because it would have been absurd to go such a distance merely to wake someone from sleep—we answer that our Lord’s words were a kind of enigma to the disciples, as was often the case.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He then declared His meaning openly: Then said Jesus to them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

St. John Chrysostom: But here He does not add, “I go that I may awake him.” He did not wish to anticipate the miracle by talking about it beforehand, which is a hint for us to shun vainglory and abstain from empty promises.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Jesus had been sent for to restore Lazarus from sickness, not from death. But how could the death be hidden from Him, into whose hands the soul of the dead had flown?

Theophylact of Ohrid: Some have understood this passage this way. He says, “I rejoice for your sakes, for if I had been there, I would have only cured a sick man, which is a lesser sign of power. But since he has died in My absence, you will now see that I can raise even a dead, decaying body, and your faith will be strengthened.”

St. John Chrysostom: All the disciples dreaded the Jews, and especially Thomas. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, to his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

But he who was now the weakest and most unbelieving of all the disciples afterward became stronger than any of them. And he who did not dare to go to Bethany later traveled over the whole earth, in the midst of those who wished for his death, with an indomitable spirit.

The Venerable Bede: The disciples, checked by our Lord’s answer, no longer dared to oppose Him. And Thomas, more forward than the rest, says, Let us also go, that we may die with him. What an appearance of firmness! He speaks as if he could really do what he said, unmindful, like Peter, of his own frailty.

Alcuin of York: Our Lord delayed His coming for four days so that the resurrection of Lazarus would be more glorious: Then when Jesus came, He found that He had lain in the grave four days already.

St. John Chrysostom: Our Lord had stayed two days, and the messenger had arrived the day before, which was the very day on which Lazarus died. This brings us to the fourth day.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Many things can be said about the four days. They refer to one thing, but that one thing is viewed in different ways. There is one day of death which the law of our birth brings upon us. People transgress the natural law, and this is a second day of death.

The written law was given to humanity by the hand of Moses, and it is despised—a third day of death. Then the Gospel comes, and people transgress it—a fourth day of death. But Christ does not disdain to awaken even these.

Alcuin of York: The first sin was pride of heart, the second was assent, the third was the act, and the fourth was habit.

St. John Chrysostom: Two miles. This is mentioned to explain why so many came from Jerusalem: And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. But how could the Jews be consoling the beloved of Christ, when they had resolved that whoever confessed Christ would be put out of the synagogue?

Perhaps the extreme affliction of the sisters excited their sympathy, or they wished to show respect for their rank. Or perhaps those who came were of a better sort, as we find many of them believed. Their presence is mentioned to remove all doubt about the reality of Lazarus’s death.

The Venerable Bede: Our Lord had not yet entered the town when Martha met Him: Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him; but Mary sat still in the house.

St. John Chrysostom: Martha does not take her sister with her because she wants to speak with Christ alone and tell Him what has happened. After her hopes had been raised by Him, she went on her way and called Mary.

Theophylact of Ohrid: At first, she does not tell her sister, for fear that if Mary came, the Jews who were present might accompany her. She did not want them to know of our Lord’s coming. Then Martha says to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother had not died.

St. John Chrysostom: She believed in Christ, but she did not believe as she ought to have. She did not speak as if He were God: If You had been here, my brother had not died.

Theophylact of Ohrid: She did not know that He could have restored her brother just as well from a distance as He could have when present.

St. John Chrysostom: Nor did she know that He performed His miracles by His own independent power: But I know that even now, whatever You will ask of God, God will give it to you. She thinks of Him only as some very gifted man.

St. Augustine of Hippo: She does not say to Him, “Bring my brother to life again,” for how could she know that it would be good for him to come back to life? She says, “I know that You can do so, if You will,” but what You will do is for Your judgment to determine, not my presumption.

St. John Chrysostom: But our Lord taught her the truths she did not know. Jesus says to her, Your brother shall rise again. Observe, He does not say, “I will ask God, that he may rise again.” Nor, on the other hand, does He say, “I want no help; I do all things by Myself”—a declaration that would have been too much for the woman. Instead, He says something between the two: He shall rise again.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The phrase “shall rise again” is ambiguous, for He does not say “now.” And therefore, Martha replies to Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Of that resurrection I am certain, but of this one I am doubtful.

St. John Chrysostom: She had often heard Christ speak of the resurrection. Jesus now declares His power more plainly: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He therefore needed no one to help Him, for if He did, how could He be the resurrection? And if He is the life, He is not confined by place but is everywhere and can heal everywhere.

Alcuin of York: I am the resurrection, because I am the life. Just as he will rise through Me at the general resurrection, so he may rise through Me now.

St. John Chrysostom: To Martha’s statement, “Whatever You shall ask,” He replies, He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. This shows her that He is the Giver of all good and that we must ask of Him. Thus, He leads her to the knowledge of higher truths. While she had been inquiring only about the resurrection of Lazarus, He tells her of a resurrection in which both she and all present would share.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He who believes in Me, though he were dead... that is, though his flesh may die, his soul shall live until the flesh rises again, never to die more. For faith is the life of the soul.

Alcuin of York: Because he has attained to the life of the Spirit and to an immortal resurrection. Our Lord, from whom nothing was hidden, knew that she believed but sought from her a confession for the sake of salvation: Do you believe this? She says to Him, Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.

St. John Chrysostom: She does not seem to have understood His words; that is, she saw that He meant something great, but she did not see what it was. She is asked one thing and answers another.

St. Augustine of Hippo: When I believed that You were the Son of God, I believed that You were the resurrection, that You were life, and that he who believes in You, though he were dead, shall live.

St. John Chrysostom: Christ's words stopped Martha's grief. In her devotion to her Master, she had no time to think of her afflictions. After she said this, she went on her way and called her sister Mary secretly.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Silently—that is, speaking in a low voice. For she did speak, saying, the Master is come, and calls for you.

St. John Chrysostom: She called her sister secretly so the Jews would not know that Christ was coming. For if they had known, they would have gone and not been witnesses of the miracle.

St. Augustine of Hippo: We may observe that the Evangelist has not said where, when, or how the Lord called Mary, but for the sake of brevity has left it for us to gather from Martha's words.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Perhaps she thought that the presence of Christ was itself a call, as if it were inexcusable for her not to go out and meet Him when He came.

St. John Chrysostom: While the rest sat around her in her sorrow, she did not wait for the Master to come to her but, without letting her grief detain her, rose immediately to meet Him. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came to Him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: So we see, if she had known of His arrival earlier, she would not have let Martha go without her. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him.

St. John Chrysostom: He went slowly so that He would not seem to grasp at an opportunity to work a miracle, but rather to have it urged upon Him by the requests of others. Mary, it is said, rose quickly and thus anticipated His coming. The Jews accompanied her: The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she arose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goes to the grave to weep there.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Evangelist mentions this to show why so many were present at Lazarus's resurrection and witnessed that great miracle.

St. John Chrysostom: She is more fervent than her sister. Forgetful of the crowd around her, and of the Jews, some of whom were enemies to Christ, she threw herself at her Master’s feet. In His presence all earthly things were nothing to her; she thought of nothing but giving Him honor.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But her faith seems still imperfect: Lord, if You had been here, my brother had not died.

Alcuin of York: It is as if to say, "Lord, while You were with us, no disease or sickness dared to show itself among those with whom the Life deigned to make His home."

St. Augustine of Hippo: O faithless assembly! While You are still in the world, Lazarus Your friend dies! If the friend cries, what will the enemy suppose? Is it a small thing that they will not serve You on earth? Behold, hell has taken Your beloved.

The Venerable Bede: Mary did not say as much as Martha; she could not say what she wanted to because of her weeping, as is usual for those overwhelmed with sorrow.