Church Fathers Commentary John 11:41-46

"So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the multitude that standeth around I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary and beheld that which he did, believed on him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done." — John 11:41-46 (ASV)

Alcuin of York: As a man, and therefore inferior to the Father, Christ prays to Him for Lazarus’s resurrection and declares that He has been heard: And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

Origen of Alexandria: He lifted up His eyes. Symbolically, this means He lifted up the human mind to the Father above through prayer. We should pray following Christ’s pattern: lift up the eyes of our hearts and raise them above present things in memory, thought, and intention.

If those who pray worthily in this way are given the promise in Isaiah, You shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am, what answer, then, do we think our Lord and Savior would receive? He was about to pray for the resurrection of Lazarus, but He was heard by the Father before He prayed; His request was granted before it was made. Therefore, He begins by giving thanks: I thank You, Father, that You have heard Me.

St. John Chrysostom: That is, there is no difference of will between Me and You. The phrase You have heard Me does not show any lack of power in Him or that He is inferior to the Father; it is a phrase used between friends and equals. That the prayer was not truly necessary for Him is clear from the words that follow: And I knew that you hear me always. It is as if He said, “I do not need prayer to persuade You, for our will is one.”

He conceals His meaning because of the weak faith of His listeners. For God is not as concerned with His own dignity as He is with our salvation. Therefore, He seldom speaks of Himself in exalted terms, and even when He does, He speaks obscurely. In contrast, humble expressions are common in His teachings.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: He did not, therefore, need to pray. He prayed for our sake, so that we might know Him to be the Son: But because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me. His prayer did not benefit Himself but benefited our faith. He did not need help, but we needed instruction.

St. John Chrysostom: He did not say, “So that they may believe I am inferior to You, because I cannot do this without prayer,” but rather, that you have sent me. He does not say He was sent as one who is weak, acknowledging subjection or doing nothing on His own. Instead, He was sent in the sense that people may see He is from God, not opposed to God, and that He performs this miracle in accordance with the Father’s will.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Christ went to the tomb where Lazarus slept, treating him not as one dead, but as one alive and able to hear, for He immediately called him out of his grave. And when He had spoken these words, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He calls him by name so that He would not bring out all the dead.

St. John Chrysostom: He does not say, Arise, but, Come forth, speaking to the dead man as if he were alive. For this reason, He also does not say, “Come forth in My Father’s name,” or, “Father, raise him.” Instead, setting aside the appearance of one who is praying, He proceeds to show His power through His actions. This is His usual way: His words show humility, but His actions show power.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The voice that awakened Lazarus is a symbol of the trumpet that will sound at the general resurrection. (He spoke loudly to contradict the pagan fable that the soul remained in the tomb. The soul of Lazarus is called to as if it were absent, and a loud voice was necessary to summon it.)

And just as the general resurrection is to take place in the twinkling of an eye, so did this individual one. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Now what was said before is fulfilled: The hour is coming... when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.

Origen of Alexandria: It was His cry and loud voice that awoke him, as Christ had said, I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. The resurrection of Lazarus is also the work of the Father, because He heard the prayer of the Son. It is the joint work of the Father and the Son—one praying, the other hearing. For as the Father raises up the dead, and gives them life; even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

St. John Chrysostom: He came out bound, so that no one would suspect he was a mere phantom. Besides, the very fact of his coming out while bound was itself a miracle as great as the resurrection. Jesus said to them, Loose him, and let him go, so that by going near and touching him, they could be certain he was the same person. His humility is shown here; He does not take Lazarus around with Him for the sake of display.

Origen of Alexandria: Our Lord had said earlier, Because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me. It would imply ignorance of the future if He had said this and, after all, no one believed. Therefore, the text continues: Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

From these words, it is unclear whether those who went to the Pharisees were among the many who believed and intended to appease Christ’s opponents, or whether they were part of the unbelieving group and wished to stir up the Pharisees’ envy against Him.

The latter seems to me the true explanation, especially since the Evangelist describes the believers as the larger party. Many believed, whereas only a few go to the Pharisees: Some of them went... and told them what things Jesus had done.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Although we hold that Lazarus was truly raised to life according to the Gospel history, I do not doubt that his resurrection is also an allegory. Just because we interpret events allegorically does not mean we lose our belief in them as historical facts.

Everyone who sins, dies. But God, in His great mercy, raises the soul to life again and does not allow it to die eternally. The three miraculous resurrections in the Gospels should be understood as testifying to the resurrection of the soul.

St. Gregory the Great: The maiden is restored to life in the house, the young man outside the gate, and Lazarus in his grave. The one who lies dead in the house represents the sinner dying in private sin; the one who is carried out by the gate represents the one who is openly and notoriously wicked.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, it represents death within, when an evil thought has not yet emerged into action. But if you actually do the evil thing, it is as if you have carried the dead outside the gate.

St. Gregory the Great: Then there is the one who lies dead in his grave with a load of earth on him; that is, one who is weighed down by the habit of sin. But divine grace cares even for such people and enlightens them.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or we may understand Lazarus in the grave as the soul burdened by earthly sins.

And yet our Lord loved Lazarus. For if He had not loved sinners, He would never have come down from heaven to save them. It is well said of one with sinful habits that “he stinks.” He already has a bad reputation, which is like the foulest odor.

She may well say, “He has been dead four days,” for the earth is the last of the elements. This signifies the pit of earthly sins, that is, carnal lusts.

The Lord groaned, wept, and cried with a loud voice. It is hard for one to arise who is bowed down by the weight of evil habits. Christ is troubled to show you that you should be troubled when you are pressed and weighed down by such a mass of sin.

Faith groans; the one who is displeased with himself groans and accuses his own evil deeds, so that the habit of sin may yield to the force of repentance. When you say, “I have done this, and God has spared me; I have heard the Gospel and despised it; what shall I do?” then Christ groans, because your faith groans. And in the voice of your groaning, the hope of your rising again appears.

St. Gregory the Great: Lazarus is commanded to come forth—that is, to come out and condemn himself with his own mouth, without excuse or reservation. This is so that the one who lies buried in a guilty conscience may come out of himself through confession.

St. Augustine of Hippo: That Lazarus came out of the grave signifies the soul’s deliverance from carnal sins. That he came out bound in grave-clothes means that even we who are delivered from carnal things and serve the law of God with our minds cannot, as long as we are in the body, be free from the struggles of the flesh.

That his face was bound with a napkin means that we do not attain full knowledge in this life. And when our Lord says, Loose him, and let him go, we learn that in the next life all veils will be removed, and we shall see face to face.

Or, to put it another way: when you show contempt for God, you lie dead; when you confess, you come forth. For what is it to “come forth” but to leave your hiding place, as if to reveal yourself? But you cannot make this confession unless God moves you to it by crying with a loud voice—that is, by calling you with great grace.

But even after the dead man has come forth, he remains bound for a time; that is, he is still only a penitent. Then our Lord says to His ministers, Loose him, and let him go, which means, “Remit his sins.” For He also said, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Alcuin of York: Christ awakens the sinner, because it is His power that gives us life inwardly. The disciples loose the bonds, because through the ministry of the priesthood, those who are given this new life are absolved from their sins.

The Venerable Bede: Those who went and told the Pharisees represent people who, upon seeing the good works of God’s servants, hate them for that very reason, and so persecute and slander them.