Very striking is it to remark how in the least minute particu- lars the objections of infidels and sceptics are quietly fore- stalled and met in Gospel narrative ! Thus Chrysostom remarks that the command to " loose him " would enable the friends who bore Lazarus to the grave, to know from the grave-clothes that it was the very person they had buried four days before. They would recognize the clothes ; they could not say, as some had said in the case of the blind man, " This is not he." He also remarks that both hands, eyes, ears, and nostrils would all con- vince the witnesses of the truth of the miracle.
45. — [Then many of the Jews... believed on him.'] This verse describes the good effect which the raising of Lazarus had on many of the Jews who had come from Jerusalem to comfort Mary and Martha. Their remaining prejudices gave way. They were unable to resist the extraordinary evidence of the miracle they had just seen. From that day they no longer denied that Jesus was the Christ. Whether their belief was faith unto salvation may well be doubted; but at any rate they ceased to oppose and blaspheme. And it is more than probable that on the day of Pentecost many of those very Jews whose hearts had been prepared by the miracle of Bethany came boldly forward and were baptized.
"We should observe in this verse what a signal blessing God was pleased to bestow on sympathy and kindness. If the Jews had not come to comfort Mary under her affliction, they would not have seen the mighty miracle of raising Lazarus, and per- haps would not have been saved.
Lampe remarks on these Jews : " They had come as the mer- ciful, and they obtained mercy."
Besner observes the beautiful delicacy with which St. John draws a veil over the effect on Martha and Mary of this miracle, while he dwells on the effect it had on strangers.
46. — [But some of them icent... Pharisees, etc.'] We see in this verse the bad effect which the raising of Lazarus had on some who saw it. Instead of being softened and convinced, they were hardened and enraged. They were vexed to see even more un- answerable proofs that Jesus was the Christ, and irritated to feel that their own unbelief was more than ever inexcusable. They therefore hurried off to the Pharisees to report what they had seen, and to point out the progress that our Lord was making in the immediate neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The amazing wickedness of human nature is strikingly illus- trated in this verse. There is no greater mistake than to sup- pose that seeing miracles will necessarily convert souls. Here is a plain proof that it does not. Never was there a more re- markable confirmation of our Lord's words in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, " If they believe not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be pe: suaded, though one rose from the dead."
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