[1675] al. "and this He said desiring to show."
[1676] al. "shall be."
[1677] ver. 13-15. "Howbeit, Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless, let us go to him." N.T.
[1678] a leptos
[1679] al. "alone ran."
[1680] ver. 17. "Then when Jesus came, He found that he had lain in the grave four days already."
[1681] i.e. that Lazarus was sick.
[1682] "nigh unto Jerusalem," N.T.
[1683] ["To Martha and Mary"] N.T.
[1684] ["concerning their brother"] N.T.
[1685] Ben. has a different reading, with no variety of sense.
[1686] ver. 20. "Then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary sat in the house."
[1687] al. "had not yet heard."
[1688] al. "but believed, saying."
[1689] The words are used by Martha also; but she afterwards implies want of faith.
[1690] al. "they know not yet."
[1691] al. and that they knew not, is manifest from their saying, "If Thou," &c., and from their adding, "Whatsoever," &c.
[1692] "But I know that even now, whatsoever," &c., N.T.
[1693] Ben. "fitly made the saying of a middle character."
[1694] ["in the Resurrection"] N.T.
[1695] al. "other help," al. "helper."
[1696] al. "she."
[1697] from ver. 25
[1698] or, "of this death."
[1699] or, "one who has risen."
[1700] al. "making bloody."
[1701] al. "and raise loud wailings, and leap."
[1702] lit. "Greeks."
[1703] al. "have been thus inflamed."
[1704] lit. "Greeks."
[1705] i.e. about to sacrifice.
[1706] al. "loose n."
[1707] al. "bewail."
[1708] al. "to mourn, and we mourn it."
[1709] al. "why, do I."
[1710] al. "I forbid not to grieve, but I forbid to act unseemly."
[1711] or, "is overcome."
[1712] al. "give."
[1713] see Hom. XII. p. 43, and note.
[1714] al. "more."
[1715] al. "folly," al. "madness."
[1716] leitourgias
[1717] al. "thought."
[1718] al. "consider the spiritual."
[1719] lit. "Greeks."
[1720] al. "for of grief."
[1721] al. "it darkens."
[1722] al. "without meat."
Homily LXIII.
John xi. 30, 31
"Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him. The Jews then which were with her," and what follows.
[1.] A great good is philosophy; the philosophy, I mean, which is with us. For what the heathen have is words and fables only; nor have these fables anything truly wise [1724] in them; since everything among those men is done for the sake of reputation. A great good then is true wisdom, and even here [1725] returns to us a recompense. For he that despises wealth, from this at once reaps advantage, [1726] being delivered from cares which are superfluous and unprofitable; [1727] and he that tramples upon glory from this at once receives his reward, being the slave of none, but free with the real freedom; and he that desires heavenly things hence receives his recompense, regarding present things as nothing, and being easily superior to every grief. Behold, for example, how this woman by practicing true wisdom even here received her reward. For when all were sitting by her as she mourned and lamented, she did not wait that the Master should come to her, nor did she maintain what might have seemed her due, nor was she restrained by her sorrow, (for, in addition to the other wretchedness, mourning women have this malady, that they wish to be made much of on account of their case,) but she was not at all so affected; as soon as she heard, she quickly came to Him. [1728] "Jesus was not yet come into the town." [1729] He proceeded somewhat slowly, that He might not seem to fling Himself upon the miracle, but rather to be [1730] entreated by them. At least, it is either with an intention of implying this that the Evangelist has said the, "riseth up quickly," or else he showeth that she ran so as to anticipate Christ's arrival. She came not alone, but drawing after her the Jews that were in the house. Very wisely did her sister call [1731] her secretly, so as not to disturb those who had come together, and not mention the cause either; for assuredly many would have gone back, but now as though she were going to weep, all followed her. By these means again it is proved [1732] that Lazarus was dead.
Ver. 32. "And she fell at His feet." [1733]
She is more ardent than her sister. She regarded not the multitude, nor the suspicion which they had concerning Him, for there were many of His enemies, who said, "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" ( ver. 37 ); but cast out all mortal things in the presence of her Master, and was given up to one thing only, the honor of that Master. And what saith she?
"Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
What doth Christ? He converseth not at all with her for the present, nor saith to her what He said to her sister, (for a great multitude was by, and this was no fit time for such words,) He only acteth measurably and condescendeth; and to prove His human nature, weepeth in silence, and deferreth the miracle for the present. For since that miracle was a great one, and such as He seldom wrought, and since many were to believe [1734] by means of it, lest to work it without their presence should prove a stumbling-block to the multitude, and so they should gain nothing by its greatness, in order that He might not lose the quarry, [1735] He draweth to Him many witnesses by His condescension, and showeth proof of [1736] His human nature. He weepeth, and is troubled; for grief is wont to stir up the feelings. Then rebuking those feelings, (for He "groaned [1737] in spirit" meaneth, "restrained His trouble,") He asked,
Ver. 34. "Where have ye laid him?"
So that the question might not be attended with lamentation. But why doth He ask? Because He desired not to cast Himself on (the miracle), but to learn all from them, to do all at their invitation, so as to free the miracle from any suspicion.
"They say unto Him, Come and see."
Ver. 35. "Jesus wept."
Seest thou that He had not as yet shown any sign of the raising, and goeth not as if to raise Lazarus, but as if to weep? For the Jews show that He seemed to them to be going to bewail, not to raise him; at least they said,
Ver. 36, 37. "Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?"
Not even amid calamities did they relax their wickedness. Yet what He was about to do was a thing far more wonderful; for to drive away death when it hath come and conquered, is far more than to stay it when coming on. They therefore slander Him by those very points through which they ought to have marveled at His power. They allow for the time that He opened the eyes of the blind, and when they ought to have admired Him on account of that miracle, they, by means of this latter case, cast a slur upon it, as though it had not even taken place. And not from this only are they shown to be all corrupt, but because when He had not yet come, nor exhibited any action, they prevent Him with their accusations without waiting the end of the matter. Seest thou how corrupt was their judgment?
[2.] He cometh then to the tomb; and again [1738] rebuketh His feelings. Why doth the Evangelist carefully in several places mention that "He wept," and that, "He groaned"? [1739] That thou mayest learn that He had of a truth put on our nature. For when this Evangelist is remarkable for uttering great things concerning Christ more than the others, in matters relating to the body, here he also speaketh much more humbly than they. [1740] For instance, concerning His death he hath said nothing of the kind; the other Evangelists declare that He was exceedingly sorrowful, that He was in an agony; but John, on the contrary, saith, that He even cast the officers backwards. So that he hath made up here what is omitted there, by mentioning His grief. When speaking of His death, Christ saith, "I have power to lay down My life" ( c. x. 18 ), and then He uttereth no lowly word; therefore at the Passion they [1741] attribute to Him much that is human, to show the reality of the Dispensation. And Matthew proves this by the Agony, the trouble, the trembling, [1742] and the sweat; but John by His sorrow. For had He not been of our nature, He would not once and again have been mastered by grief. What did Jesus? He made no defense with regard to their charges; for why should He silence by words those who were soon to be silenced by deeds? a means less annoying, and more adapted to shame them.
Ver. 39. "He saith, Take ye away the stone."
Why did not He when at a distance summon Lazarus, and place him before their eyes? Or rather, why did He not cause him to arise while the stone yet lay on the grave? For He who was able by His voice to move a corpse, and to show it again endowed with life, would much more by that same voice have been able to move a stone; He who empowered by His voice one bound and entangled in the grave-clothes to walk, would much more have been able to move a stone; why then did He not so? In order to make them witnesses of the miracle; that they might not say as they did in the case of the blind man, "It is he," "It is not he." For their hands [1743] and their coming to the tomb testified that it was indeed he. If they had not come, they might have deemed that they saw a vision, or one man in place of another. But now the coming to the place, the raising the stone, the charge given them to loose the dead man bound in grave-clothes from his bands; the fact that the friends who bore him from the tomb, knew from the grave-clothes [1744] that it was he; that his sisters were not left behind; that one of them said, "He now stinketh, for he hath been dead four days"; all these things, I say, were sufficient to silence the ill-disposed, as they were made witnesses of the miracle. On this account He biddeth them take away the stone from the tomb, to show that He raiseth the man. On this account also He asketh, "Where have ye laid him?" that they who said, "Come and see," and who conducted Him, might not be able to say that He had raised another person; that their voice and their hands might bear witness, (their voice by saying, "Come and see," their hands by lifting the stone, and loosing the grave-clothes,) as well as their eyes and ears, (the one by hearing His voice, the other by seeing Lazarus come forth,) and their smell also by perceiving the ill-odor, for Martha said, "He now stinketh, for he hath been dead four days."
Therefore I said with good reason, that the woman did not at all understand Christ's words, "Though he were dead, yet shall he live." At least observe, that she speaketh as though the thing were impossible on account of the time which had intervened. For indeed it was a strange thing to raise a corpse which had been dead four days, and was corrupt. To the disciples Jesus said, "That the Son of Man may be glorified," referring to Himself; but to the woman, "Thou shalt see the glory of God," speaking of the Father. Seest thou that the weakness of the hearers is the cause of the difference of the words? He therefore remindeth her of what He had spoken unto her, well nigh rebuking her, as being forgetful. Yet He did not wish at present to confound the spectators, wherefore He saith, [1745]
Ver. 40. "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"