Fifth Sunday in Lent
John 11:1-45
“I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
Now there was a certain sick man, Lazarus of Bethany, from the town of Mary and her sister Martha. And Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, his sisters sent to Him, saying: “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”
Then, upon hearing this, Jesus said to them: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. Even so, after he heard that he was sick, he then still remained in the same place for two days.
Then, after these things, he said to his disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” The disciples said to him: “Rabbi, the Jews are even now seeking to stone you. And would you go there again?”
Jesus responded: “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daylight, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if he walks in the night-time, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
He said these things, and after this, he said to them: “Lazarus our friend is sleeping. But I am going, so that I may awaken him from sleep.” And so his disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he shall be healthy.”
But Jesus had spoken about his death. Yet they thought that he spoke about the repose of sleep. Therefore, Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
And then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go, too, so that we may die with him.”
And so Jesus went. And he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, (about fifteen stadia.) And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, so as to console them over their brother. Therefore, Martha, when she heard that Jesus was arriving, went out to meet him. But Mary was sitting at home.
And then Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you will request from God, God will give to you.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he shall rise again, at the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, even though he has died, he shall live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall not die for eternity. Do you believe this?”
She said to him: “Certainly, Lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, who has come into this world.”
And when she had said these things, she went and called her sister Mary quietly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and he is calling you.” When she heard this, she rose up quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet arrived in the town. But he was still at that place where Martha had met him.
Therefore, the Jews who were with her in the house and who were consoling her, when they had seen that Mary rose up quickly and went out, they followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb, so that she may weep there.”
Therefore, when Mary had arrived to where Jesus was, seeing him, she fell down at his feet, and she said to him. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
And then, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had arrived with her weeping, he groaned in spirit and became troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
Therefore, the Jews said, “See how much he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Would not he who opened the eyes of one born blind have been able to cause this man not to die?”
Therefore, Jesus, again groaning from within himself, went to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone had been placed over it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who had died, said to him, “Lord, by now it will smell, for this is the fourth day.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you shall see the glory of God?” Therefore, they took away the stone.
Then, lifting up his eyes, Jesus said: “Father, I give thanks to you because you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the people who are standing nearby, so that they may believe that you have sent me.”
When he had said these things, he cried in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” And immediately, he who had been dead went forth, bound at the feet and hands with winding bands. And his face was bound with a separate cloth.
Jesus said to them, “Release him and let him go.”
Therefore, many of the Jews, who had come to Mary and Martha, and who had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him.
What do the Fathers say?
St AUGUSTINE. The resurrection of Lazarus is more spoken of than any of our Lord’s miracles. But if we bear in mind who He was who wrought this miracle, we shall feel not so much of wonder, as of delight. He who made the man, raised the man; and it is a greater thing to create a man, than to revive him.
They did not say, Come and heal; they dared not say, Speak the word there, and it shall be done here; but only, Behold, he whom You love is sick.
As if to say, It is enough that You know it, You are not one to love and then to desert the one whom You love.
Jesus said, This sickness is not unto death. For this death itself was not unto death, but to give occasion for a miracle; whereby men might be brought to believe in Christ, and so escape real death.
It was really true that Lazarus was sleeping. To our Lord, he was sleeping; to men who could not raise him again, he was dead. Our Lord awoke him with as much ease from his grave, as you awaken a sleeper from his bed.
St THEOPHYLACT. Such was their idea of our Lord’s power, that they were surprised, that one, whom He loved, could be seized with sickness.
Our Lord rejoices, for our sakes; for if He had been there, He should have only cured a sick man; which is but an inferior sign of power. But since in His absence he has died, you will now see that He can raise even the dead putrefying body; and your faith will be strengthened.
St ALCUIN. Our Lord heard of the sickness of Lazarus, but suffered four days to pass before He cured it; that the recovery might be a more wonderful one. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the place where He was.
St John CHRYSOSTOM. To allow time for his death and burial, that they might say, he stinks, and none doubt that it was death, and not a trance, from which he was raised.
The disciples all dreaded the Jews; and especially Thomas; But he who was now the most weak and unbelieving of all the disciples, afterwards became stronger than any. And he who dared not go to Bethany, afterwards went over the whole earth, in the midst of those who wished his death, with a spirit indomitable.
St AUGUSTINE. Martha does not say to the Lord, Bring my brother to life again; for how could she know that it would be good for him to come to life again; she says, I know that You can do so, if You want; but what You want to do is for Your judgment, not for my presumption to determine.
St John CHRYSOSTOM. But our Lord taught her the truths which she did not know: Jesus said 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 of Myself; but something between the two, He shall rise again.
St ALCUIN. I am the resurrection, because I am the life; as through Me he will rise at the general resurrection, through Me he may rise now.
St AUGUSTINE. He that believes in Me, though he were dead: i. e. though his flesh die, his soul shall live till the flesh rise again, never to die again. For faith is the life of the soul.
St ALCUIN. Our Lord, from Whom nothing was hid, knew that she believed, but sought from her a confession unto salvation: Do you believe this? She said to Him, “Certainly, Lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, who has come into this world.”
St John CHRYSOSTOM. She, Mary, 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 nought to her; she thought of nothing but giving Him honour.
St THEOPHYLACT. But her faith seems as yet imperfect: Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
St AUGUSTINE. For who but Himself could trouble Him? Christ was troubled, because it pleased Him to be troubled; He hungered, because it pleased Him to hunger. It was in His own power to be affected in this or that way, or not. The Word took up soul and flesh, and whole man, and fitted it to Himself in unity of person.
ORIGEN. He lifted up His eyes; mystically, He lifted up the human mind by prayer to the Father above. We should pray after Christ’s pattern, Lift up the eyes of our heart, and raise them above present things in memory, in thought, in intention. If to them who pray worthily after this fashion is given the promise in Isaiah, You shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am; (Isa. 58:9) what answer, do we think, our Lord and Saviour would receive? He was about to pray for the resurrection of Lazarus. He was heard by the Father before He prayed; His request was granted before it was made. And therefore He begins with giving thanks; Father, I give thanks to you because you have heard me.
St AUGUSTINE. Christ went to the grave in which Lazarus slept, as if He were not dead, but alive and able to hear, for He forthwith called him out of his grave: He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He calls him by name, so that He may not bring out all the dead.
St John CHRYSOSTOM. He does not say (to Lazarus), Arise, but, Come forth, speaking to the dead as if he were alive.
He also does not say, Come forth in My Father’s name, or, Father, raise him, but throwing off the whole appearance of one praying, proceeds to show His power by acts.
This is His general way. His words show humility, His acts power.
St THEOPHYLACT. The voice which roused Lazarus, is the symbol of that trumpet which will sound at the general resurrection. The soul of Lazarus is called to as if it were absent, and a loud voice were necessary to summon it. Now is accomplished what was said , The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.