The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Chapter 11
Ver. 1. — Lazarus , a man honourable and rich, and therefore another person than the Lazarus who lay full of sores at the doors of the rich glutton (Luke xvi.)
Bethany , the town of Mary and her sister Martha, in which they dwelt as honoured residents, and as disciples and hostesses of Christ.
Mystically, Bethany is in the Hebrew the house of affliction, according to the Syriac version, and this agrees to the circumstances ; for the sickness and death of Lazarus afflicted both him and his sisters.
Secondly, Bethany is the house of obedience.
Thirdly, Bethany, says Pagninus, is the same as the house of reply , or of the Lord's hearing , because there Christ heard the prayer of Martha and Mary, interceding for the life of Lazarus.
John passes from what Christ did in the Feast of the Dedication, as appears from x. 22, to the doings of Christ a little before the last Passover, as appears in v. 55 ; that is, he leaps from December to March : he omits therefore the doings of Christ in January and February, because Luke relates those at length from chapters xv. to xix.
Ver. 2. — It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment , and wiped His feet with her hair (Luke vii. 37). I have shown that the Mary who twice, or as some say, three times, anointed Christ, was without doubt the same as Mary Magdalene ; although some think that there were two, and others three.
Whose brother Lazarus was sick . John adds this, to suggest a cause for the raising of Lazarus, namely, that he was the brother of the Magdalene, who was wholly devoted to Jesus, and besought of Him the raising up of her brother Lazarus.
Therefore his sisters sent, &c. Cyril, Theophylact, and Leontius think that these are words of astonishment and as of a person wondering, How is it possible that one should be stricken down by disease whom Thou lovest, Lord, who hast the power of life and death ? how can sickness have dared to attack one who is filled with love of Thee ? and how can weakness hold him in whom Thy love dwells ?
Others, more simply, think the sisters to have spoken that out of faith and confidence. As S. Augustine, and from him Bede : They did not say, Come, for to one who loved it was enough only to announce the fact. They did not dare to say, Come and heal ; they did not dare to say, Give the command there, and here it shall come to pass, for why shall it not be so with them, if the faith of that centurion is praised by speaking thus? For he said, Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. None of these things said they ; but only, Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick ; it is enough that Thou knowest it ; for Thou wilt not love and leave uncared for !
This then is the prayer implied, but hidden and implicit, because it signifies the necessity and the desire for help ; which is often more efficacious than an open solicitation, because it is more humble, modest, relying, and trustful. So out of S. Thomas, Suarez, Treatise on Prayer.
Therefore this petition of the sisters shows, First, great faith ; for they do not say, Come, hasten, lest death be beforehand with Thee. For they believe that Christ is able to cure even when absent ; yea, even to raise again the dead. So Cyril, Theophylact, Rupertus. Secondly, great trustfulness, in that they confided that Christ, at the mere hearing of the sickness, would bring a remedy to it, whence they do not multiply words and petitions. Thirdly, great love : Behold, he whom Thou lovest; as if they would say, Thou lovest us, and we Thee : it is sufficient for one who loves to announce the danger of the loved one. For love outweighs all prayers. Fourthly, resignation ; for they resign themselves wholly to the providence of Christ, that concerning the disease and the sufferer, He should order and dispose as should befit His providence and love. Therefore this their prayer was efficacious, and is to be frequently used and imitated by us.
Figuratively, Rabanus and from him the Gloss : Lazarus, he says, is a sinner and is loved by the Lord ; for He has not come to call the righteous, but sinners ; the sisters are holy men, or good thoughts, who pray for the loosing of sins.
Lastly, the sisters did not themselves come to Jesus, but only sent messengers, both because they were women, to whom the care of the house pertained, and to whom a long journey would have been unfitting ; and because their brother Lazarus, who was nigh unto death, needed their assistance ; and because, trusting in the goodness and love of Christ, they thought a messenger sufficient. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and Euthymius.
Ver. 4. — When Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not, &c. First, because this death of Lazarus shall not be so much death, as sleep ; for he shall wake again and rise from it. Whence (ver. 11) He saith : Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Secondly, as if He said : The end and object of the sickness of Lazarus is not death, but the glory of God ; for God did not send it on him in order that it should deprive him of life , but rather that it should restore life to him in greater measure, and thus be to the greater glory of God. So S. Augustine : “ It is not to death,” he says, “ because death itself is not to death, but rather to the giving occasion for a miracle, by the performing of which men may believe in Christ, and avoid the true death.” Thirdly, it is not to death; that is, to such a death as is usually common to men, namely, that man should remain in it nor return any more to this life and this world : for although death might separate the soul of Lazarus from his body, yet it did not end this world [for him] so that he should not return to it ; which is the thing death does. For he was speedily raised up again by Christ, and returned to life more living and vigorous than before. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others. Whence Nonnus renders, it is not to everlasting death.
But for the glory of God. By glory, first, Andreas Cretensis understands the Cross and death of Christ; for this the envious Jews determined upon because of His raising up Lazarus, and this greatly glorified Christ. Secondly, Theodorus takes it of the glory which was to come to Christ because of the publicity and fame throughout all Judea, and indeed through the whole world, of this raising of Lazarus performed by Him. Thirdly, and rightly, take the glory of God, because men seeing Lazarus raised up by Christ, believed on Him as the Messiah and Son of God, and therefore glorified both Christ and God the Father. For so John explains this glory in ver. 45 : Many of the Jews which came to Mary , and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him. Whence S. Augustine, “ Such a glorifying did not exalt Him, but profited us.”
Ver. 5. — Now Jesus loved Martha, &c. Because of the singular love, devotion, and liberality with which they used to provide for Jesus and His disciples, for Martha had hospitable care for Jesus. Mary having been healed and converted by Christ, devoted herself wholly to Him, and indeed used to accompany Him when He went from town to town preaching, and ministered to Him of her substance (S. Luke viii. 2, 3). Lazarus imitated his sisters. John here inserts the mention of the love of Jesus, not so much that he may assign that cause for the sickness of Lazarus, as Cyril thinks, as if Jesus sent the sickness to Lazarus, because He loved him and his sisters, according to Rev. iii. 19, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten,” but to signify that Jesus, after He had received the news of the sickness of Lazarus, plainly had a fixed purpose to heal him, but in suitable time and way. For His love made Him anxious respecting the welfare of Lazarus, and therefore He did all things which John narrates in order. Finally, Jesus so loved Lazarus and his sisters, that on their account He raised Lazarus from death, even although He knew that the raising of Lazarus would be to Himself the cause of the Cross and death. The life therefore of Lazarus was the death of Christ.
Ver. 6 . — When he had heard , &c. He remained therefore in the same place for two days, during which Lazarus died, because He willed not to cure a sick man, but to raise one dead, and even four days buried and decaying ; which was a far greater benefit and miracle, and was not open to the calumnies of the Jews, who might say that Lazarus was not truly dead, and therefore not raised, but only in a swoon or faint, from which he recovered, not by the help of Christ, but by the force of nature and youth.