Chrysostom: Martha does not take her sister with her, because she wants to speak with Christ alone, and tell Him what has happened. When her hopes had been raised by Him, then she went her way, and called Mary.
Theophylact: At first she does not tell her sister, for fear, if she came, the Jews, present might accompany her. And she did not wish them to know of our Lord’s coming. Then says Martha to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother had not died.
Chrysostom: She believed in Christ, but she believed not as she ought. She did not speak as if He were God: If You had been here, my brother had not died.
Theophylact: She did not know that He could have restored her brother as well absent as present.
Chrysostom: Nor did she know that He wrought His miracles by His own independent power: But I know that even now, whatsoever You will ask of God, God will give it to you. She only thinks Him some very gifted man.
Augustine: She does not say to Him, 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 will but what You will do is for your judgment, not for my presumption to determine
parChrysostom: But our Lord taught her the truths which she did not know: Jesus says 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, a declaration which would have been too much for the woman; but something between the two, He shall rise again.
Augustine: Shall rise again, is ambiguous: for He does not say, now. And therefore it follows: Martha says to Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day; of that resurrection I am certain; of this I am doubtful.
Chrysostom: She had often heard Christ speak of the resurrection. Jesus now declares His power more plainly: Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He needed therefore none to help Him; for if He did, how could He be the resurrection. And if He is the life, He is not confined by place, but is everywhere, and can heal every where.
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.
Chrysostom: To Martha’s, Whatsoever You shall ask, He replies, He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: showing her that He is the Giver of all good, and that we must ask of Him. Thus He leads her to the knowledge of high truths; and whereas she had been inquiring only about the resurrection of Lazarus, tells her of a resurrection in which both she and all present would share.
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 more. For faith is the life of the soul. And whomsoever lives, in the flesh, and believes in Me, though he die for a time in the flesh, shall not die eternally.
Alcuin: Because He has attained to the life of the Spirit, and to an immortal resurrection. Our Lord, from Whom nothing was hid, knew that she believed, but sought from her a confession to salvation: Do you believe this? She says to Him, Yea, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Chrysostom: She seems not to have understood His words; i.e. she saw that He meant something great, but did not see what that was. She is asked one thing, and answers another.
Augustine: When I believed that You were the Son of God, I believed that you were the resurrection, that You were life, and that he that believes in you, though he were dead, shall live.
Ver. 28. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calls for you.29. And as soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came to him.30. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.31. The Jews then which were with her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goes to the grave to weep there.32. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died.
Chrysostom: Christ’s words had the effect of stopping Martha’s grief. In her devotion to her Master she had no time to think of her afflictions: And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly.
Augustine: Silently, i.e. speaking in a low voice. For she did speak, saying, the Master is come, and calls for you.
Chrysostom: She calls her sister secretly, in order not to let the Jews know that Christ was coming. For had they known, they would have gone, and not been witnesses of the miracle.
Augustine: We may observe that the Evangelist has not said, where, or when, or how, the Lord called Mary, but for brevity’s sake has left it to be gathered from Martha’s words.
Theophylact: Perhaps she thought the presence of Christ in itself a call, as if it were inexcusable, when Christ came, that she should not go out to meet Him.
Chrysostom: While the rest sat around her in her sorrow, she did not wait for the Master to come to her, but, not letting her grief detain her, rose immediately to meet Him; As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came to Him.
Augustine: So we see, if she had known of His arrival before, she would not have let Martha go without her. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him.
Chrysostom: He went slowly that He might not seem to catch at an occasion of working a miracle, but to have it forced upon Him by others asking Mary, it is said, arose quickly, and thus anticipated His coming.
The Jews accompanied her: The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she arose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goes to the grave to weep there.
Augustine: The Evangelist mentions this to show how it was that so many were present at Lazarus’ resurrection, and witness of that great miracle.
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet.
Chrysostom: She 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 nothing to her; she thought of nothing but giving Him honor.
Theophylact: But her faith seems as yet imperfect: Lord, if You had been here, my brother had not died.
Alcuin: As if to say, Lord, while You were with us, no disease, no sickness dared to show itself, amongst those with whom the Life deigned to take up His abode.
Augustine: O faithless assembly! While You are yet in the world, Lazarus your friend dies! If the friend cries, what will the enemy suppose? Is it a small thing that they will not serve You upon earth? Lo, hell has taken your beloved.
Bede: Mary did not say so much as Martha, she could not bring out what she wanted for weeping, as is usual with persons overwhelmed with sorrow.
Ver. 33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,34. And said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see.35. Jesus wept.36. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!37. 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?38. Jesus therefore again groaning in himself comes to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.39. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, says to him, Lord, by this time he stinks: for he has been dead four days.40. Jesus says to her, Said I not to you, that, if you would believe, you should see the glory of God?41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
Chrysostom: Christ did not answer Mary, as He had her; sister, on account of the people present. In condescension to them He humbled Himself, and let His human nature be seen, in order to gain them as witnesses to the miracle: When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in His spirit, and was troubled.
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. And thus according to the nod and will of that higher nature in Him, in which the sovereign power resides, He becomes weak and troubled.
Theophylact: To prove His human nature He sometimes gives it free vent, while at other times He commands, and restrains it by, the power of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord allows His nature to be affected in these ways both to prove that He is very Man, not Man in appearance only; and also to teach us by His own example the due measures of joy and grief. For the absence altogether of sympathy and sorrow is brutal, the excess of them is womanly.
Augustine: And said, Where have you laid him? He knew where but He asked to try the faith of the people.
Chrysostom: He did not wish to thrust the miracle upon them, but to make them ask for it, and thus do away with all suspicions.
Augustine: The question has an allusion too to our hidden calling. That, predestination by which we are called, is hidden; and the sign of its being so is our Lord asking the question. He being as it were in ignorance, so long as we are ignorant ourselves. Or because our Lord elsewhere shows that He knows not sinners, saying, I know you not, because in keeping His commandments there is no sin. They said to Him, Lord, come and see.
Chrysostom: He had not yet raised anyone from the dead; and seemed as if He came to weep, not to raise to life. Wherefore they say to Him, Come and see.
Augustine: The Lord sees when He pities, as we read, Look upon my adversity and misery, and forgive me all my sin. Jesus wept.
Alcuin: Because He was the fountain of pity. He wept in His human nature for him whom He was able to raise again by His divine.
Augustine: Wherefore did Christ weep, but to teach men to weep?
Bede: It is customary to mourn over the death of friends; and thus the Jews explained our Lord’s weeping: Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him.
Augustine: Loved him. Our Lord came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.