It is not in our power to determine certainly the exact time of the raising of Lazarus, but the order of the narrative shows that it was after the [166] incidents of the last two lessons. In chapter 10:39, 40, we are informed that the Jews of Jerusalem attempted to seize him, that he escaped from them and retired beyond the Jordan into the locality where John had at first baptized. Then for a few weeks he engaged in teaching, and from thence he was summoned by the call to aid his friend Lazarus of Bethany. The Lord waits two days after receiving the message of the sisters before he starts to Bethany. Tholuck thinks that he could not have made the journey (probably about 30 miles) in a single day, and hence parts of two days were required. He supposes, therefore, that Lazarus died the night of the messenger's arrival, was buried the next day, and that Jesus reached Bethany on the fifth day. There was the day of death, two days of waiting, one of journeying, and the fifth day of arrival and his visit to the tomb. Abbott says: "I believe the resurrection of Lazarus took place in the latter part of February or the early part of March A. D. 30, and that it was followed, after a brief retirement to Ephraim, by the triumphal march of Christ and his disciples into Jerusalem, and by his Passion and death there." Why should John alone give the account of the resurrection of Lazarus? He alone gives the history of the ministry in Judea in which it occurred, though the other writers refer to that ministry. They alone give an account of the Galilean ministry, though John refers to it. Still there seemed to be special reasons why Matthew, Mark and Luke, who wrote many years before John, should be very reticent about the family of Bethany. All speak of it, but only Luke names the sisters. Farrar says: "There may have been special reasons for not recording a miracle which would have brought into dangerous prominence a man who was still living, but whom the Jews had sought to get rid of because he was a witness of Christ's wonder working power. (John 12:10.)" Long before John wrote, Jerusalem itself had been destroyed, and the reasons that may have caused the silence of the earlier writers no longer existed.

      1. Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus. The name of Lazarus is not mentioned by any of the sacred writers but John, but his family is named or referred to by Matthew, Mark and Luke. With his sisters we know, from Luke 10:38, that Jesus had a previous acquaintance, and that is presupposed in John's narrative. It would seem from Luke's account that Martha was the head of the family, and therefore it is thought that Lazarus was a younger brother. Putting together John 12:1-11, and Matt. 26:6-13, and Mark 14:1-9, it seems certain that Simon the leper was in some way connected with the family, but just how is a matter of conjecture. The family was one of some property. They owned their house, had their tomb in a garden, and were able to give a costly token of honor to Christ in an alabaster box of ointment worth, when we compare with modern values, three hundred dollars. Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It lies on the eastern slope of Olivet, about two miles from Jerusalem. It seems to have been the constant retreat of the Savior while sojourning at Jerusalem. It is distinguished from another Bethany beyond Jordan, and especially named as the home of the sisters who were such attached friends of Christ. Although John has not before named them, he speaks of them as well [167] known. They had been named by Luke and were well known to the church at the late day when John wrote.

      2. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment. There were a number of Marys distinguished in gospel history, Mary the mother of the Lord, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Mark, Mary the wife of Cleophas. Hence, John, to distinguish this one, names an incident related by all the historians and known to every Christian reader. She was the one who anointed the Lord. For his own account of this, see chapter 12:1-11.

      3. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. In their distress the sisters turn to one whom they know to be a sympathizing friend. They have complete confidence in him and are assured he will do what is best. They do not urge any petition, but simply report their trouble.

      4. This sickness is not unto death. Death was not its object. It had been permitted for another reason; viz., for the glory of God. He was glorified by the manifestation of the divine power of Christ in rescuing Lazarus from the jaws of death, as well as in the sublime teaching for which the case of Lazarus gave occasion.

      5. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. This statement is made (1) to explain why the sisters sent to Christ such a message, and (2) to show that his delay was not caused by indifference.

      6. He abode still two days in the same place. He did not hurry off at once, probably because his work beyond Jordan was not yet completed. His great personal sympathy could not induce him to abandon a work that was only half done. His ministry was above the claims of friendship. Besides, his delay, and the long interval it caused between the burial of Lazarus and his resurrection, would make the miracle more striking, and would silence every caviller who might contend that Lazarus was not really dead.

      7, 8. Let us go into Judea again. His proposal to recross the Jordan, and to [168] return to the locality where his enemies were gathered, was opposed by his disciples. They knew well that the authorities at Jerusalem had determined on his death; they therefore reminded him that he had just escaped from an attempt to stone him. Why should he return into the danger?

      9, 10. Are there not twelve hours in the day? The Jews always divided the space from sunrise to sunset into twelve hours, whether the days were long or short, the hours varying in length according to the season of year. There were twelve hours of the daylight, and during this daylight a man could see clearly where he was walking. Christ loved to speak by simile, and he declares in this way that he knows just what he purposes to do. He is not stumbling in the dark. He is not groping in the night or walking uncertainly. He has a clear pathway on which the sun is shining. Whether it leads him to Judea, to Jerusalem, to his enemies, to death, he will walk in the light. What was dark to them was clear as sunlight to him. God's true servants will have their twelve hours for walking and toil.

      11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. It seems probable that an interval had passed after Christ's last words. Christ was wont to speak of death as a sleep. See Mark 5:39. In the order of things over which he presides, death is death no longer, but assumes the character of a temporary slumber.--Godet. To speak of death as a sleep, is an image common, I suppose, to all languages and nations. Thereby the reality of death is not denied, but only the fact implicitly assumed, that death, will be followed by a resurrection, as sleep is by an awakening.--Trench. The term sleep is used as a symbol of death in 2 Chron. 14:1; Psalms 13:8; Jer. 51:57; Job 14:12; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 27:52; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 7:39; 1 Thes. 4:13.

      12, 13, 14. If he sleep, he will do well. The disciples took the Lord's words literally. They were all interested in the case of Lazarus and regarded him as a friend, but did not wish Jesus to return to the vicinity of Jerusalem; hence, they intimate that if he was sleeping the case was hopeful and there was little need for the Lord's presence. Often a quiet sleep is the turning point of the disease and a presage of recovery. An ancient sage said: "Sleep is a remedy for every disease." Hence, it was needful for the Master to tell them that he [169] referred to the sleep of death. Some skeptical writers have thought that the disciples were very stupid, not to understand him at first. Their mistake was a very natural one.

      15. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. Had he been at the home of Lazarus before his death he would have felt constrained to heal him. Such a miracle would have been less striking and less proof of his divine power than the one which would now take place. For the sake of his disciples, for the sake of their increase in faith, for a demonstration of his mastery of the realms of death, he was glad of the opportunity to do what he proposed to do, to the end that they might believe. To bring back from the shades of death a man four days buried, after decomposition began, was as mighty a manifestation of divine power as to create a world.

      16. Then said Thomas, called Didymus. "Thomas the Twin," one of the apostles, the doubter after the Lord's resurrection. See John 20:24-29. Let us go also, that we may die with him. He looked upon his return to Jerusalem, where the hate of him was so intense, where his death was already determined, where his enemies resided, as a return to certain death. The remark of Thomas shows a true-hearted fidelity and illustrates the power of Jesus to bind men to him. For him and with him Thomas was willing to die.

      1. Christ's delay in answering our prayers is to give us greater blessings.

      2. Special privileges are granted to those who live nearest to Jesus.

      3. Death is but a sleep to the disciples of Christ.

      4. Opposition of enemies often brings higher proof to the truths of religion.

      5. Christ is the resurrection and the life.

      6. The greatest gifts are as easy to Jesus as the smallest.

      7. "I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." There seems to me to be contained in these few words one of the most powerful charms in the world to lull the bitterness of death, and to make us anxious to become such that we may humbly apply them to ourselves.--Thomas Arnold. [170]

[CLC01 166-170]