ACC ~ John 11 v39

NO CHANCE FOR DECEPTION

HIPPOLYTUS Are you—as someone who has bestowed the kind of power on your apostles that can remove mountains [1] —are you not able to roll away a small stone from the entrance of the cave? But he chose not to roll the stone away because the spectators did not believe. Otherwise, they might have been able to say that what he did relied on trickery and deceiving the eyes. They would say there had been an apparently dead man laid in the grave, and that [Jesus] wanted to make it look like he called and the other heard. And so now he leads them to the grave, so that after they have rolled away the stone, the foul smell might reach them and furnish them with testimony that the man was actually dead. And then, once they believe Lazarus has died, they will no longer doubt his resurrection. The Lord had already planned for this when he came. Notice what immediately follows. Martha approaches the stone and says, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead for four days.” But the ever-living one, who is fully conscious of his power, says, “I chose to learn this from you, [Martha]. In fact, repeat what you said about him, ‘By this time he stinks.’ Repeat it, proclaiming that his resurrection is real.” His death was established several times in order that the fact of his resurrection might be established. … He commanded the Jews to roll away the stone with their own hands, reserving for himself the greatest sign so that they might be witnesses of the sign done by him. ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN AND THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. [2]

[1] Mt 17:20.

[2] AEG 4:173-74*; GCS 1 2:222-23, 225.

FLESH AND SOUL OF LAZARUS ARE RESURRECTED

TERTULLIAN In the case of Lazarus, which we may take as the most outstanding instance of a resurrection, the flesh lay prostrate in weakness, almost putrid in the dishonor of its decay. The flesh smelled of corruption, and yet it was as flesh that Lazarus rose again—with his soul, no doubt. But that soul was incorrupt. Nobody had wrapped it in its linen swathes. Nobody had deposited it in a grave. Nobody had yet perceived its “smell,” nobody for four days had seen it “sown.” Well, now, this entire condition, this whole end of Lazarus, is indeed what the flesh of all humanity is still experiencing, but no one’s soul is experiencing it. That substance, therefore, to which the apostle’s whole description clearly refers, [1] of which he clearly speaks, must be both the natural (or animate) body when it is sown and the spiritual body when it is raised again. ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 53.3-4. [2]

[1] See 1 Cor 15.

[2] ANF 3:586*; CCL 2:998.

THE STENCH HIGHLIGHTS THE EXTENT OF THE MIRACLE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” These words were spoken by the woman who doubted, but they also referred to the greatness of the miracle to be performed. Indeed, the more they knew that his body was putrefying and was in a state of mutation according to nature, the more the miracle to be performed for Lazarus appeared to be extraordinary. So the Lord by reproving her said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” From this it is evident that she was not free from doubts even when she had said the words mentioned above and seemed to assent to and believe them. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 5.11.39-40. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:228.

ALLEGORIZING DOES NOT HAVE TO DENY HISTORICITY

AUGUSTINE Although according to the gospel history, we hold that Lazarus was really raised to life, yet I do not doubt that his resurrection is an allegory as well. We do not, because we allegorize facts, however, lose our belief in them as facts. ON EIGHTY-THREE VARIED QUESTIONS 65. [1]

[1] FC 70:136**; PL 35:1746.

THREE DEATHS, THREE RESURRECTIONS

AUGUSTINE If, then, the Lord in the greatness of his grace and mercy raises our souls to life so that we may not die forever, we may well understand that those three dead persons whom he raised in the body have some figurative significance of that resurrection of the soul that is effected by faith. He raised up the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter, while still lying in the house. [1] He raised up the widow’s young son, while being carried outside the gates of the city. [2] And he raised up Lazarus when four days in the grave. Let each one pay attention to his own soul: in sinning he dies; sin is the death of the soul. But sometimes sin is committed only in thought. You have felt delight in what is evil, you have assented to its commission, and you have sinned. That assent has killed you, but the death is internal because the evil thought had not yet ripened into action. The Lord intimated that he would raise such a soul to life in raising that girl who had not yet been carried out for burial but was still lying dead in the house as if sin still lay concealed. But if you have not only harbored a feeling of delight in evil but have also done the evil thing, you have, so to speak, carried the dead outside the gate: you are already outside and being carried to the tomb. Yet the Lord also raised such a person to life and restored him to his widowed mother. If you have sinned, repent, and the Lord will raise you up and restore you to your mother church. The third example of death is Lazarus. It is a horrible kind of death and is distinguished as a habit of wickedness. For it is one thing to fall into sin, another to form the habit of sinning. The one who falls into sin and immediately submits to correction will be quickly restored to life, for he is not yet entangled in the habit, he is not yet laid in the tomb. But whoever has become habituated to sin is buried and has it properly said of him, “he stinks.” For his character, like some horrible smell, begins to be of the worst repute. Such are all who are habituated to crime or abandoned in morals. You say to such a person, “Don’t act like that.” But when will you be listened to by one on whom the earth is thus heaped who is breeding corruption and pressed down with the weight of habit? And yet the power of Christ was not unequal to the task of restoring such a person to life. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 49.3. [3]

[1] See Mk 5:41ff.

[2] See Lk 7:14ff.

[3] NPNF 1 7:271*; CCL 36:420-21. See also Augustine On Eighty-three Varied Questions 65, Sermon 128.14, and Gregory the Great Morals on the Book of Job 4.27.

Jn