ACC ~ John 11 v42

CHRIST OFFERS THANKS

ORIGEN He was about to pray for the resurrection of Lazarus when the only good God and Father anticipated his prayer and heard the words about to be spoken in his prayer. So the Savior begins by giving thanks in place of prayer in the hearing of the crowd. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 28.42. [1]

[1] FC 89:300-301; SC 385:80.

A PRAYER TO DEMONSTRATE UNITY OF WILL

CHRYSOSTOM Who ever prayed like Jesus did? Even before uttering any petition, he says, “I thank you that you have heard me,” demonstrating that he did not need prayer. He goes on to say, “And I knew that you always hear me,” not as though he himself were powerless but to show that his will and the Father’s are one. But then why did he pray? He says he did so “for the sake of the people standing by so that they may believe that you have sent me.”… All but saying, If I had been an enemy of God, what is done would not have succeeded. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 64.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:238**. See also Theodore’s comments (CSCO 4 3:229).

THOSE WHO PRAY ARE ALWAYS HEARD

ORIGEN “I knew that you hear me always,” which is reported by John as said by the Lord, makes clear that those who pray are always heard. ON PRAYER 13.1. [1]

[1] ACW 19:48*; GCS 3(2):326.

CHRIST DID NOT NEED TO PRAY

HILARY OF POITIERS When he was about to restore Lazarus, he prayed to the Father. But he did not need to pray. … “But for the benefit of the people standing nearby I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me.” He prayed then for us so that we might know that he is the Son. His prayer did not benefit himself but benefited our faith. He did not need any help, but we needed instruction. ON THE TRINITY 10.71. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:202**; CCL 62A:526-27.

THE TOMB AS A COURT OF JUSTICE

HIPPOLYTUS Because they considered it a blasphemy that he called God his Father, he used the tomb as a court of justice and set the truth as judge, while the surrounding unthankful multitude formed the witnesses, so that those who had said “You blaspheme by naming yourself in your own sense Son of God and him as your Father” were to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears, while he as good as said to them, “I appeal to him here before you. If he is displeased because I call him Father, and it is a blasphemy as you think, he will not hear me. But if he hears me, it is certainly clear that he is actually my Father. … If I call the dead and he obeys my command and arises, it is not the work of a blasphemer but the command of God and of the Son of God.” That this is the meaning of the prayer and that it did not spring from any deficiency on his part is shown by his words. ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN AND THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. [1]

[1] AEG 4:176*; GCS 1 2:223-24.

KNOCKING ON THE DOORS OF HELL

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS When Christ began to strike the doors of the underworld, to break through the gates of Tartarus, to open the entrance of death, to dissolve the old law of Gehenna, to do away with the age-old right to punish and to demand the return of Lazarus’s soul, the power of Tartarus with all its fury confronted him, brandishing the edict of the Ruler of heaven, bearing the decree of the King most high, presenting the sentence rendered by the mouth of God and in effect for so many years. [1] And on seeing the man, [Tartarus] asked who [Christ] was, what his intentions were, what his purpose was and why all by himself he was fearlessly challenging and attacking the fearsome entrance to death.

As he asked who he was, the angels serving as ministers of the resurrection answered him in the words of the prophet: “He is the King of glory,” he is “the One who is strong and mighty in battle.” [2] But Tartarus responded, “I know that the King of glory is in charge in heaven of all the celestial powers, and the whole of creation is unable to bear his will. However, this one that I see is one of the earthlings, made out of mud, enclosed in a mortal body, and in his human condition viler than human beings, and, in short, soon to be handed over to the grave and very shortly destined to come under my jurisdiction.”

But the angels persisted and kept repeating, “He is ‘the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory,’ he is the Ruler of heaven, the Creator of the earth, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of all, he is the one who rendered the death sentence that has you in a fury, he is about to tread on your head, [3] crush your authority and issue his own judgment of condemnation on you, who, although ordered to seize the guilty, drag away the innocent, abduct the saints and now threaten the Son of God himself. So give back one before you are forced to release all.” SERMON 65.6. [4]

[1] The personification of Tartarus, who is the keeper of the underworld, the vivid description of Lazarus’s liberation from the underworld and the dialogue among Tartarus, the angels, God the Father, and the Son are thought by one scholar to come from a lost apocryphon (see C. Jenkins, “Aspects of the Theology of St. Peter Chrysologus,” Church Quarterly Review 103 [1927]:259). There are many similarities with this text and that of the Gospel of Nicodemus 4.20.3-11.27. In Greek mythology, Tartarus was a place even lower than Hades. In Roman mythology, it was the place where sinners were sent.

[2] Ps 24:8, 10 (23:8, 10 LXX).

[3] See Gen 3:15.

[4] FC 109:263-65.

A FUTILE APPEAL TO HEAVEN

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS But Tartarus, still not believing the report he received from the customary messengers, and deploring the situation, with a complaint full of envy makes this appeal to heaven: “O Lord, even though I am the lowest of your creatures, even though I am subjected to grim servitude, I am unfailing in keeping your precepts. I am ever vigilant so that no rash innovator alter the age-old authority of your sentence. But a man has appeared, who is called Christ, bragging that he is your Son, and he reprimands your priests, he rebukes your scribes, he violates your sabbath, he abolishes your law, and he compels souls, released from the flesh and assigned now to my custody for punishment, to return to the bodies in which they had lived wickedly.

“And his audacity, which is growing stronger day by day, has reached the point that he has broken the barriers of the underworld and is attempting to rescue Lazarus, already locked in our prison, already bound by our law and already subject to our authority. Either quickly come to the aid, or, once he opens the doors, you are now going to lose all those whom we have kept in custody for so long a time.”

To this the Son from the bosom of his Father responds, “Father, it is just that a prison holds not the innocent but the guilty. That punishment torments the unrighteous, not the righteous. For how long for the offense of one man, on account of Adam’s guilt alone, will this executioner continue to drag down to himself with his cruel violence patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, confessors, virgins, widows, those abiding in the chastity of marriage, people of all ages and of both sexes, even little children who do not know good or evil? Father, I shall die so that all may not die. Father, I shall pay Adam’s debt so that through me those who die through Adam for the underworld may live for you. Father, because of your sentence I shall shed my blood. That is how important it is to me that your creation should return to you. May the price of my blood so dear to you be the redemption of all the dead.”

To this the whole Trinity agreed and ordered Lazarus to leave, and Tartarus was commanded to obey Christ in giving back all the dead. This is why the Son proclaims, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.” The apostle bears witness that Christ is our advocate in the presence of the Father. [1] And so, when he is seated he judges together with the Father. When he stands, he functions in the capacity of advocate. SERMON 65.6-8. [2]

[1] The designation “apostle” refers not to Paul but uncustomarily to John. See 1 Jn 2:1.

[2] FC 109:265-66*.

Jn