ACC ~ John 11 v43
COME OUT! ANDREW OF CRETE:
Lazarus, Come out!
It is the voice of the Lord, the proclamation of the king—an authoritative command.
Come out!
Leave corruption behind and receive the flesh of incorruption.
Lazarus, Come out!
Let them know that the time has come when those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of man. Once they have heard they will come alive.
Come out!
The stumbling block is taken away.
Come to me—I am calling you.
Come out!
As a friend, I am calling you; as Lord I am commanding you. …
Come out
Covered with the burial cloth so that they won’t think you were only pretending to be dead. Let them see your hands and feet bound and your face covered. Let them see if they still do not believe the miracle.
Come out!
Let the stench of your body prove the resurrection. Let the burial linen be undone so that they can recognize the one who was put in the tomb.
Come out!
Come alive and enliven! Come out of the tomb. Teach them how all creation will be enlivened in a moment when the trumpet’s voice proclaims the resurrection of the dead.
Come out!
Let breath appear in your nostrils, let blood pulse through your veins, let the voice sound in your larynx, let words fill your ears, let vision enlighten your eyes, let the sense of smell fill your senses, walk as nature intended as your earthly tent is enlivened by your soul.
Come out!
Leave behind the burial cloth and glorify the miracle. Leave the revolting stench of death and proclaim the strength of my power.
I’m calling you out!
Come out.
I, who said, “Let there be light, let there be firmament.”[1]
HOMILY 8 ON LAZARUS.[2]
THE VOICE LONGING FOR LAZARUS
HESYCHIUS OF JERUSALEM The voice longed for Lazarus, its call freeing up the wings of the prisoner so that he rises up from the earth. HOMILY 11 ON ST. LAZARUS. [1]
[1] SubHag 59:412.
JESUS WILL CALL HIS FRIENDS BY NAME AT THE RESURRECTION
APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA The one whom he loved and who was his friend he calls by name so that [Lazarus] serves as a sign of the resurrection of all those who are called friends by the Lord whom the apostle says have died in the Lord. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 75. [1]
[1] JKGK 31.
A PARTICULAR EXAMPLE OF GENERAL RESURRECTION YET TO COME
MAXIMINUS For all the dead, most beloved, would have arisen out of their graves [on hearing] that one voice if he had not called out that single name. Therefore he spoke in particular, “Lazarus, come forth.” … It is also in this singular name that he called, I say, that we see in a single instance what is to be understood more generally of all in the future. SERMON 14.3. [1]
[1] CCL 87:28.
THE SAME VOICE SPOKE AT CREATION
HIPPOLYTUS O power of the voice, arousing the four days’ dead as from sleep and bringing forth from the grave as well loosed and swiftly running the one who was bound with grave bands. Give your attention, beloved, to the voice, and you will find him to be the Word that spoke at the creation. … “Lazarus, come forth,” and the dead arose, and he who had reached the fourth day was equal to one who had not died at all. “Lazarus, come forth,” and the soul was drawn up from the realms below … and joyfully recognized its own dwelling. ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN AND THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. [1]
[1] AEG 4:180*; GCS 1 2:226-27.
THE SWEET ODOR OF PARADISE INVADES THE STENCH OF DEATH
ATHANASIUS “Come forth.” See, I am standing by you. I am your Lord. You are the work of my hands. Why have you not known me, because in the beginning I myself formed Adam from the earth and gave him breath? Open your mouth yourself so that I may give you breath. Stand on your feet and receive strength for yourself. For I am the strength of the whole creation. Stretch out your hands, and I shall give them strength. For I am the straight staff. I command the foul odor to depart from you. For I am the sweet odor of the trees of paradise. Behold, the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet will be fulfilled in you, namely, “I shall open your tombs, and I shall bring you forth.” [1] HOMILY ON THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS. [2]
[1] See Is 25:8.
[2] AJSL 57:268**.
THE SAME VOICE THAT CALLED LAZARUS WILL CALL US AT THE RESURRECTION
GREGORY OF NYSSA Here we have a man past the prime of life, a corpse, decaying, swollen, in fact, already in a state of dissolution, so that even his own relatives did not want the Lord to draw near the tomb because the decayed body enclosed there was so offensive. And yet, he is brought into life by a single call, confirming the proclamation of the resurrection, that is to say, that expectation of it as universal that we learn by a particular experience to entertain. For as in the regeneration of the universe the apostle tells us that “the Lord himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,” [1] and by a trumpet sound raise up the dead to incorruption—so now too he who is in the tomb, at the voice of command, shakes off death as if it were only sleep. He rids himself of the corruption that had come on his condition of a corpse, leaps forth from the tomb whole and sound, not even hindered as he leaves by the bonds of the grave cloths round his feet and hands. ON THE MAKING OF MAN 25.11. [2]
[1] 1 Thess 4:16.
[2] NPNF 2 5:416-17*.
DIVINE POWER OF THE FATHER AND SON
CHRYSOSTOM Why did he not say, “In the name of my Father come out”? Or why not, “Father, raise him up”? Why did he omit all these expressions and, after assuming the attitude of one praying, show by his actions his independent authority? Because this was also a mark of his wisdom: to show condescension by his words but power by his deeds. For since [the Jewish leaders] had nothing else to charge him with except that he was not of God, and since in this way they deceived many, for this reason he more than sufficiently proves this very point by what he says in a way their weakness required. For it was in his power to show in another way his agreement with the Father as well as his own dignity, but the multitude could not ascend so far. And so he simply says, “Lazarus, come forth.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 64.2. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:238**.
Jn
[1]Gen 1:3, 6—a reference to Christ, the Word, present at creation.
[2]PG 97:980-81.