ACC ~ John 12 v1

THE STAINLESS LAMB

BEDE “The Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,” [1] who had come down to earth from heaven in order to suffer for the salvation of the human race, as the hour of his passion was drawing near, willed to draw near the place of his passion. Even by this it was to become apparent that he would not be suffering unwillingly but of his own volition. … He willed to come five days before the Passover [2] … that by this again he might show that he was the stainless lamb who would take away the sins of the world. It was commanded that the paschal lamb, by whose immolation the people of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt, should be selected five days before the Passover, that is, on the tenth day of the month, [3] and immolated on the fourteenth day of the month. [4] HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.3. [5]

[1] 1 Tim 2:5.

[2] John mentions that it was six days before the Passover, and Christ would be leaving for Jerusalem the next day after dining with Lazarus.

[3] Ex 12:3.

[4] Ex 12:18.

[5] CS 111:23; CCL 122:200.

PROOF OF LAZARUS’S RESURRECTION

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA [Jesus went] to Bethany. He did not actually go into Jerusalem, since if he suddenly appeared to the Jews, he might kindle their anger. Instead the rumor of his being so near gradually softens the rage of their wrath. He eats with Lazarus, reminding those who saw them of his divine power. And by telling us this, the Evangelist shows that Christ did not despise the Law. This is also why the text mentions that it was “six days before the Passover,” when it was necessary that the lamb should be purchased and kept until the fourteenth day. This is when he ate with Lazarus and his friends, doing so perhaps because it was a custom not of law but from long usage, for the Jews to have some little merrymaking on the day before the lamb was taken, in order that after the lamb was obtained they might devote themselves, from that time until the feast, to fasting or a lesser amount of food and to purifications. The Lord therefore is shown to have given honor even to these customs of the feast. And in amazement the Evangelist says that he who had been four days dead was eating with the Christ, to remind us of his divine power. And he adds that Martha, out of her love toward Christ, served and ministered at the labors of the table. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 7. [1]

[1] LF 48:137.

IMPRINTING THE MEMORY OF LAZARUS’S RESURRECTION

BEDE Being sure of the glory of his resurrection, Jesus first came to Bethany, a town near Jerusalem, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. Then he went to Jerusalem, where he himself was to suffer and rise from the dead. He went to Jerusalem so that he might die there, but to Bethany so that the raising up of Lazarus might be imprinted more deeply on the memory of all. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.4. [1]

[1] CS 111:35*.