Глава 17

“And there was a sick man there, Lazarus was his name, and ... his sisters sent him to say to the Lord: Lord, behold, the one whom You love lies sick in bed” (cf. John 11: 1, 3). Compare the words of the Life-Giver and notice how they agree with each other. He said to the blind man: “This sin is neither his nor his father’s, but let the deeds be revealed in him... God” (cf. John 9:3); and about the illness of Lazarus he said: “this disease is not for death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (cf. John 11:4). And he said to the disciples: “Come, let us go... to Judea” (cf. John 11:7). They answer Him: “The Jews are seeking to kill You... and are You going there again?” (cf. John 11:8). But, he says, where there is sorrow, the doctor hurries there. I go to those who stone, so that among those who stone, they may become witnesses. “Many,” he says, “believed in Him there” (cf. John 11:45). “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? He who walks by day does not stumble, because he sees the light” (John 11:9). With these words, through a figurative comparison, I wanted to teach the apostles that before the end of the year of scapegoating, the mother of months 244, the Jews would not stumble in killing the Lord, because of which darkness would reign in Zion. “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day?” (John 11:9) - that is, why are you afraid of being stoned? As long as I am with you, none of you will suffer with Me or for Me. But a night full of sorrows will come for you, when I will ascend from you and leave you. But accept crowns, just as I, who will be crowned and exalted from you. “Come, let us die with Him.” They were sure that, having gone with Him, they would be stoned. Therefore, he strengthened them with consolation, saying: “Lazarus, our friend, is dead, and I rejoice for you” (cf. John 11:14–15). If he was happy, then why did he cry when he arrived? See from this how far removed from the Lord even those who were closest to Him are. And just as a person, in whom all natures are hidden, manifests any of them in its place: now the spirit, now the body, so the Lord showed hunger on bread (revealed human nature) (Matthew 4:2-3), and tears on each other. All doctors apply diligence and care before a person dies; and the doctor of Lazarus turned to the dead in order to show the superiority of His medical art at his death. I rejoiced when I heard; I cried when I arrived. Before he arrived, he said that he had died, and upon arrival he asked: “Where... did they put him?” (John 11:34). Further, he wept because in the resurrection of the dead those who now live will die (ungodly). Here, in the most expressive words, He testified and at the same time demonstrated and confirmed in practice that He accepted true human nature. Therefore, he wept and discovered the faith of Mary and Martha, who honored Him and confessed Him in the presence of others, who had long ago (but only) confessed Him in a different way, as the Scripture says: “from afar the commandment was issued to count Him outside the synagogue” (cf. John 9:22, 12:42). "God! if only You were here” (John 11:21), - for since they sent to Him, and He did not want to come, then (from this) they learned that Lazarus died according to the will of the Lord, since neither Himself (the Lord) came nor sent an answer so that he would be healed. They said: “If only You were here” (John 11:21), as if saying: if you want, listen to him. Further, since they heard from the disciples how the waves rose during His sleep, and how another time in His absence the current of the sea began to move and shake, then, according to human custom, they said: “Teacher, where there is light, darkness cannot penetrate there, and where there is life, there death has no power.” He cried to show that Lazarus had died, and to give reason to say: “Didn’t He open... the eyes of the blind?” (cf. John 11:37). On the one hand, they wanted to reject Him, on the other, they confessed Him against his will. “He who raised Lazarus, save yourself” (cf. Mark 15:30). And with these words those who rejected Him also confessed the Lord. “It already stinks” (John 11:39). If you, Martha, like Mary, sat at His feet, then, like her, you would hear from Him that everything is easy for Him. “I am the resurrection and the life; everyone who believes in Me, even if he dies, lives” (cf. John 11:25). It is clear that “he who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:26), that is, he will not always remain in death, since he is alive, and the hand of death will not forever prevail over him. Some understand this about the end of the world, (namely) that those who remain on earth until the time of His coming will not die, just like the following words: “those who remain until His coming will not die” (cf. 1 Thess. 4:15). The Lord shed tears for Lazarus, as if showing that He could not resurrect him; when they actually thought that way about Him, he revealed to everyone the secret blasphemy of those who said: “Couldn’t... This... make sure that... this one didn’t die?” (cf. John 11:37). Perhaps you will say: “but they did not say that He could not resurrect.” However, they expressed something that was directed against His Divinity, saying (as it were): because he cried, he showed that he did not want death (Lazarus); This means that His Divine nature did not so dominate death as to prevent death from having any dominion over Him. So, when they showed their mockery and ridicule, He revealed (before them) His Divinity. And that he was indignant (John 11:33), this is completely in accordance with what he (once) said: “as long as I will be with you and (as long as) I will speak with you” (cf. Mark 9:19), and in another place: “this generation is disgusting to Me” (cf. Ps. 94:10). Those, he says, tempted Me ten times, but these tempted Me twenty and ten times. He came to call the dead man from the grave and asked: “Where... did they put him?” (John 11:34) – “And the Lord shed tears” (cf. John 11:35). But His tears turned out to be like rain, Lazarus - like a grain of bread, and the tomb - like earth. He let out His voice like thunder, death was terrified by this voice, Lazarus went out like a grain of bread, and the earth fell before the Lord, its Life-Creator. With His signs, the Lord designated the appropriate time (of the year) and adapted (them) to the time in the same way as when He met the blind from the womb. “He remained two days in the place where he was” (John 11:6) until Lazarus died. He resurrected Lazarus, and died in his place. After all, after he called him out of the grave and (then) when he reclined with him at the table, He Himself was buried under the image of the ointment that Mary poured on His head (John 12:1-3). Thus, after four days, death and greed were put to shame. Moreover, the power of death was despised, since the Lord called the deceased to life, so that death would know that it was easy for the Lord to remove it after three days and drive it away from Himself. For the mouth of Him who with His voice called the four-day dead from the tomb will remain in its promises that on the third day He will live and rise. The greed that plotted in the heart of Judas and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver was also put to shame, and Judas was convicted of the fact that he did not seek to sell Him because the Lord had made Himself God, just as it was not concern for the poor that prompted him to want to sell the anointing oil. So, the Lord came to Bethany and resurrected His friend, but He gave Himself burial under the image of anointing. He brought joy to Mary and Martha and reproach to hell and self-interest; hell, because (hell) did not prevail over Him forever; self-interest, because she did not sell Him forever. He said: “After three days I rose again” (Matthew 27:63), because if anyone finds (this) matter difficult, then let him look at the four-day-old who was resurrected. He said something more difficult than this, so that through what he did at Lazarus, they would also believe what he said about Himself. “Come and take away the stone” (cf. John 11:39). Could not the One who revived the dead and returned life to him open both the coffin and take away the stone? Who said to His disciples: “if... you have faith as a mustard seed and say to this mountain: move, and... it will move from before you” (cf. Matt. 17:20), could He not have moved the stone from the door of the tomb? Without a doubt, the One who, hanging on the Cross, cut through the rock and the tombs with His voice, could lift this stone with (one) word. But since Lazarus was His friend, he said: “Open it yourself,” so that the stinking smell from him would touch their sense of smell; and: “Loose him” (John 11:44) yourselves from those (ties) with which you bound him, so that you recognize the work of your hands. Therefore, at the time of the death of Lazarus, the Lord did not come to this village, so that they would not say that they had agreed among themselves. “And if we leave... then everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away our people... our law and... this place” (cf. John 11:48). They said this because they were subject to the power of the Romans. But the Lord came and reigned with His signs, and the whole world followed Him. Perhaps, they say, the pagans will hear that a king was born to them, for they called Him the son of David, and not only called Him that, but also wanted to accidentally take Him and make Him king (John 6:15). Therefore they said: Beware lest the Romans come and destroy our cities and our people. “Simon the leper” (Matthew 26:6) believed, and the Lord showed him a favor, and through faith and grace the leprosy disappeared. After all, how could leprosy remain in the body of Simon, who saw the Purifier from leprosy reclining in his house? While the human nature of Christ reclined in the house of Simon, the Divine nature dwelt in his heart, just as it was with Simon of the same name (Luke 2:26). And how could dead leprosy remain in the presence of the dead Lazarus, who came to life and rose again? “If,” they said, “you had been here, our brother would not have died” (cf. John 11:21). So, how could Simon be sick with leprosy when the Purifier from leprosy was reclining in his house, and how could the power that casts out leprosy and the power that runs away from leprosy be together at the same table? Probably, the same thing happened (here) as is read about Zacchaeus, the chief of publicans, to whom the Lord said: “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9). As a reward for his hospitality, he received cleansing. “And the high priests decided... to kill Lazarus also” (cf. John 12:10). But the law commanded: whoever kills must die. If you kill him, can’t Christ revive him again? Shouldn’t you rather have been afraid that you yourself would not be killed by His word, which called Lazarus to life? After all, Cain thought: “I will kill a man, and deceive God.” The man was killed because he mortal, God was not deceived, because He is Omniscient. “You could sell this ointment for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor” (cf. John 12:5). This was said by Judas, to whom the Lord, seeing in him a thirst for money, entrusted the distribution of money, as the manager and bearer of the wallet, so that he would be satisfied and would not become a traitor for the sake of money. Because it was more useful for him to steal silver than to betray the Creator of silver. After all, who else 245 needed a purse where there was a miracle of five unleavened bread, or wine from water, or the medicine given to the eyes of the son of Timaeus (Mark 10:46-52), or the miracle that happened when collecting the didrachm? “Do not rejoice,” he says, “that demons obey... you, since Judas Iscariot cast out demons, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (cf. Luke 10:20); Judas is written on earth along with those who crucified the Lord. Judas cast out the demons, so that the enemy of the Lord himself would explain to his fellow crucifiers whether the Lord really cast out demons through Beelzebub, and so that the traitor would be ashamed if the demons were afraid of the one who was the thief and went out, while the thief of silver did not fear the Lord of silver. Perhaps, however, he realized this, and therefore put a rope on himself and hanged himself. And so that they would not say that the Lord Himself chose the traitor as His disciple, without knowing it, (for this) He said: “one of you is the devil” (John 6:70), hiding the name of Judas in order not to dishonor him (in case) he wants to repent. When he washed their feet, he did not begin with Simon, the first of the disciples. For if the first of the Angels, in such a situation, 246 abandoned the honor of his glory, then how could the first of the disciples maintain the degree of his honor? Wouldn't he rather learn to imitate the first of the Angels? When he washed their feet, the honor of the Lord’s highest nature was clothed with the honor of the humility of His human nature. Because a month is part of a year. Except for Judas, who had to be corrected. When he was elevated to the glory of primacy. You might be interested in: