Verse 14 14.Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. The goodness of Christ was astonishing, in being able to bear with such gross ignorance in the disciples. And indeed the reason why he delayed, for a time, to bestow upon them the grace of the Spirit in larger measure, was, that the miracle of renewing them in a moment might be the greater. read more
Verse 15 15.And I rejoice, on your account, that I was not there. He means that his absence was profitable to them, because his power would have been less illustriously displayed, if he had instantly given assistance to Lazarus. For the more nearly the works of God approach to the ordinary course of nature, the less highly are they valued, and the less illustriously is their glory displayed. This is what we experience daily; for if God immediately stretches out his hand, we do not perceive his... read more
Now a certain (man) was sick, (named) Lazarus, of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha . The certain man who was sick, Lazarus (or Eleazar) by name, £ was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. The two prepositions ἀπὸ and ἐκ generally denote procession from, but the latter implies closer and more intimate original association; they here are put in apposition, though there are passages where they are discriminated ( Luke 2:4 ; Acts 23:1-35 .... read more
(1) The mystery and might of sacrificial love seen in the prelude of the miracle . read more
The raising of Lazarus. This event, a third good work, hastened the final crisis. I. THE BETHANY FAMILY . "Now a certain man was sick , Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." 1. Their home . It was a small village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem. It is familiar to us in the earlier Gospels as the place to which our Lord resorted from time to time for happy retirement. It remains the sweetest spot in the... read more
7. Christ the Antagonist of death—a victory of love and power . The narrative of this chapter is a further advance in the proof that the unbelief of the Jews was aggravated by the greatness of the revelation. The issue of his sublime and culminating act of power, of his supreme and self-revealing work of transcendent tenderness and beauty, was a deeper and wilder passion of hatred. The evangelist completes his series of seven great miracles with one that in true and believing minds,... read more
Now it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The word μύρον is used of any aromatic balsam which is distilled from trees and herbs by itself. In classical Greek μύρον was used of costly ointments used by women. ἐλαίον was the common oil used by men for purposes of health, which might be perfumed. Our Lord clearly draws a distinction between the ἐλαίον and μύρον in Luke 7:46 . ἀλείφω ... read more
Therefore the sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick ( ὃν φιλεῖς nominative to ἀσθενεῖ ). The sisters knew well what peril Jesus and his disciples would encounter by coming to Bethany, and they must have known that he could have healed him by a word; so they simply state the case. (On the difference between φιλεῖν and ἀγάπαν , see notes on John 5:20 ; John 21:15 , John 21:17 . Trench, 'New Test. Syn.,' § 12. The former word is that of... read more
When Jesus heard (it), he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. What message Jesus gave to these who brought him these tidings we know not; the evangelist records what he said to the bystanders. Our Lord did not mean to say that the sickness would not terminate in what men ordinarily call "death," nor that it was not a deadly disease, but that it was not πρὸς θάνατον . "He shall not fall a prey to death" (Meyer),... read more
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John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 11:12
Verse 12 12.If he sleepeth, he will recover. (313) Replying that sleep will have a salutary effect on Lazarus, they thus endeavor indirectly to dissuade Christ from going thither. And yet they do not craftily or deceitfully turn aside Christ’s words to suit their own purpose, on the pretense of not understanding what he said; (314) but, thinking that he spoke about sleep, they gladly seize this opportunity of avoiding danger. Augustine, and many writers since his time, speculate about the word... read more