And therefore it is added: The girl is not dead, but sleeps: in which he does not remove the truth of death, but gives the assurance of rising again, because he could raise her from the dead just as easily as a sleeping person is awakened from sleep by one who is awake. And for this reason he spoke thus in John eleven: "Lazarus, our friend, sleeps"; and afterward: "Lazarus is dead." Whence Bede: "She is dead to men, who cannot raise her, not to God, for whom her soul lives and her flesh rests, awaiting resurrection." On account of which the Church rightly sings: "Come, let us adore the King, for whom all things live," in the Office of the Dead: below in chapter twenty: "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him." Since therefore nothing dies to the Lord, and God was present there: therefore he rightly said: The girl is not dead.
93. (Verse 53.). But because "the natural man does not perceive the things that are of God," First Corinthians two: therefore it is added: And they derided him, knowing that she was dead. For he who is certain about something not only does not believe, but even derides the one persuading the contrary. And since divine wisdom frequently persuades the contrary of human knowledge, hence it is that man through human knowledge mocks God, and thus is made foolish: Jeremiah ten: "Every man is made foolish by his own knowledge." For that knowledge is foolish which derides wisdom: First Corinthians one: "God has made foolish the wisdom of this world." And because, as it is said in Proverbs eighteen, "the fool does not receive words of prudence, unless you say those things which revolve in his heart"; therefore these people did not receive but derided: Proverbs fifteen: "The fool mocks the discipline of his father"; and therefore they were not suitable witnesses for the restoration of life, but only for the loss of life. Therefore they were cast out, according to what is said in Matthew nine: "When the crowd had been cast out, he entered and took the girl by the hand," etc.
94. (Verse 54.). But he, taking her by the hand, etc. Here now, third, after the solidity of faith and the suitability of testimony, there is joined the sublimity of the command of the one raising her, with respect to the commanding power and with respect to the efficacy that follows.
First, therefore, as regards the commanding power, it is said: He himself taking her by the hand, from the assistance of power, according to that verse of the Psalm: "The right hand of the Lord has wrought power," etc. And again, the girl could say: "You have held my right hand."
And since "the hand of the Lord is not shortened, so that it cannot save," as is said in Isaiah 59, therefore it is added: He cried out, saying: Girl, arise, from the command of majesty, as is said in John 11: "He cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth." Now this cry in the outward voice designates the immensity of the inward power, according to what is said in the Psalm: "He shall give to his voice the voice of power," namely of miracle, according to that verse of First Thessalonians 4: "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with command and with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first."
95. (Verse 55). Secondly, as regards the subsequent efficacy, it is added: And her spirit returned, through intimate union, according to what is said in Third Kings 17: "The soul of the child returned into him, and he revived"; and she arose immediately, through vital operation. For to arise is the operation of the living, just as to fall is of the dying.
96. And note that this girl in her raising is said to have arisen, and the young man to have sat up, above in chapter seven, but Lazarus to have come forth bound hand and foot, in John 11: because, as was touched upon above, by the girl dead in the house is understood the sin of thought; by the young man at the gate, the sin of action; by Lazarus in the tomb, the sin of habit. And since, in proportion as sins are graver, they leave greater consequences, therefore he who sinned only by thought, once brought to life, immediately arises, because little difficulty remains; but he who sinned in deed sits up, because a proneness still remains; but he who sinned by habit is bound, because he has a great proneness binding him in evil and impeding him from good, even after he has been restored to life. And according to this, a heavier penance ought to be imposed on each respectively.
97. And he commanded that she be given something to eat. Here, fourthly and lastly, the clarity of the miracle is touched upon, as something to be made manifest for the benefit of faith and to be concealed against the vanity of glory. Whence first is set forth the useful manifestation; and secondly, the humble concealment, because, as Gregory says, "the work ought to be in the open, yet the intention should remain hidden."
First, therefore, as regards the useful manifestation of the miracle, it is said: And he commanded that something be given her to eat, so that the raising might be proven not phantastic but true, just as he himself proved his own resurrection, below in the last chapter: "Have you here anything to eat?" and the raising of Lazarus, John 12, where it is said that "Lazarus was one of those reclining at table." Moreover, he gives a sign to the senses of a true raising, so that he might elevate minds to an excess of admiration.
98. (Verse 56.) Whence it is also added: And her parents were astonished, as though unable to bear the magnitude of divine power: Isaiah 29, "Behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, a great and stupendous miracle." Moreover, this astonishment elevated the faith of believers to an excess, according to that passage in Acts 10: "The faithful of the circumcision were astonished," etc.
99. Second, as regards the humble concealment, it is added: He commanded them to tell no one what had been done, wishing to humbly remain hidden and to give an example of humility, just as he commanded the disciples, Matthew 17: "He commanded them: Tell the vision to no one," etc.; in which he shows that we ought to wish to remain hidden in great deeds. Whence Augustine: "Hide what you do, as much as you can; but if you cannot entirely, let there be in your soul the will to conceal." — And note that there is a precept of execution, as the Decalogue; of testing, as concerning the sacrificing of the son of Abraham, Genesis 22; and of instruction, as here. In the first, the intellect is invited to knowing, the affection to willing, the effect to executing. In the second, the affection is invited, but not the effect. In the third, only the intellect is instructed; the affection is not bound, nor is the effect prohibited. And thus is that precept understood.