Since the Lord's disciples were afraid to go to Judea, He says to them: "The Jews sought to stone Me because I refuted and reproved them. But now I am going not to reprove them, but to visit My friend. Therefore there is no need to be afraid. I am going not for the same reason I went before, so as to expect danger from the Jews, but I am going to awaken a friend."
Jn. 11:12. The disciples said to Him: Lord! If he has fallen asleep, he will recover.
The disciples, wishing to keep Him from traveling there, say: "It is enough if he has fallen asleep; if he has fallen asleep, he will recover; therefore we have no need to go, for there is no necessity." Although the Lord, speaking of Lazarus, added "My friend" precisely to show the necessity of being there, the disciples maintain that His visit is not needed, since he can recover from the fact that he has fallen asleep.
Jn. 11:13. Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of ordinary sleep.
"Even more," they say, "Your Coming is not only unnecessary, but also harmful to the friend. For if sleep, as we think, serves for his recovery, and You go and wake him, then You will hinder his recovery. Therefore, there is no need to go and wake him, for this is harmful."
Jn. 11:14. Then Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead;
The Lord, seeing that His disciples still did not understand Him, says directly that Lazarus "has died." Why then did He previously express Himself not directly, but in a veiled manner, calling death "sleep"? For many reasons.
Firstly, out of humility, for He did not wish to appear boastful, but in a veiled manner called the resurrection an awakening from sleep. How would He have used this expression if He had not called death a sleep? And that this is true, that is, that He expressed Himself in a veiled manner out of humility, is evident from what follows. For having said that Lazarus "died," the Lord did not add "I will go and raise him." Do you see how He did not wish to boast in words about what He intended to confirm by the deed itself? At the same time, the Lord also teaches us not to be hasty in our promises. For if at the request of the centurion (for the healing of his servant) the Lord did give a promise, saying "I will come and heal him" (Matt. 8:5–7), He said this in order to reveal his faith. So then, this is the first reason why the Lord called death a sleep.
Another is to show us that every death is a sleep and a rest.
The third is that although the death of Lazarus was indeed death for everyone else, for Jesus Himself, inasmuch as He intended to raise him, it was nothing more than sleep. Just as it is easy for us to wake one who is sleeping, so, and a thousand times more so, it is easy for Him to raise the dead.
Jn. 11:15. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; but let us go unto him.
"I rejoice," He says, "for your sakes," that you can henceforth be more assured of My Divine dignity from the fact that I was not there and am far away from that place, yet I tell you in advance that death has occurred in Bethany, and I say this not based on hearsay, but, as God, Myself perceiving what has happened at a great distance.
Some understood the Lord's words "I am glad for your sakes" in this way: "That I was not there will serve to strengthen you in faith. For if I had been there, I would have healed the sick man. This too would have been a miracle, but it would have shown little of My power. But now, since I was not there and the death of Lazarus followed, and I will go and raise him, you should be more firmly established in faith in Me. For you will see that I am able to do even what I have not yet manifested, namely: to restore and raise a dead man who has already decomposed and is emitting a foul odor."
And I ask you to notice that although Lazarus had died, the Lord nevertheless said "let us go to him," as if to a living person. For to Christ, as God, even Lazarus himself was alive.
Jn. 11:16. Then Thomas, otherwise called the Twin, said to the disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with Him.
When the Lord said this and proved to the disciples the necessity of His journey to Judea, then Thomas, who was more fearful than the rest, says: "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." For these words express not courage, but fear and faintheartedness. In order to hold back the other fellow disciples as well, he reminds them of death and deliberately adds "die," speaking as if to say: "Let us too, foolish, senseless, and caring nothing for our own salvation and life, go so that we may die with Him. Let Him place little value on His own life; must we therefore also be imprudent?" Such words befit a coward.
But look at him afterwards. He, as an apostle, was slain for the truth. The grace of God so "strengthened" him that the words of the Apostle Paul can be applied to him as well: "our sufficiency is of God" (2 Cor. 3:5), and "not I, but the grace" (1 Cor. 15:10).
And Origen says something about Thomas that resembles a dream: "Thomas," he says, "having learned the prophecies about Christ and understood that He would descend with His soul into hell for the liberation of souls, when he heard that the Lord was going to awaken Lazarus, thought that He could awaken him, that is, free his soul, in no other way than if He Himself laid aside His body and descended into hell. Therefore, as a sincere disciple of Christ, not wishing to fall behind his Teacher even in this, he both counsels his fellow disciples and himself volunteers to lay aside his body, in order to descend into hell together with Jesus, who, in his understanding, would lay down His soul in order to free the soul of His friend from hell." I have included this laughable explanation to put to shame those who exalt everything of Origen. For is not such an explanation from a wise man obvious idle talk and a veritable dream?
Jn. 11:17. Jesus, having come, found that he had already been four days in the tomb.
The Lord deliberately delayed until Lazarus had been dead four days, then went, so that the miracle would be from every side free from slander.
Jn. 11:18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away;
Bethany was about fifteen stadia from Jerusalem. Why does the evangelist add this detail? In order to show that many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem indeed came, for Bethany was not far away.
Jn. 11:19. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them in their grief over their brother.
Many of the Jews had come to comfort the sisters, not because Christ loved them (for the Jews had already agreed to put out of the synagogue anyone who acknowledged Him as the Christ (John 9:22)), but either because of the severity of the calamity, or because those who came were not among the wicked, which is why many of them also believed.
Jn. 11:20. Martha, having heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him; but Mary sat at home.