4. So then the Lord also raised Lazarus to life. You have heard what type of character he represents; in other words, what is meant by the resurrection of Lazarus. Let us now, therefore, read over the passage; and as there is much in this lesson clear already, we shall not go into any detailed exposition, so as to take up more thoroughly the necessary points. " Now a certain man was sick, [named] Laz- arus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and Martha, his sisters." In the previous lesson you remember that the Lord escaped from the hands of those who sought to stone Him, and went away beyond Jordan, where John bap- tized." When the Lord therefore had taken up His abode tliere, Lazarus fell sick in Bethany, which was a town lying close to Jerusalem.
5. "But Mary was she who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying." We now understand whither it was they sent, namely, where tlie Lord was; for He was I Mark v. 41, 42.
» Luke vii. 14, 15.
1 l.uke vii. 37-47. -AuKUStin is mist.aken here, althouj^h his error has been folli)\ved by many ancient writers, and some in more recent times. The time, place, and circumstances make it impossible for the incident liere referred to, to be the.s;ime as that which took place in liethany immediately before our Lord's cruci- j f'lxion. On that hist occasion only was it Lazarus' sister,.Mary, who anointed Jisus. Luke here speaks only <>f a woman that was a sinner. and there is little evidence to connect her with any of the other.Scripture women, even with Mary of Ma^dala, as is often done, and who is first mentioned by Luke in a tlilTercnt con- nection in the following diapter (viii. 2). — 'I'k. 4 Chap. X. 39, 40.
272 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XLIX.
away, as you know, beyond the Jordan. They sent messengers to the Lord to tell Him that their brother was ill. He delayed to heal, that He might be able to raise to life. But what was the message sent by his sisters? " Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.'' They did not say. Come; for the intimation was all that was needed for one who' loved. They did not venture to say, Come and heal him: they ventured not to say, Command there, and it shall be done here. And why not so with them, if on these very grounds the centurion's faith was commended? For he said, " I am not worthy that Thou should- est enter under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."' No such words said these women, but only, " Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." It is enough that Thou knowest; for Thou art not one that loveth and forsaketh. But says some one, How could a sinner be represented by Lazarus, and be so loved by the Lord? Let him listen to Him, when He says, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." =" For had not God loved sinners, He would not have come down from heaven to earth.
6. " But when Jesus heard [that], He said. This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified." Such a glorifying of Himself did not add to His dignity, but benefited us. Hence He says, " is not unto death," because even that death itself was not unto death, but rather unto the working of a miracle whereby men might be led to faith in Christ, and so escape the real death. And mark how the Lord, as it were indirectly, called Himself God, for the sake of some who deny that the Son is God. For there are heretics who make such a denial, that the Son of God is God. Let them hearken here: " This sickness, '' He says, " is not unto death, but for the glory of God." For what glory? For the glory of what God? Hear what follows: "That the Son of God may be glorified." " This sick- ness," therefore. He says, " is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby." By what? By that sickness.
7. " Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sis- ter Mary, and Lazarus." The one sick, the others sad, all of them beloved: but He who loved them was both the Saviour of the sick, nay more, the Raiser of the dead and the Comforter of the sad. " When He heard therefore that he was sick, He abode then two days still in the same place." They sent ' Matt. viii.
2 Matt. ix. 13.
Him word: He abode where He was: and the time ran on till four days were completed. And not in vain, were it only that perhaps, nay that certainly, even the very number of days has some sacramental significance. " Then after that He saith again to His dis- ciples. Let us go into Judea: " v/here He had been all but stoned, and from which He had apparently departed for the very purpose to escape being stoned. For as man He de- parted; but returned as if in forgetfulness of all infirmity, to show His power. "Let us go," He said, "into Judea."
8. And now see how the disciples were ter- rified at His words. "The disciples say unto Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?" What means such an answer? They said to Him, " The Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again" to be stoned? And the Lord, " Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world: but if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him." He spoke indeed of the day, but to.our understanding as if it were still the night. Let us call upon the Day to chase away the night, and illuminate our hearts with the light. For what did the Lord mean? As far as I can judge, and as the height and depth of His meaning breaks into light. He wished to argue down their doubt- ing and unbelief. For they wished by their counsel to keep the Lord from death, who had come to die, to save themselves from death. In a similar way also, in another passage, St. Peter, who loved the Lord, but did not yet fully understand the reason of His coming, was afraid of His dying, and so displeased the Life, to wit, the Lord Himself: for when He was intimating to the disci- ples what He was about to suffe/at Jerusalem at the hands of the Jews, Peter made reply among the rest, and said, " Far be it from Thee, Lord; pity Thyself: this shall not be unto Thee,'' And at once the Lord replied, " Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savor- est not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." And yet a little before,' in confessing the Son of God, he had merited commendation: for he heard the words, " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in iieaven." 3 To whom He had said, "Blessed art thou," He now says, " Get thee behind me, Satan; " because 3 Matt. xvi. 16-23.
Tractate XLIX.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
/6 it was not of himself that he was blessed. But of what then? "For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." See, this is how thou art blessed., not from anything that is thine own, but from that which is mine. Not that I am the Father, but that all thi^igs whicii the Father hath are mine.' But if his blessed- ness came from the Lord's own working, from whose [working] came he to be Satan? He there tells us: for He assigned the reason of such blessedness, when He said, " Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven:" that is the cause of thy blessedness. But that I said, "Get thee behind me, Satan, hear also its cause. For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Let no one then flatter himself: in that which is natural to himself he is Satan, in that which is of God he is blessed. For all that is of his own, whence comes it, but from his sin? Put away the sin, which is thine own. Right- eousness, He saith, belongeth unto me. For what hast thou that thou didst not receive?- Accordingly, when men wished to give counsel to G.od. disciples to their Master, servants to their Lord, patients to their Physician, He reproved them by saying, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not." Follow me, if ye would not stumble: give not counsel to me, from whom you ought to receive it. To what, then, refer the words, "Are there not twelve hours in the day "? Just that to point Himself out as the day. He made choice of twelve disciples. If I am the day. He says, and you the hours, is it for the hours to give counsel to the day? The day is followed by the hours, not the hours by the day. If these, then, were the hours, what in such a reckon- ing- was Judas? Was he also among the twelve hours? If he was an hour, he had light; and if he had light, how was the Day betrayed by him to death? But tlie Lord, in so speaking, foresaw, not Judas himself, but his successor. For Judas, when he fell, was succeeded by Matthias, and the duodenary number preserved. ^ It was not, then, with- out a purpose that the Lord made choice of twelve disciples, but to indicate tliat He Himself is the spiritual Day. Let tlie hours then attend upon the Day, let them preach the Day, be made known and illuminated by the Day, and by the preaching of the hours may the world believe in the Day. And so in a summary way it was just this that He said: Follow me, if ye would not stumble.
Chap. xvi. 15.
2 I Cor. iv. 7.
3 Acts i. 26.
9. "And after that He saith unto them. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." It was true what He said. To his sisters he was dead, to the Lord he was asleep. He was dead to men, who could not raise him again; but the Lord aroused him with as great ease from tlie tomb as one arouseth a sleeper from his bed. Hence it was in reference to His own power that He spoke of him as sleeping: for others also, who are dead, are frequently spoken of in Scripture as sleeping; as when the apostle says, " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.""* Therefore he also spoke of them as sleeping, because fore- telling their resurrection. And so, all tb.e dead are sleeping, both good and bad. But just as, in the case of those who sleep and waken day by day, there is a great difference as to what they severally see in their sleep: some experience pleasant dreams; others, dreams so frightful that the waking are afraid to fall asleep for fear of their recurrence: so every individual sleeps and wakens in circum- stances peculiar to himself. And there is a difference as to the kind of custody one may be placed in, who is afterwards to be taken before the judge. For the kind of custody in which men are placed depends on the merits of the case: some are required to be guarded by lictors, an office humane and mild, and becoming a citizen; others are given up to subordinates; 5 some, again, are sent to prison: and in the prison itself all are not thrust together into its lowest dungeons, but dealt with in proportion to the merits and superior gravity of the charges. As, then, there are different kinds of custody among those engaged in official life, so there are different kinds of custody for the dead, and differing merits in those who rise again. The beggar was taken into custody, so was the rich man: but the one into Abraham's bosom; the other, where he thirsted, and found not a drop of water.* 10. Therefore, to make this the occasion of instructing your Charity, all souls have, when they quit this world, their dilTerent re- ceptions. The good have joy; the evil, tor- ments. But when the resurrection takes 4 I Thess. iv. 13.
5 (iptioiiihiix, assist.ints, iindirrlinjrs. In the Mss., it is writ- ten, but incorrectly, optioHihiis; for Varro, Isidoriis,.ind i>therS tliink \.\\<: optioncs were so t:A\\cA ah ofitaitiio, as heinj^' doubt- less ihosen as assistants to the decuriones and military adju- tants. They were also attached to various oflices: and hence there were artisan ofitioni-s, and those bclonxinn to olVicial or prison life, in which last sivinificatioii they are used here; as also in Ambrose's works (( 'i'/«/«««/<j»y (>« ///<• Efihcsians^ chap. 4) in these words: " Nor did I'aiil and Silas delay to baptize the jailof (optiotiitii tariu'ris)."
^ I.uke xvi. 22-24.
2 74 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XLIX.
place, both the joy of the good will be fuller, and the torments of the wicked heavier, when they shall be tormented in the body. The holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and good believers, have been received into peace; but all of them have still in the end to receive the fulfillment of the divine promises; for they have been promised also the resurrection of the flesh, the destruction of death, and eternal life with the angels. This we have all to receive together; for the rest, which is given immediately after death, every one, if worthy of it, receives when he dies. The patriarchs first received it — think only from what they rest; the prophets afterwards; more recently the apostles; still more lately the holy martyrs, and day by day the good and faithful. Thus some have now been in that rest for long, some not so long; others for fewer years, and others whose entrance therein is still less than recent. But when they shall wake from this sleep, they shall all together receive the fulfillment of the promise.
II. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His disciples" — according to their under- standing they replied — " Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." For the sleep of the sick is usually a sign of returning health. " How- beit Jesus spake of his deatli, but they thought that He spake of the taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,'" — for He said somewhat obscurely, " He sleepeth; " — therefore He said plainly, " Laz- arus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.'' I even know that he is dead, and I was not there: for he had been reported not as dead, but sick. But what could remain hid from Him who had created it, and into whose hands the soul of the dying man had departed? This is why He said, " I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; " that they might now begin to wonder that the Lord could assert his death, which He had neither seen nor heard of. For here we ought specially to bear in mind that as yet the disciples them- selves, who already believed in Him, had their faith built up by miracles: not that a faith, utterly wanting till then, might begin to exist; but that what had previously come into being might be increased; although He made use of such an expression as if only then they would begin to believe. For He said not, " I am glad for your sakes," that your faith may be increased or confirmed; but, "that ye may believe;" which is to be understood as meaning, that your faith may be fuller and more vigorous.
12. "Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, who is called Didymus, unto his fellow-disciples. Let us also go, that we may die with Him. Therefore Jesus came, and found that he had [lain] in the grave four days already." Much might be said of the four days, according to the wont of the obscure passages of Scripture, which bear as many senses as there is diversity of those who understand them. Let us express also our opinion of what is meant by one four days dead. For as in the former case of the blind man we understand in a way the human race, so in the case of this dead man many perhaps are also to be understood; for one thing may be signified by different figures. When a man is born, he is born already in a state of death; for he inherits sin from Adam. Hence the apostle says: " By one man sin en- tered into the world, and death by sin; and so that passed upon all men, wherein all have sinned."' Here you have one day of death, because man inherits it from the seed stock of death. Thereafter he grows, and begins to approach the years of reason that he may know the law of nature, which every one has had implanted in his heart: What thou wouldst not have done to thyself, do not to another.
Is this learned from the pages of a book, and not in a measure legible in our very nature? Hast thou any desire to be robbed? Certainly not. See here, then, the law in thy heart: What thou art unwilling to suffer, be unwil- ling to do. This law also is transgressed by men; and here, then, we have the second day of death. The law was also divinely given through Moses, the servant of God; and therein it is said," Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy father and mother; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's property; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."^ Here you have the written law, and it also is despised: this is t);?^ third day of death. What remains? The gospel also comes, the kingdom of heaven is preached, Christ is everywhere published; He threatens hell, He promises eternal life; and that also is despised. Men transgress the gospel; and this is the fourth day of death. Now he de- servedly stinketh. But is mercy to be denied to such? God forbid; for to raise such also from the dead, the Lord thinks it not unfit- ting to come.
13, "And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concern- ing their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and I Rom. V. 12.
2 Ex XX. 12-17.
Tractate XLIX.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
/O met Him; but Mary sat [still] in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee." She did not say. But even now I ask Thee to raise my brother to life again. For how could she know if such a resurrection would be of bene- fit to her brother? She only said, I know that.Thou canst, and whatsoever Thou art pleased. Thou doest: for Thy doing it is de- pendent on Thine own judgment, not on my presumption. " But even now I know that, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee."
14 " Jesus saith unto her. Thy brother shall rise again." This was ambiguous. For He said not. Even now I will raise thy brother; but, " Thy brother shall rise again, j Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection, at the last day." Of that resurrection I am sure, but uncertain about this. " Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection." Thou sayest. My brother shall rise again at the last day: true; but by Him, through whom he shall rise then, can he rise even now, for "I," He says, " am the resur- rection and the life." Give ear, brethren, give ear to what He says. Certainly the uni- versal expectation of the bystanders was that Lazarus, one who had been dead four days,' would live again; let us hear, and rise again. How many are there in this audience who are crushed down under the weighty mass of some sinful habit! Perhaps some are hearing me to whom it may be said, " Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;"- and they say. We cannot. Some others, it m.ay be, are hear- ing me, who are unclean, and stained with lusts and crimes, and to whom it is said, Refrain from such conduct, that ye perish not; and they reply, We cannot give up our habits. O Lord, raise them again. " I am," He says, *' the resurrection and the life." The resurrection because the life.
15. " He that believeth in me, though he v;ere dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." What meaneth this? "He that believeth in me, though he were dead," just as Lazarus is dead, "yet shall he live;" for He is not ttie God of the dead, but of the living. Such was the answer He gave the Jews concerning their fathers, long ago dead, that is, concern- ing Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: I am tiie God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: He is not tiie God of tlic ■That is (AuKiistiii lu-re would sii^jj^tst tin- i-ml)lL-m) uf imt who was lyiriR under the fourth and must terrible form of spiritual death referred to before. — Tk.
= Eph. V. 18.
dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him." 3 Believe then, and though thou wert dead, yet shalt thou live: but if thou believ- est not, even while thou livest thou art dead. Let us prove this likewise, that if thou believ- est not, though thou livest thou art dead. To one who was delaying to follow Him, and saying, " Let me first go and bury my father," the Lord said, " Let the dead bury their dead; but come thou and follow me. "■» There was there a dead man requiring to be buried, there were there also dead men to bury the dead: the one was dead in the flesh, the others in soul. And how comes death on the soul? When faith is wanting. How comes death on the body? When the soul is wanting. Therefore thy soul's soul is faith. "He that believeth in me," says Christ, though he were dead in the flesh, yet shall he live in the spirit; till the flesh also rise again, never more to die. This is " he that believeth in me," though he die, " yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth" in the flesh, "and believ- etii in me," though he shall die in time on ac- count of the death of the flesh, " shall never die," because of the life of the spirit, and the immortality of the resurrection. Such is the meaning of the words, "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believ- est thou this? She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who hast come into the world." When I believed this, I believed that Thou art the resurrection, that Thou art the life: I be- lieved that he that believeth in Thee, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Thee, shall never die.
16. "And when she had so. said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister silently, saying. The Master is come, and calleth for thee." It is worthy of notice the way in which the whispering of her voice was denom- inated silence. For how could she be silent, when she said, " The Master is come, and call- eth for thee"? It is also to be noticed why it is that the evangelist has not said where, or when, or how the Lord called for Mary; namely, that in order to preserve the brevity of the narrative, it may rather be understood from the words of Martha.
17. "As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto Him. For Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was still in that place where Martha met Him. 'I"he Jews, then, who were witii her in tlie house, ;iiMl com-forted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily, and went out, followed her, saying. She goeth unto the grave, to weep there." What cause had the evangelist to 3 Matt. xxii. 32, and Luke xx. 37, 3(1. 4 Matt. viii. 21, as.
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[Tractate XLIX.
tell us this? To show us what it was that occasioned the numerous concourse of people to be there when Lazarus was raised to life. For the Jews, thinking that her reason for hastening away was to seek in weeping the solace of her grief, followed her; that the great miracle of one rising again who had been four days dead, might have the presence of many witnesses.
18. ''Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping,and the Jews also weeping, who were with her, He groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself,' and said. Where have ye laid him? " Something there is, did we but know it, that He has suggested to us by groaning in the spirit, and troubling Himself. For who could trouble Him, save He Himself? Therefore, my brethren, first give heed here to the power that did so, and then look for the meaning. Thou art troub- led against thy will; Christ was troubled be- cause He willed. Jesus hungered, it is true, but because He willed; Jesus slept, it is true, but because He willed; He was sorrowful, it is true, but because He willed; He died, it is true, but because He willed: in His own power it lay to be thus and thus affected or not. For the Word assumed soul and fiesh, fitting on Himself our whole human nature in the oneness of His person. For the soul of the apostle was illuminated by the Word; so was the soul of Peter, the soul of Paul, of the other apostles, and the holy prophets, — the souls of all were illuminated by the Word;