-
Chapter 11
- The Catholic University of America Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
220 CHAPTER 11 LECTURE 1 1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.1 1471. Above, our Lord shows his life-giving power by word; here he confirms it with a miracle, by raising Lazarus from the dead. First, we see the illness of Lazarus; secondly, his being raised from the dead (v. 6); and thirdly, the effect this produced (v. 45). The Evangelist does three things concerning the first: first, the illness of Lazarus is mentioned ; secondly, his illness is made known (v. 3); thirdly, we see the reason for his illness (v. 4). Concerning the first he does three things: first, he describes the person who was ill; secondly, where he was living ; and thirdly, he mentions one of his relatives. 1472. The one who was ill was Lazarus; Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus. This presents to us a believer who hopes in God, but still suffers the weakness introduced by sin, of whom we read: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing” (Ps 6:3). For Lazarus means “one who is helped by the Lord”; and so this name signifies one who has confidence in divine help: “My help comes from the Lord” (Ps 120:2). 1473. Lazarus was at Bethany, of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. The village of Bethany was near Jerusalem, and our Lord was often a guest there, as has been said above many times. It means “a house of obedience,” and leads us to understand that if one who is ill obeys God, he can easily be cured by him, just as one who is sick and obeys his doctor gains his health. In 2 Kings (5:13) the servants of Naaman said to him: “My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” Bethany was the home of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. Martha and Mary represent two ways of life, the active and the contemplative . And we can understand from the above that it is by obedience that one becomes perfect, both in the active and in the contemplative life. 1. St. Thomas refers to Jn 11:3 in ST II-II, q. 83, a. 17. CHAPTER 11 221 1474. His relative was Mary, it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The Evangelist describes this Mary by her most famous action so we can distinguish her from the many other women with the same name. Still, there is some disagreement among the saints about this Mary. Some, like Jerome2 and Origen,3 say that this Mary, the sister of Lazarus, is not the same as the sinner mentioned in Luke (7:37): “A woman of the city, who was a sinner . . . brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.” So, as Chrysostom4 says, she was not the prostitute mentioned in Luke. The Mary mentioned by John was an honorable woman, eager to receive Christ, while the name of the woman who was the sinner was kept secret. Furthermore , the Mary mentioned here by John could have done for Christ at the time of his passion because of her special devotion and love something similar to what was done for him by the sinner out of remorse and love. John, in order to praise her, is mentioning here, in anticipation , the action she would perform later (Jn 12:1–8). Others, such as Augustine5 and Gregory,6 say that this Mary, mentioned by John, is the same as the sinner mentioned by Luke. Augustine bases his reason on this text. For the Evangelist is speaking here of the time before Mary anointed our Lord [for the second time] at the time of the passion; as John...