Commentary on the Gospel of John 28 part 1/3

Those who have investigated the natures of numbers have declared six to be the first perfect number, equal to its own parts, arising from the sum of the numbers doubling from unity — one and two, which is three, a prime number — and from that at which the doubling arrived, I mean the two.

For the two, multiplied by the three, has made six. They say that twenty-eight is also perfect, being composed both from the sum of the numbers doubling from unity, until a prime number results, and from that at which the doubling arrived. For four is the number that results from doubling from unity, in one, two, four.

Seven, then, is the sum of these, and it itself is a prime number, measured only by the unit; and four, multiplied by seven, has made twenty-eight, itself too equal to its own parts.

For this reason, I think, it was readily grasped by Moses, who was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, for the construction of the tabernacle of the testimony — for the curtains are twenty-eight cubits in length.

And it was indeed fitting that the tabernacle of the testimony, being constructed for the glory of God, should be built with the choice numbers, including also the twenty-eight.

Having reached this number, holy brother Ambrose, in the Commentaries on the Gospel according to John — for this shall be, God granting it, the twenty-eighth volume on the Gospel — having called upon the perfect one and the giver of perfection, God, through our perfect high priest Jesus Christ, that he may grant our mind to find the truth concerning the things to be examined and their establishment, let us thus proceed also to what follows. 'Jesus says: Take away the stone.'

II. Since here, in the Gospel, Jesus himself does not lift the stone lying upon the cave, but says, 'Take away the stone,' while in Genesis, when there was a great stone upon the mouth of the well, and all the flocks were gathered there, and they used to roll the stone away from the mouth of the well, and gather the flocks and water the sheep, and set the stone back upon the mouth of the well in its place — and since this had not yet happened, because the cattle had not yet been gathered, Jacob, seeing Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, himself came forward and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother's brother — we wish to examine these two stones together with one another, so that we may understand the reasonableness of the fact that here Jesus himself did not lift the stone from the cave but said, 'Take away the stone,' whereas in Genesis Jacob himself rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well.

And observe whether we can say that, as for the stone upon the cave, since the cave was a tomb, Jesus ought not to have touched it himself, but ought only to have commanded those suited to the task to lift the stone; whereas, as for the stone lying upon the mouth of the well and hindering the sheep from drinking — the sheep from which the marked ones and Jacob's portion were to come — Jacob himself had to take hold of it, and, coming forward to the stone, roll it away from the mouth of the well, so that the sheep of Laban his mother's brother might be watered.

And it was indeed fitting that, at the well, Jacob himself should come forward, while, outside the cave, Jesus should merely stand.

But if you are able, consider why on earth, in the case of the cave, the stone lying upon it is not rolled but lifted, whereas in the case of the well it is not lifted entirely but only rolled away. It was fitting that the stone upon the tomb be lifted entirely and not rolled back again; but that the stone upon the well be only rolled away.

For it was said above that he had de… [text missing in the manuscript] …the glory of God.

Having understood the greatness of the faith that is reckoned unto righteousness, let us believe.

But if someone among those who think they have believed has not yet seen the glory of God, let him learn that he is convicted, by the very fact that he has not yet seen the glory of God, of not having believed. For he who says — not to Martha alone but to everyone — 'If you believe, you will see the glory of God,' does not lie. 'So they took away the stone.'

III. The delay in lifting the stone lying upon the cave arose from the sister of the deceased; for she, as it were, hindered those whom Jesus commanded, saying, 'Take away the stone,' by saying, 'By now he stinks, for he is four days dead.'

And if the unbelief of Martha had not been checked by Jesus saying to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' those who heard 'Take away the stone' would not have taken away the stone.

Come, let us suppose, hypothetically, that when Jesus said, 'Take away the stone,' the sister of the deceased had not answered, nor said, 'By now he stinks, for he is four days dead' — what then would have followed to be written, other than this: 'Jesus says: Take away the stone' —

'So they took away the stone'? But as it stands now, between 'Take away the stone' and 'So they took away the stone,' what was said by the sister of the deceased hindered the stone from being taken away. And it would not even have been lifted at all — even late — had not Jesus, answering her unbelief, said, 'Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' It is good, then, for nothing to intervene between Jesus' command and the deed that comes from those commanded, concerning what Jesus ordered.

And I think it fitting to say of such a person that he has become an imitator of Christ.

For just as, for this creation, God spoke and they came to be, he commanded and they were created, so also for the believer: Christ spoke, and this one did; and the Son of God commanded, and this one fulfilled the commandment, deferring nothing, nor incurring loss to himself by disobedience through the time between the command and the deed. For it must be reckoned that, for the one who does the commanded thing later, the time of delay concerning the commandment is a time of disobedience.

For this reason also, the one in the Gospel parable who was commanded by the father to go into the field and work, not having done so immediately, but having gone later after changing his mind, did not do the will of the father during the time before his change of mind.

Wherefore we must remember the words, 'Do not delay to turn to the Lord, nor put it off day by day,' and the words, 'Do not say, Go and come back, and tomorrow I will give,' when it is in your power to do good.

One must therefore consider it an accusation against Martha that 'So they took away the stone' was written later than it should have been, when it ought to have been said immediately after 'Jesus says: Take away the stone.' 'And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said what is written:'

I. One must carefully observe and examine the matter concerning the eyes of Jesus and their relation to certain persons; for instance, in the Gospel according to Luke, when he was about to speak the beatitudes and the teaching that follows them: 'Having lifted up his eyes to his disciples, he said'; but here it is written: 'He lifted his eyes upward and said.'

For from the former passage we are taught that the disciples of Jesus are not below; wherefore the eyes of the Teacher are lifted up to them, to whom it was fitting for him to lift up his own eyes; while from the passage now being examined we are taught that he transferred his mind from converse with those below, and led it up and raised it, bringing it to the prayer addressed to the Father who is above all.

But also, if Paul and those like him are imitators of Christ, then it is necessary that one who prays in zeal and imitation of Christ's prayer, having lifted up the eyes of the soul on high and having raised them up away from the things here below, and from memory, and from thoughts, and from reasonings, should thus speak to God the words of prayer concerning great and heavenly things — themselves great and heavenly.

But if someone brings forward, against these things, the tax collector who was not even willing to lift up his eyes, and beat his breast, and said, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner,' it must be said to him that, just as it is not for everyone, nor always, that one must take up the grief according to God that produces repentance unto salvation not to be regretted, but only for the one who has done things worthy of such grief and repents concerning them, and one must take it up with measure and not excessively, lest one be swallowed up by excessive grief through Satan — so likewise it is perhaps not fitting for everyone even to be unwilling to lift up his eyes, just as it is not fitting for everyone to stand far off.

Let each one judge himself concerning such matters, and let a man examine himself, and so let him not only eat of the bread and drink of the cup, but also let him lift up his eyes and raise them upward in prayer, subjecting himself to God and, humbling himself before him, let him speak.

And if we suppose that it befits one who lives in whatever manner, similarly to the tax collector, to be unwilling even to lift up his eyes, it is time to say that, similarly to being unwilling to lift up his eyes, he must also stand far off from the temple.

But what could the temple be, other than the church of the living God? — which is also called the house of God by Paul, who says: 'But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and foundation of the truth.'

Just as, then, it does not befit everyone not to make use of the bread, and not to drink from the cup, and to be far from the house of God and the church, so also it does not befit everyone to be unwilling to lift up his eyes.

But one sins if, when it befits him to lift up his eyes, he does not lift them up; and likewise if, when it befits him not to lift them up, he lifts them up.

The tax collector, then, according to the Gospel, was unwilling even to lift up his eyes, doing what was fitting; but the disciple who is present with Jesus might reasonably lift them up — to whom also the commandment is given that says: 'Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are already white for harvest.'

And the prophet also says: 'Lift up your eyes on high.' But also in the hundred and twenty-second psalm, which is the fourth Song of Ascents, the prophet, as one who fittingly lifted up his eyes to God, says: 'To you I have lifted up my eyes, you who dwell in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hands of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he shows us mercy.'

But if it is necessary to demonstrate more clearly to whom it already befits to imitate Jesus, lifting his eyes upward, in that Jesus himself also lifted up his own eyes, and to whom this does not befit, but rather, like the tax collector, it befits him not only to stand far from the temple but also to be unwilling to lift up his eyes, we shall set forth from Daniel the account concerning the lawless elders who lusted after Susanna, which runs thus: 'And they perverted their own mind and turned aside their eyes, so as not to look toward heaven nor remember righteous judgments'; and the account concerning Susanna, spoken in this manner: 'But she, weeping, looked up to heaven, because her heart trusted in the Lord.' For observe in these passages that those who had perverted their own mind turned aside their eyes so as not to look toward heaven, whereas she who trusted in the Lord, in accordance with her trust in the Lord, looked up to heaven.

It was fitting, then, for her, who was about to act with boldness concerning her chastity, to lift up her eyes; but for the elders — if, hypothetically, after perverting their own mind and turning aside their eyes so as not to look to heaven nor remember righteous judgments, they had repented, having made an attempt upon the woman but not having obtained what they desired, and after this were praying — it was fitting for them to be unwilling to lift up their eyes, or even to stand far off, like the tax collector, and beat their breasts and say, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'

But for one who lifts his eyes upward and raises them fittingly to heaven, it would also be fitting to lift up holy hands, especially when he sends up his prayer without anger and disputing.

For thus, when the eyes are lifted up through understanding and contemplation, and the hands are raised in deeds that lift up and exalt the soul, as Moses lifted up his hands — so that one might say, 'The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice' — the Amalekites and all the invisible enemies will be defeated, and the Israelite thoughts within us will be victorious.

So much, then, on 'Jesus lifted his eyes upward and said' — these being the things that seemed to us relevant concerning this. 'Father, I thank you that you heard me; I knew that you always hear me; but because of the crowd standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.'

If indeed to those worthy among those who live in the flesh and do not wage war according to the flesh, when they pray, such a promise as this is spoken by God concerning their prayer — 'And while you are still speaking I will say: Behold, I am here' — what must we suppose in the case of the Savior and Lord, other than 'Before you speak I will say: Behold, I am here'? For at the same time he lifted his eyes upward and spoke. And what did he say?

If it is possible, as in such matters, to conjecture, then, in accordance with 'Before you speak I will say: Behold, I am here,' what is said with regard to the Savior would be greater than what is written in the promise to the righteous: 'While you are still speaking he will say: Behold, I am here.'

What then did he say? He had intended to speak a prayer; but since the one who would have said to him, 'Before you speak I will say: Behold, I am here,' anticipated his prayer, instead of the prayer that would have been spoken according to his intention, he speaks the thanksgiving for the one who anticipated the prayer; and as one who was heard concerning the things he had conceived in mind but had not brought forth in praying, he says: 'Father, I thank you that you heard me.'

He was, then, about to pray concerning the resurrection of Lazarus, and the only good God and Father, anticipating his prayer, heard the things that were about to be spoken in the prayer; in response to which, in the hearing of the crowd standing around him, the Savior sends up thanksgiving instead of a prayer, doing two things at once: both giving thanks for what he had obtained concerning Lazarus, and giving assurance to the crowd standing around him; for he wished them to accept that he had come to dwell in this life as one sent from God.

But he knew that he had been heard, since in spirit he saw that the soul of Lazarus had been restored to his body, having been sent back from the region of souls.

For one must not suppose that the soul of Lazarus was present with the body after its departure, and that, being present, it quickly heard Jesus crying out and saying: 'Lazarus, come forth.' Or if someone does suppose this about the soul of Lazarus and admits the absurdity concerning a soul released from the body — as if it were sitting beside the corpse — let him say how Jesus was heard by the Father, while the body of Lazarus still remained dead, and the soul was indeed separated (as one of those who say this might suppose), yet sitting beside the body.

For even if this were granted, we would not say that Jesus had been heard until the soul was about to be made to dwell again in the body; and I think something similar happened also when he raised the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, having prayed concerning this: for he asked that the soul return and dwell again in the body.

And whether the same thing holds also concerning the widow's son who was being carried out for burial or not, you yourself should inquire, so that you may find what follows from the passages as a whole; for it is not fitting for us to make such lengthy digressions.

Perhaps also Jesus, being so great, actually saw the very soul of Lazarus, either being led by those appointed over such matters, or by the will of the Father himself, who had heard Jesus; and seeing it entering through the place from which the stone had been taken away, he said: 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me.'

But since before this he had also asked concerning countless other things and obtained them, for this reason he gives thanks not only for Lazarus but also for the earlier things, saying concerning Lazarus: 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me'; and concerning the earlier things: 'But I knew that you always hear me,' and 'all this,' he says, 'I said on account of the crowd standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.' These things, then, we have set forth with reference to the literal sense and the resurrection of Lazarus.

Now the anagogical interpretation of this passage, based on what has already been given, is not difficult: for he asked that the one who, after friendship with him, had sinned and become dead to God, should by divine power run back again to life, and he obtained it, and he saw in such a one movements of life, for which he gives thanks to the Father.

And a crowd stands around such a dead man, not yet believing that God sent Jesus and that this Word has come to dwell among men from God. And this crowd, standing around, marveled that one who had become foul-smelling from sins leading to death, and had died, ran back again to virtue; and having marveled, they might at some point believe in the Word who gave him life, as one who came to dwell among men from God. — And having said these things, he cried out with a loud voice: 'Lazarus, come forth.' The dead man came out, bound as to feet and hands with strips of cloth, and his face was bound about with a cloth. Jesus says to them: 'Loose him, and let him go.'

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and while still about to pray, he was heard; and instead of a prayer he gave thanks, having perceived the vigor that would come to him from Jesus's command, for going forth from the tomb.

Therefore, after the thanksgiving to the Father, he used a loud voice, which put power into Lazarus, who needed a loud voice since he had not yet become quick of hearing to the cry that was calling him out of the tomb.

And this too must be considered a work worthy of Jesus: not only to have prayed that the dead man might live, but also to have called out to him and summoned the one inside the cave and the tomb to what is outside it.

One must know that there are also now some Lazaruses, who after friendship with Jesus became weak and died and remained in a tomb and in the region of the dead, dead among the dead, and after this were made alive by the prayer of Jesus and are called by Jesus with his loud voice from the tomb to what is outside it. The one who obeys him comes forth, still wearing about him the bonds of deadness worthy of that state, from his former sins, and still bound about the face, neither seeing nor able to walk nor to do anything, because of the bonds of deadness — until Jesus commands those able to loose him, and lets him go away. And let everyone who is able try to say: 'Or do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?' and to become such a one that Christ may say to him with a loud voice, crying out, to him who after dying — † the reading is uncertain † — had begun to be stirred, but not quickly, and who therefore needed the cry of Jesus: 'Lazarus, come forth.'

And consider that the one who, after receiving the knowledge of truth and being enlightened, having tasted the heavenly gift and having become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, has apostatized from Christ and run back to the pagan way of life, is in Hades among the shadows and the dead, and in the region of the dead, or in tombs.

So then, whenever, concerning such a one, Jesus, having come to his tomb and standing outside it, prays and is heard, having asked that power come into his voice and his words, he cries out with a loud voice, calling one who has thus become a friend out of the pagan way of life and its tomb and cave.

Then it is possible for the one who follows Jesus to see in what manner such a person comes forth on account of the voice of Jesus, yet still bound and constricted by the chains of his own sins — living because of repentance and having heard the voice of Jesus, yet, because he has not yet been released from the bonds of sin nor is yet able to set foot with feet that are free, nor even to perform excellent deeds in freedom, bound as to feet and hands with the bonds, the strips of cloth of the dead.

And indeed such a one, because of the deadness that has come to be in him, in addition to the bonds on his hands and feet, has his face also covered and bound about by ignorance.

Then, since Jesus willed that he should not only live and remain in the tomb, but also come to the outside of the tomb, this one, having come, is still bound, as was said before, with respect to life; and since, so far as he is bound, he cannot benefit from having come out from the tomb, Jesus says to those able to minister to him: 'Loose him and let him go.' I think that such a one — though not having assented to the word concerning turning back after having sinned, but still being too weak to live according to it, because the soul's powers of movement, of action, and of contemplation are held fast in him — came out from the tomb; and he is still bound as to feet and hands with strips of cloth, and his face is still bound about with a cloth.

But when, at Jesus's saying to those able to loose him — by the command of Christ as master — 'Loose him and let him go,' he is loosed as to feet and hands, and the covering lying upon his face is taken away and removed, he journeys such a journey that he arrives at the point of becoming, as one among them, a fellow-guest reclining at table with Jesus.

After this, because of the phrase 'the dead man came out bound as to feet and hands with strips of cloth,' it must be said that there is also a difference among those bound as to feet and hands, and that it is not the same thing to have received the beginning of being bound from having been made dead — so that the bonds also bear the name of deadness, for now the strips of cloth are bonds of the dead — as it is for the binding to come about by the judgment of the Lord, who entered to see those reclining and, seeing the one not clothed with a wedding garment, said concerning him: 'Bind his feet and hands, and cast him out into the outer darkness.'

There is, however, something in this passage requiring discernment: in the statement 'and his face was bound about with a cloth,' and in the veil lying upon the face of Moses when he spoke to the people. For the cloth lying upon the face of Lazarus covered his sight, which had been deadened; but the veil of Moses lay about his face by way of dispensation, on account of those from the people who could not bear to gaze upon his glory.

You will inquire, however, concerning the one not clothed with a wedding garment, about whom it was said: 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness' — whether he remains bound forever and in the outer darkness (for there is no addition of 'forever' or 'unto the ages'), or whether he will at some point be loosed.

For it is not evident from the wording concerning him that anything has been written about him concerning a release that is to come.

It does not seem safe to me, without having grasped anything whatsoever — especially since nothing has been written concerning it — to make a pronouncement.

You will also inquire, concerning the phrase 'Jesus says to them: Loose him' — to whom? For it is not written that it was to the disciples, nor that it was to the crowd standing around, nor even that it was to the Jews who were with Mary and comforting her. But someone might suspect, on account of the passage 'angels came and ministered to him,' and on account of the anagogical interpretation of the passage, that perhaps it could also be said that it was spoken to them: 'Loose him and let him go.'

IX. I further inquire whether Jesus fulfilled what follows upon 'Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep,' namely, 'But I go, that I may awaken him.'

I therefore pause to consider whether, in his having spoken, crying out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth' (for the loud voice and the cry could not inappropriately be said to have awakened him), one is already able to declare that it is in this, rather, that 'I go that I may awaken him' has been fulfilled, rather than in the fact that the Father, having heard the son's prayer, made the soul of Lazarus return to his body lying in the tomb.

For someone might say that the Father, having heard the son as he prayed, raised Lazarus from the dead; while he who spoke with a loud voice and cried out, 'Lazarus, come forth,' fulfilled what he had previously promised: 'But I go that I may awaken him.'

And the one who establishes this, giving a distinction between 'Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep' and 'Lazarus died,' will say that in response to 'has fallen asleep' he made the promise, saying 'But I go that I may awaken him'; but in response to 'died' he did not render 'I go that I may raise him from the dead.'

But he who resolves the difference that seems to exist in these matters, and holds that the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead was a common work of the son who prayed and the father who heard, will make use also of what was said by the Lord to Martha: 'I am the resurrection and the life'; and he will also adduce: 'For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom he wills.' — Many, then, of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.

And indeed, whom would it not move to believe the preaching of Jesus, truly, when — as if out of deadness and foul odor — those very deeply submerged by wickedness, by an extreme change, at the command and cooperation of the Word, have cast off not only the great stench arising from sin but also the bonds holding fast the soul's power of movement and of action, and, beyond these, also its power of contemplation.

For those who saw Jesus so greatly empowered in such things were struck with astonishment — those who boast of being occupied with the word concerning God, yet had not yet accepted the fullness of the Word; and especially would those believe who had come as if to one dead and utterly despaired of, and had themselves despaired of such a one, in order to comfort her who was in anguish over the ruin of her brother; for the sake of whom, perhaps more than for the sake of him who had suffered these things, having come to the cave of the dead man, he lifted up his eyes and said: 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. But I knew that you always hear me.'

For that it was for the sake of these rather than for Lazarus that he uttered this thanksgiving to the Father is clear from: 'But I said it because of the crowd standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.'

He therefore acted concerning Lazarus for the sake of the crowd standing around, so that the many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen what he did might believe in him.

But hear also concerning these matters, not only in a more bodily way: 'But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.'

The wording has something ambiguous: whether those who went away to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done were from among the many Jews — those who had seen what he did and had believed in him — wishing also to shame those disposed with hostility toward him by means of the report concerning Lazarus; or whether they were the rest, apart from the many who also believed, as not having been moved by what had happened to faith concerning Jesus, so that, as far as lay in their own power … (a lacuna in the text) … against him, stirring up the wicked jealousy in the Pharisees through the report concerning Lazarus.