Yet if we consider who performed it, we ought to rejoice rather than be astonished.
A man was raised by Him who made man. For He was the Only-begotten Son of the Father, through whom the Father, as you know, made all that exists.
If all things were made through Him, what is astonishing if one man was raised through Him, while every day a multitude of men are born through Him?
To create men is greater than to raise them. Yet He was pleased both to create and to raise. He created all; He raised some.
Indeed, although the Lord Jesus performed many miracles, not all of them were written down, as the holy Evangelist John himself bears witness.
The Lord Christ said and did many things that were not written down, cf. Jn 20:30.
But those deeds and words were chosen for writing which seemed sufficient for the salvation of believers.
Indeed, you have just heard that the Lord Jesus raised a dead man. This is enough for you to know that, if He had willed, He could have raised all the dead.
He reserved this work for Himself at the end of the age.
You heard that by a great miracle He raised from the tomb a dead man who had lain there four days.
The time is coming, as He Himself said, when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come forth (Jn 5:28-29).
He raised a man who had already begun to decay. Nevertheless, in that decomposing corpse, the form of the body still remained.
But on the last day, by His single word, He will restore to the flesh those who have already dissolved.
Yet it was necessary for Him now to perform certain miracles. Receiving them as signs of His power, we might believe in Him and prepare for that resurrection which will be unto life, not unto judgment.
For He said that the time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice.
Those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (Jn 5:28-29).
Moreover, in the Gospel we read of three persons raised by the Lord, and probably this is not without meaning.
Certainly the Lord's deeds are not only deeds, but also signs.
If they are signs, then besides being wondrous, they surely signify something.
To seek what they signify is a greater labor than to read and hear about them.
When the Gospel was read, we listened with wonder to how Lazarus was raised, as though a spectacle of some great miracle were set before our eyes.
If we turn our thoughts to the still more wondrous works of Christ, it will become clear that everyone who believes is raised.
If we all turn our thoughts to them, and recognize that there are more shameful kinds of death, we shall understand that everyone who sins is dead.
Every man fears the death of the flesh, but few fear the death of the soul.
As for the death of the flesh, which will certainly come someday, all strive to keep it from coming. All their labors are directed toward this.
A man destined to die labors not to die. Yet a man destined to live forever does not labor not to sin.
When he labors not to die, he labors in vain. He achieves only this, that he delays death somewhat, but does not escape it.
But if he turns away from sin, he will not be anxious in vain, and he will live forever.
If only we could stir men, and rise together with them, so that we might become worshipers of eternal life as much as men are lovers of passing life.
What will a man not do when threatened with death?
When a sword hangs over the neck, men surrender everything accumulated for life.
Who will not at once give up everything in order not to be killed? And perhaps, after giving everything, he will still be killed.
Who, for the sake of life, would not wish to lose everything needed for a secure life, preferring a beggar's life to immediate death?
Who, when told, "Sail away, lest you die," has not done so?
Who, when told, "Labor, lest you die," has remained idle?
God has commanded easy things so that we may live forever, but we have refused to do them.
God did not say to you, "Lose all that you possess, so that you may live a little longer, burdened with labor."
Rather He said, "Give to the poor what you have, so that you may live forever without anxiety over labor."
The worshipers of passing life reproach us, though they received that life not when they wished, and cannot keep it as long as they wish.
Yet somehow we do not reproach ourselves for being so slothful and sluggish in acquiring eternal life.
We shall possess it if only we wish, and we shall not lose it if we obtain it.
But this death which we fear, even if we do not wish it, will remain with us.
If the Lord, by His great grace and great mercy, raises souls so that we may not die forever, then we understand very well that the three dead persons whom He raised bodily bear a certain sign.
They are an image of the resurrection of souls that takes place through faith.
He raised the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue while she still lay in the house (cf. Mk 5:41-42; Lk 8:54-55).
He raised the young man, the widow's son, after he had already been carried outside the city gate (cf. Lk 7:14-15).
He raised Lazarus, who had lain four days in the tomb.
Let each one look into his own soul. If he sins, he is dead. Sin is the death of the soul.
But sometimes sin is committed in thoughts. You took pleasure in evil; you consented to evil; you sinned. This consent killed you.
But this death is within, because the evil thought has not yet passed into deed.
To show that such a soul will be raised, the Lord raised the girl who had not yet been carried out and lay dead in the house, as though the sin were hidden.
But if you have not only consented to evil and taken pleasure in it, but have also committed the evil itself, then you have carried yourself dead outside the gate.
You are already outside and carried out as dead.
Yet the Lord raised such a one also and restored him to the widow, his mother.
If you have sinned, repent, and the Lord will raise you and restore you to your mother, the Church.
The third dead person is Lazarus. This is a terrible kind of death, called the habit of evil.
For it is one thing to sin, and another to form the habit of sinning.
The one who sins and immediately corrects himself soon returns to life, because he is not yet bound by habit and is not buried.
But the one who has acquired the habit of sinning is already buried.
It is rightly said of such a man that he stinks, because he has acquired an evil reputation, like the stench of Hades.
Such are all who are sunk in wicked deeds and have forgotten morality.
You say to such a man, "Do not act this way." But will he ever hear you, when the earth presses so heavily upon him?
He is seized by corruption and weighed down by the burden of his habit.
Yet the power of Christ could raise even such a man.
We know, we have seen, and every day we see, men who have abandoned an evil habit of sinning and live better than those who condemned them.
You were disgusted by such a person.
Behold: Lazarus's sister, if she was the one who anointed the Lord's feet with ointment and wiped them with her hair after washing them with her tears, obtained a better resurrection than her brother.
She was delivered from the heavy burden of an evil habit.
For she was a well-known sinner, and it was said of her: her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much (Lk 7:47).
We see many such people. We know many such people. Let no one despair, and let no one be presumptuous.
It is evil to despair, and it is evil to be presumptuous.
Therefore do not despair, and find Him in whom you ought to hope.
So the Lord also raised Lazarus. You have heard whom Lazarus signified, that is, what the raising of Lazarus meant.
Therefore let us read the passage.
Since much in this passage has already become clear, let us not enter into an exposition of every detail, but examine more carefully what is necessary.
"Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha" (Jn 11:1).
You remember from the preceding passage that the Lord escaped from the hands of those who wished to stone Him and went beyond the Jordan, to the place where John had baptized (cf. Jn 10:39-40).
And while the Lord remained there, Lazarus lay sick in Bethany, a village near Jerusalem.
THEOSIS