John 11:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see what philosophy there was in the women, though their understanding was weak? When they saw Christ, they did not at once abandon themselves to tears, lamentations, and groans.

This is what happens with us when some acquaintance comes to us during our sorrow. But they immediately show their wonder before the Teacher.

Thus both believed in Christ, but not yet as they ought. They did not yet know well either that He is God or that He worked these things by His own power and authority.

He now taught them both things. That they did not know this is clear from their words: "If You had been here, our brother would not have died."

It is also clear from what they added: "Whatever You ask of God, God will give You."

Martha had faith in Christ, but not complete and proper faith. Therefore she says, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died." She said this, no doubt, because she did not believe that, if He had wished, He could have prevented her brother's death even without being personally present.

Let the sisters and relatives of the dead mind come to Christ and fall before Him. Let the flesh come like Martha, for Martha is more bodily and material. Let the soul come like Mary, for Mary is more devout and reverent.

Let them bring with them the thoughts of confession, as those sisters brought the Jews. For Judah means confession.

Martha's words have this meaning: my brother died, she says, not because human nature is subject to death, but because You were not present, You who can conquer death by Your command.

Turned aside from the truth by grief, she thought that the Lord could now do nothing, since the time had passed. She supposed that He had come not to raise Lazarus, but to comfort them.

She also indirectly reproaches Him for His delay, and for not coming at once when He could have helped. This was when they sent Him the message: "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick" (Jn 11:3).

Martha's words, "Whatever You ask of God, God will give You," show that she is constrained from openly asking for what she desires.

She does not say to Him: "I ask You, bring my brother back to life." How could she know whether it was good for him to return to life?

She says only: "I know that You can do this if You will. But whether You will do it depends on Your judgment, not on my desire."

She did not say: "I ask You only this, that You raise my brother." For how could she know whether the resurrection of her brother would be for good?

She said only: "I know that You can. You act when You will, for You act according to Your judgment, not according to my expectation.

"But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."

"Lord, if You had been here." Since they had sent to Him and He had not wished to come, they learned from this that Lazarus had died by the Lord's will.

For neither did the Lord Himself come, nor did He send an answer that Lazarus should be healed.

They said, "If You had been here," as though saying: if You wish, hear him.

Then, since they had heard from the disciples how waves rose while He slept, and how on another occasion the current of the sea was stirred and shaken in His absence, they spoke according to human custom.

"Teacher, where there is light, darkness cannot enter. Where there is life, death has no power."

"If Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died," because Thou wouldst have asked God that he not die, and God would have heard Thee, since He loves Thee.

Martha did not yet know that, although Jesus Christ was absent as man, He was present as God.

Then they all arrived there together. Mary and her sister came to meet them and cried out bitterly: "Lord, where wast Thou? For he whom Thou lovedst has departed, and now he is no longer here."

She declares this to Him as though He did not know, although she confesses that Lazarus might not have died if He had been with him. "If You had been here," she says.

What are you saying, Martha? Your words are unjust. For He was there and present, and He is always present.

But in order to magnify the miracle, He who fills all things by His divinity delayed a little, giving death its time.

"If You had been here, my brother would not have died." Do you see how she believed in Him, that He is God, and that He can command death and raise the dead by His own authority?

Martha, the sister of the dead man, came out to meet Him and said with sorrow that if Jesus had not delayed His coming, and if He had found her brother alive, he would not have died.

Christ raised Jairus's daughter immediately after her death. He raised the son of the widow of Nain when he was being carried to the cemetery. Now He wished to prove His omnipotence by raising a man whom corruption had already touched. But Martha could not understand this sorrowful delay on His part. "Lord," she met Him with a tone of some reproach, "if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

"If You had been here," and so on. These words do not express a reproach against the Lord for not hastening to help His sick friend.

Rather, they express regret that it had to happen in this way. They are full of faith in the Lord as a great wonderworker.

If He had been there, He would have healed her brother miraculously, and he would not have died.

This faith in the Lord gives her the confidence, expressed by "I know," that the Lord is able even now to perform a miracle. If circumstances did not allow Him to do it earlier, He can do it now.

In this confidence were hidden both hope and the desire to see a miracle.