John 11:43 — Community Reflections

JOHN 11:43 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”

'Lazarus, come out!' — the command is simple and direct, addressed to the dead man by name. The calling of Lazarus by name echoes the Good Shepherd discourse (10:3) where the shepherd calls his own sheep by name; here Jesus calls Lazarus from death itself. The power to call the dead back to life is divine prerogative, affirming Jesus' claim to be the resurrection and the life.

Church Fathers on John 11:43

Christ, as man, being inferior to the Father, prays to Him for Lazarus’s resurrection; and declares that He is heard: And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
Alcuin · 8th century

He lifted up His eyes; mystically, He lifted up the human mind by prayer to the Father above. We should pray after Christ’s pattern, Lift up the eyes of our heart, and raise them above present things in memory, in thought, in intention. If to them who pray worthily after this fashion is given the promise in Isaiah, You shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am; what answer, think we, our Lord and Savior would receive? He was about to pray for the resurrection of Lazarus He was…
Origen · 3rd century

i.e. There is no difference of will between Me and You. You have heard Me, does not show any lack of power in Him, or that He is inferior to the Father. It is a phrase that is used between friends and equals. That the prayer is not really necessary for Him, appears from the words that follow, And I knew that You heard Me always: as if He said, I need not prayer to persuade You; for Ours is one will. He hides His meaning on account of the weak faith of His hearers. For God…
Chrysostom · 4th century

Read all 25 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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