“When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.”
Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days — despite His love and the explicit request, Jesus deliberately delays His response, remaining east of Jordan for two additional days. This puzzling delay is not explained by absence of love but is later revealed to be purposeful: the delay ensures that Lazarus will be truly dead (four days in the tomb, beyond any possibility of being merely asleep or in a coma) and that the miracle will be unmistakable.
Church Fathers on John 11:6
Our Lord heard of the sickness of Lazarus, but suffered four days to pass before He cured it; that the recovery might be a more wonderful one. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the place where He was.
To give time for his death and burial, that they might say, he stinks, and none doubt that it was death, and not a trance, from which he was raised.
Where He had just escaped being stoned; for this was the cause of His leaving. He left indeed as man: He left in weakness, but He returns in power.
Read all 7 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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