However, here is an handout on the subject.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catholic Commentary on the Gospel of St John
Session 8 – The Raising of Lazarus
I.
The place of
this passage in the Gospel
a. This
history is unique to St. John
b. The
ire of the Jews – the immediate cause of the Passion
c. The
role of St Thomas
the Apostle, Thomas, therefore, who is
called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die
with him. (Jn 11:16)
i.
Compare with the post-resurrection: My Lord and my God. (Jn 20:29)
ii.
Lord, we know not
whither thou goest. And how can we know the way? (Jn 14:5)
“This can be interpreted two ways:
in one way as indicating a lack of confidence; and in another as indicating
love. Chrysostom interprets it in the first way. All the disciples feared the
Jews, but especially Thomas. Indeed, before the passion he was weaker than the
others and had less faith, but after he became stronger and was beyond
reproach, traveling the whole world alone. […] Augustine interprets it in the
second way. For Thomas and the other disciples loved Christ so much that they
wanted either to live with him while he was here, or die with him.” (St Thomas )
Thomas, who is called Didymus – “Who is called the twin. Thomas was
not doubly named, as if his first name had been Thomas, and his second Didymus;
but they were one and the same: for the Hebrew word ‘Thomas’ is the same as the
Greek ‘didymus’, meaning ‘twin’. Thomas therefore is called Didymus, i.e.
‘Twin’, either because he was born at the same time as another brother, or else
he had received the name form his ancestors.” (Cornelius a’ Lapide, who goes on
the state that this could indicate his changeable character, or “rather that
Thomas is called Didymus here as though the twin brother of Christ: for so he
shows himself to be here, when he presents himself as ready to live and die
with Christ, for twins usually love each other greatly, and are quit similar in
character and in their likes, so that when one rejoices, laughs, or weeps, the
other rejoices, laughs, or weeps as well; indeed, when one is sick and dying,
the other falls sick or dies, too.”
II.
Lazarus and
Martha and Mary
a. Which
Lazarus is this?
i.
Not the same as the poor Lazarus of Luke 16.
ii.
“Of Bethania, of the town of Mary and Martha her
sister.” – The three dwelt there not as rulers, but as honored residents (cf.
Cornelius a’ Lapide).
iii.
Jesus wept. So
the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” (Jn 11:35-36)
iv.
“We read that Christ wept thrice: first, here at the
death of Lazars; second, at the sight of Jerusalem
and its impending ruin (Lk 19:41); third, on the Cross (Hebr. 5:7)” (Cornelius
a’ Lapide)
b. Martha:
Martha therefore, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home. (Jn 11:20)
i.
Marty was the elder and was in charge of the household.
Mary was more accustomed to silence.
ii.
This is the same Martha and Mary as Luke 10 – as also
their personalities show.
c. Mary
of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, and the penitent woman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The majority of modern biblical “scholars” – including Catholics
– maintain that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (the sister of Lazarus and
Martha), and the sinful woman (of Luke 7) are three distinct women. On the
other hand, there is some popular devotion which connects Mary Magdalene at
least with the sinful woman, if not with Mary of Bethany. Finally, there is a
modern opinion that Mary Magdalene is the adulterous woman of John 8 [in my
study of the Fathers and Doctors, I have yet to find any support for this final
claim].
It may be somewhat surprising, therefore, to realize that the
Western Catholic tradition has held – from at least the 5th century
up to the early 1900s – that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the sinful
woman (of Luke 7, not the adulteress of John 8) are one and the same person.
Thus, the ancient and nearly unanimous tradition of the Latin Church is
completely ignored by the modern Catholic “scholars”.
Indeed, if Mary Magdalene is not also Mary of Bethany, then we
come to the awkward conclusion that Mary of Bethany is not venerated in the
Roman Catholic Church – since there is no feast of “St. Mary of Bethany Bethany
While there is a tradition in the East which considers Mary
Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the sinful woman to be either two or even three
women – and there is certainly some ground for such a claim – we will here
defend the Latin consensus that these three are indeed only one single woman:
The penitent, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, the Magdalen.
The
relevant Scripture passages
And behold
a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; And standing behind
at his feet, she began to wash his feet, with tears, and wiped them with the
hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. (Luke
7:37-38)
And it
came to pass afterwards, that he travelled through the cities and towns,
preaching and evangelizing the kingdom of God; and the twelve with him: And
certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary who is
called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth, (Luke
8:1-2)
Now there
was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary
Mary
therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price, and
anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was
filled with the odour of the ointment. (John 12:3)
The Latin
tradition: Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide (commenting on Luke 7)
And behold
a woman in the city. Behold, a wonderful thing, and a wonderful example of
penitence. A woman called Mary Magdalene. S. Luke viii. 2. It is questioned whether
this is the same woman who is mentioned by the two other Evangelists. S.
Chrysostom thinks there were two; Origen, Theophylact, and Euthymius, three who
thus anointed our Lord, and that each Evangelist wrote of a different person.
S. Matt. xxvi. 7; S. John xii. 3.
But I hold that it was one and the same woman – Mary Magdalene,
the sister of Martha and of Lazarus, who anointed our Lord, as we read in the
Gospels, on two but not three occasions; and this is clear, –
1. Because this is the general interpretation of the Church, who
in her Offices accepts what is here written by S. Luke as referring to the
Magdalene alone.
2. Because S. John (xi. 2) writes, It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his
feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick, thus plainly alluding
to this passage of S. Luke, and signifying that only one woman anointed the
Lord. For if there had been more than one, the words just quoted would have
insufficiently described her. But the meaning is, “when I say Mary, I mean the
penitent who anointed the feet of the Lord, as recounted by S. Luke, whom all
know to be Mary Magdalene.”
3. Because the Mary mentioned by S. John (xii. 2, 3) is clearly
the same Mary Magdalene, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus, who anointed
Christ here, as described by S. Luke, and again at Bethany, six days before the
passover. For S. Matthew (xxvi. 6) and S. John (xii. i) both refer to the same
event, as is evident if the two accounts are compared together. Therefore it
was Mary Magdalene who anointed Christ, not three times, as Origen would have
us believe, but twice only, once as is recorded by S. Luke, and again six days
before His death.
4 The same thing is testified to by Church history and
tradition, and also by the inscription on the tomb of the Magdalene, which
Maximus, one of the seventy disciples, is said to have built.
5. And this is also the opinion of S. Augustine, S. Cyprian, and
many other interpreters of scripture.
But it may be objected that this Magdalene followed Jesus from
Galilee (S. Matt. xxvii. 55), and was a Galilean, and cannot have been the same
as Mary the sister of Martha, who lived at Bethany Galilee ,
it may be in the castle called Magdala, either because she had married the lord
of that place, or because it had been allotted her as her share of the family
property. Hence she was called Magdalene from the name of the place, Magdala.
So Jansenius and others.
A sinner. Some
recent writers, to honour the Magdalene, think that she was not unchaste, but
only conceited and vain, and for this reason called a sinner. But in proportion
as they thus honour the Magdalene, they detract from the grace of God and that
penitence which enabled her to live a holy life. For by the word sinner we
generally understand one who not only sins, but leads others also to sin. The
word sinner therefore here signifies a harlot, i.e. one who has many lovers
although she may not make a public market of her charms, and this
interpretation is accepted by S. Augustine, S. Jerome, Isidore of
Pelusium, S. Ambrose, Gregory, Bede, and S. Chrysostom, who holds (Hom.
62 ad Pop.) that to her refer the words of our Lord, Verily, I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you. S. Matt. xxii. 31.
The
Catholic Encyclopedia on St. Mary Magdalene
“In the view we have advocated the
series of events forms a consistent whole; the sinner comes early in the ministry to seek for pardon; she is
described immediately afterwards as Mary Magdalen out of whom seven devils were gone forth; shortly after, we find
her sitting at the Lord's feet and
hearing His words. To the Catholic mind it all seems fitting and natural.
“At a later period Mary and Martha turn to the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and He restores to them
their brother Lazarus; a short time afterwards they make Him a supper and Mary
once more repeats the act she had performed when a penitent. At the Passion she
stands near by; she sees Him laid in the tomb; and she is the first witness of
His Resurrection – excepting always His Mother, to whom He must needs have
appeared first, though the New Testament is silent on this point.
“In our view, then, there were two anointings of Christ's feet –
it should surely be no difficulty that St. Matthew and St. Mark speak of His
head – the first (Luke 7) took place at a comparatively early date; the second,
two days before the last Passover. But it was one and the same woman who
performed this pious act on each occasion.”
---------------------------------------------------------
III.
The
resuscitation of Lazarus and the Resurrection of Jesus
a. Difference
of time: 4 days compared to 3 days. 4 symbolizing earthly life, 3 heavenly.
b. Difference
of place: An open tomb compared to a closed tomb. Christ’s divinity.
c. Difference
of witnesses: Many witness compared to none. “O
truly blessed night, which alone merited to know the time and the hour in which
Christ rose from the dead!” (Exultet)
