Ver. 1. Bethany, the town of Mary, &c.] Not the tower (castellum) of Mary and Martha, as some monks have doted; digni sane qui ad grammatices elementa remittantur, truly worth are those who relax the laws of grammar, from the saith an interpreter. Bethany was a small town or village nigh to Jerusalem, where dwelt these three, Lazarus and his two sisters, all in one house (though fratrum concordia rata establishing brotherly peace), to whom our Saviour joins himself a fourth in their friendship. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Surely there the Lord “commands the blessing, even life for evermore,” Psalms 133:1,3.
Ver. 2. It was that Mary which anointed] This makes her name “as an ointment poured forth,” Song of Solomon 1:3. And she spared for no cost, being of her mind, it seems, that said, Ego si bonam famam servasso, sat ero dives, I if I shall be of a good reputation, let it be a costly basket. (Plaut.)
Ver. 3. Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick] This was enough to say to a loving Saviour. We need not be careful in anything, more than to make our wants known to God, Philippians 4:6, and let him alone to help us, how and when he pleaseth. So, to mind and move Christ for the labouring Church, it shall suffice to say, She whom thou lovest is sick, is in ill case, &c. But St Augustine asketh, Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? If it is love, how is it weak? Oh, well enough: afflictions are Christ’s love tokens. “As many as I love,” saith he, “I rebuke and chasten.” God may give the dearly beloved of his soul into the hand of her enemies, Jeremiah 12:7.
Ver. 4. But for the glory of God] Happy Lazarus, though sick and dead, to be an instrument of gl ory, to be given to God. St Paul stood on tip toes (αποκαραδοκια), as it were, to see which way Christ might be most magnified in his body, whether by life or by death, Philippians 1:20.
Ver. 5. Jesus loved Martha] The saints are all round about his throne, Revelation 4:4, because he is alike near to them for solace and tuition. Howbeit, as man; living among men, he was affected to some more than some, as to these three, and the beloved disciple. These were his Jedediahs, his singularly affected, and this was a high pre rogative. Plato commendeth his country of Athens for antiquity of the people, &c., but chiefly for this, that they were beloved of the gods, το πρωτον και μεγιστον εστι οιτ τογχανει ουν θεοφιλης. (Plato.)
Ver. 6. He abode two days] Waiting to be gracious, but as a God of judgment, he knows best when to deal forth his favours, Isaiah 30:18. To prescribe to him is to set the sun by our dial. This Caesar terms sauciness in his soldiers.
Ver. 7. Then after that saith he, &c.] When help is seasonable his fingers itch, as the mother’s breast aches when it is time the child had suck.
Ver. 8. And goest thou thither again?] Yea, with the hazard of his life, to the help of his friend. The ancients painted friendship, a fair young man bareheaded, in a poor garment, at the bottom whereof was written, Death and Life, in the upper part, Summer and Winter; his bosom was open, so that his heart might be seen, whereupon was written, Longe, prope, a friend at hand and afar off. (Wilkins’ Com. in Muter. orat. 1. de laud. lit.)
Ver. 9. Are there not twelve hours?] q.d. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Job 7:1. Shall I not live out my stint? The Turks shun not the company of those that have the plague; but, pointing upon their foreheads, say, It was written there at their birth when they should die. (Blount’s Voyage into Levant.) A priest, indeed, might enter without danger into a leprous house, because he had a calling from God so to do. A man may follow God dryshod through the Red Sea. This our Saviour calls here “to walk in the day,” by an excellent and elegant similitude. But he that keeps not within God’s precincts may not look for his protection. I commend the charity, but I question the discretion, of Mr Stafford, public professor of divinity in Cambridge, who, hearing that a certain priest, called Sir Henry Conjuror (in King Henry VIII’s days), lay sore sick of the plague, was so moved with pity to the poor priest’s soul, that he came to him, exhorted, and so laboured him, that he would not leave him before he had converted him, and saw his conjuring books burnt before his face. Which being done, Mr Stafford went home, and immediately sickened, and shortly after most Christianly deceased. He might have, I confess, an extraordinary call to his work. But Zanchius somewhere maketh mention of a colleague of his in the ministry, that by the like means took his death, and much bewailed upon his death bed that he had not yielded to Zanchius advising him to the contrary.
Ver. 10. But if any man walk in the night] As good Josiah did, in that rash expedition against PharaohNecho; either hoping to ingratiate with the Assyrian, or fearing to have an overly strong neighbour of the Egyptian: he went up to battle, not so much as asking leave of the Lord, though he had Jeremiah at hand, and Zephaniah, and a whole college of seers besides. The best are sometimes miscarried by their passions to their cost.