John 11

Back to John
Markings

John 11 by verse:

1-1617-2728-3738-4445-57

General References

Frederick Buechner, “Lazarus,” Peculiar Treasures, p. 89-90
Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., “Can These Bones Live?” Lovely in Eyes Not His, p. 32-37

“Can These Bones Live?”

As I have insisted in one immortal line, if heaven is not for real, I shall be madder than hell. (p. 35)

John Dominic Crossan, “Healing Scenes: Raising of Lazarus (7 scenes),” The Essential Jesus, p. 191 f.
Dan Damon, “Eat This Bread and Never Hunger,” Faith Will Sing, p. # 6

“Eat This Bread and Never Hunger”

Weeping for his friend at graveside
Jesus felt the pain of death
yet he knew God’s power to waken:
living water, living breath.

Verna J. Dozier, Equipping the Saints, p. 34-43
Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality , p. 64 153
Stanley Hauerwas, “Resurrection,” Minding the Web, p. 182-186

“Resurrection”

To go to Judea is to enter again the politics of the world—a politics determined by the fear of death. Yet Jesus says he is going to make this journey through death, because Lazarus has “fallen asleep.”  (p. 183)

Whether they were tears of sadness or of frustration, we cannot tell.  (p. 184)

One strategy for dealing with our impending deaths is expressed in Martha’s presumption that death can be comprehended by a general theory about life after death.
… Rather than supplying us with a theory to satisfy our longing for life after death, Jesus asks us to follow him to Judea where we will face those that would kill us for refusing to live as though death can be fought off through violence.  (p. 185)

Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality , p. 64 153
Stephen Mitchell, “Lazarus,” Parables and Portraits, p. 11
Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, p. 96 ff.
Adélia Prado, “Love Song,” quoted by Christian Wiman in Zero at the Bone, p. 237

“Love Song”

“Ah,” said Martha and Mary, “if You had been here,
our brother would not have died.”  “Wait,” said Jesus,
“let me cry first.”
So it’s okay to cry?  I can cry too?

Edward Schillebeeckx, “This Sickness Does Not Lead to Death,” God Among Us, p. 69-72
Jean Vanier, “Come Out,” We Need Each Other, p. 127 f.

“Come Out”

     My conclusion is that Lazarus had a severe disability which is why he in some ways seems absent.  What is strange in the Catholic Church today is that there is a feast day for Mary, a feast day for Martha, but no feast day for Lazarus.  We almost seem to forget people with disabilities.  Lazarus is only one of two people in the Gospels about whom it is said that Jesus love, yet there is no feast day for him.

Christian Wiman, Zero at the Bone, p. 237

Zero at the Bone

… Jesus weeps even though he knows what is going to happen:  he will raise Lazarus from the dead.  His knowledge spares him nothing.  It’s almost as if “what is going to happen is contingent upon human grief, as if fact had to pass through feeling in order to be fact.  That the fact here is a miracle only intensifies the strangeness.
… The scene with Jesus suggests that time itself becomes sclerotic without proper sorrow.

Franz Wright, “The Raising of Lazarus,” The Poetry Foundation
W. B. Yeats, “Calvary,” Selected Poems and Plays, p. 196 f.

“Calvary”

LAZARUS. But death is what I ask.
Alive I never could escape your love …
You dragged me to the light as boys drag out
A rabbit when they have dug its hole away, …
You travel towards the death I am denied. …
But now you will blind with light the solitude
That death has made; you will disturb that corner
Where I had thought I might lie safe for ever

CHRIST. I do my Father’s will.

from Divine Inspiration

from Divine Inspiration

Jabir Singh Ahluwalia, “Autobiography of Mr. X,” p. 175
Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab, from “City of Sinbad,” p. 177
James Keir Baxter, “Lazarus,” p. 174
May Sarton, “Lazarus,” p. 183
Angelos Sikelianos, “Unrecorded,” p. 181

John 11:1-16
Back to Top
John 11:17-27

John Dominic Crossan, “Dead Man Raised,” The Historical Jesus, p. 331 f.
Jean Vanier, “Come Out,” We Need Each Other, p. 125-136

Back to Top
John 11:28-37

Dom Helder Camara, Through the Gospel, p. 125
Makoto Fujimura, Art + Faith, p. 106-114
Imaging the Word, Vol. 1, p. 58-61

Back to Top
John 11:38-44

Bruce Beasley, “Death of Lazarus,” Spirituals, p. 10-11

“Death of Lazarus”

The miracle lasted years. His healed
body abandoned its cave
and he rose
from that dark, in the glare, shielding

his face.
And sat beside the river,
scrubbing the pallor from his skin.
One by one they came to touch him,

or wash their feet
in the creek where he bathed,
cupping the cold, blessed
water in their hands.

But they were afraid
to talk to him,
afraid to watch him brood
all day in the brush by the water,

gazing at nothing as if
still wracked by fever,
watching the black clouds
dwindle and disappear, the limp

leaves surrendering, one by one,
to the wind.
And torn wing of a moth,
transparent and frail,

trailed down with the leaves
and grazed his shoulder,
as if all things dying
came to him first. Lepers

gathered on the banks
of the creek each morning, hiding
their eyes, chanting his name.
And Lazarus

felt the old hunger return
to him, like a sickness,
cloying his body:
the craving

for meat and sleep, the dread of dying.

Thom Gunn, “Lazarus Not Raised,” Collected Poems, p. 7 f.

“Lazarus Not Raised”

… He had chosen to stay dead,
The scheduled Moracle did not take place.
…
without such fear,
Without that terrified awakening glare,
The scheduled miracle would have taken place.

Dom Helder Camara, Through the Gospel, p. 125
Denise Levertov, “Genesis (Abraham) and Gospels,” Communion, p. 485

“Genesis (Abraham) and Gospels"

Fancy presents miracles as culminating solutions, happy endings—whereas real miracles are beginnings, or gateways to continuance.

Imaging the Word, Vol. 1, p. 58-61

Back to Top
John 11:45-57

(Matthew 26:1-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2)

Frederick Buechner, “Caiaphas,” Peculiar Treasures, p. 18-19

Back to Top

Forward to John 12