He commeth once againe into Iewrie boldly (the time that he would be killed of them, being not
yet come) and raiseth Lazarus foure daies buried. 47. At which miracle the blind malice of the
Rulers so increaseth, that in Councel they conclude to make him away. Howbeit the high Priest
prophecieth vnawarnes, of the saluation of the world by his death. 54. He thereupon goeth againe
out of the way.
1.
⋮
The Ghospel vpon Friday in the 4. weeke of Lent.
AND there was a certaine sicke man, Lazarus of Bethania, of the towne of Marie &
Martha her sister.
2. (And Marie was she
*
Luke 7,37.
Mat. 26,7.
Mark 14,3.
Iohn 12,3.
that anointed our Lord with ointement, & wiped his feete
with her haire: whose brother Lazarus was sicke.)
3. His sisters therfore sent to him saying: Lord, behold, he whom thou louest, is
sicke.
4. And Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ hearing, said to them: This sickenesse is not to death, but for
the glorie of God: that the Sonne of God may be glorified by it.
5. And Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ loued Martha, and her sister Marie, and Lazarus.
6. As he heard therfore that he was sicke, then he taried in the same place two daies:
7. then after this he saith to his Disciples: Let vs goe into Iewrie againe.
8. The Disciples say to him: Rabbi, now the Iewes sought to stone thee; and goest thou
thither againe?
9. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ answered: Are there not twelue houres of the day? If a man walk in
the day, he stumbleth not: because he seeth the light of this world:
10. but if he walke in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
11. These things he said; and after this he saith to them: Lazarus our friend sleepeth;
but I doe that I may raise him from sleep.
12. His Disciples therfore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shal be safe.
13. But Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ spake of his death; & they thought that he spake
✟
'de dormitione somni.'
of the sleeping
of sleep.
14. Then therfore Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead;
15. and I am glad for your sake, that you may beleeue, because I was not there: but
let vs to goe to him.
16. Thomas therfore, who is called Didymus, said to his Condisciples: Let vs also
goe, to die with him.
17. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ therfore came, and found him now hauing been foure daies in the graue.
18. (And Bethania was night to Hierusalem about fifteene furlongs.)
19. And many of the Iewes were come to Martha and Marie, to comfort them concerning
their brother.
20. Martha therfore when she heard that Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ was come, went to meet him; but
Marie sate at home.
21.
⋮
The Ghospel in a masse for the dead vpon the day of the burial or deposition, also
the 3. 7. and 30. day.
Martha therfore said to Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ: Lord if thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died.
22. But now also I know that what things soeuer thou shalt aske of God, God wil giue
thee.
23. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ saith to her: Thy brother shal rise againe.
24. Martha saith to him: I know that he shal rise againe in the resurrection, in the
last day.
25. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ saith to her: I am the resurrection and the life; he that beleeueth
in me, although he be dead, shal liue.
26. And euery one that liueth, and beleeueth in me, shal not die for euer. Beleeuest
thou this?
27. She saith to him: Yea Lord, I haue beleeued that thou art Cʜʀɪꜱᴛ the Sonne
of God that art come into this world.
28. And when she had said these things, she went, and called Marie her sister secretly,
saying: The Maister is come, & calleth thee.
29. She, when she herd, riseth quickly & commeth to him.
30. For Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ was not yet come into the towne: but he was yet in that place
where Martha had met him.
31. The Iewes therfore that were with her in the house and did comfort her, when
they saw Marie that she rose quickly and went forth, followed her, saying: That she goeth to the
graue, to weepe there.
32. Marie therfore when she was come where Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ was, seeing him, fel at his
feete, and saith to him: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ therfore when he saw her, weeping, and the Iewes that were come
with her, weeping, he groned in spirit, and troubled himself,
34. and said: Where haue you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see.
35. And Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ wept.
36. The Iewes therfore said: Behold how he loued him.
37. But certaine of them said: Could not he that
*
Iohn 9,6.
opened the eyes of the blind man,
make that this man should not die?
38. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ therfore againe groning in him self, commeth to the graue: and it was
a caue; and a stone was laid ouer it.
39. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ saith: Take away the stone. Martha the sister of him that was dead,
said to him: Lord, now he stinketh, for he is now of foure daies.
40. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ saith to her: Did not I say to thee, that if thou beleeue, thou shalt
see the glorie of God?
41. They tooke therfore the stone away. And Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ lifting his eyes vpward, said:
Father, I giue thee thankes that thou hast heard me.
42. And I did know that thou doest alwaies heare me, but for the people that standeth
about, haue I said it, that they may beleeue that thou hast sent me.
43. When he said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth.
44. And forthwith he came forth that had been dead, bound feete and handes with
winding bandes, and his face was tied with a napkin. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ said to them:
✟
S. Cyril. li. 7. c. vlt. in Io. and S. August. Tract. 49 in Io.
apply this to the Apostles and Priests authoritie of absoluing sinners: affirming
Christ to reuiue none from sinne, but in the Church and by the Priests ministerie.
Loose him, and
let him goe.
45. Many therfore of the Iewes that were come to Marie & Martha, & had seen the things
that Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ did, beleeued in him.
46. And certaine of them went to the Pharisees, & told them the things that Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ
did.
47.
⋮
The Ghospel vpon friday in Passion weeke.
The cheefe Priests therfore & the Pharisees gathered a Councel, & said: What doe
we, for this man doeth many signes.
48. If we let him alone so, al wil beleeue in him: & the Romanes wil come, &
✟
Al men, but specially Nations must take heed, that whiles to saue their temporal
state, they forsake God, they lose not both, as the Iewes did. Aug tract. 49.
in Io.
take
away our place & Nation.
49. But one of them named Caiphas, being the high Priest of that yeare, said to them:
You know nothing,
50. neither doe you consider: that it is expedient for vs that one man die for the
people, & the whole Nation perish not.
51. And this he said not of himself: but being the high Priest of that yeare, he
prophecied that Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ should die for the Nation.
52. And not only for tht Nation, but to gather into one the children of God that
were dispersed.
53. From that day therfore they deuised to kil him.
54. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ therfore walked no more openly among the Iewes, but he went into
the countrie beside the desert vnto a citie that is called Ephrem, and there he abode with his
Disciples.
55. And the Pasche of the Iewes was at hand: & many of the countrie went vp to
Hierusalem before the Pasche to sanctifie themselues.
56. They sought Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ therfore; and they communed one with another, standing
in the Temple: What thinke you, in that he is not come to the festiual day? And the cheefe Priests
& Pharisees had giuen commandement, that if any man should know where he was, he should tel,
that they might apprehend him.
ANNOTATIONS.
Cʜᴀᴘ. XI.
51. Being the high Priest.)
The priuiledge of the office and order, though in a wicked person.
Maruel not that Christ preserueth his truth in the Church as wel by the vnworthy
as the worthy Prelates thereof: the guifts of the Holy Ghost following their Order
and office, as we see here in Caiphas, and not their merites or person. And if
this man being many wayes wicked, and in part an vsurper, and the Law and Priesthood
being to decline and to giue place to Christs new ordinance, had yet some assistance
of God for vtterance of truth which himself meant not, nor knew not: how much more
may we be assured, that Christ wil not leaue Peters Seat, whose faith he promised
should neuer faile, though the persons which occupie the same, were as il as the
blasphemous and malicious mouthes of Heretikes doe affirme.