The Death Of Lazarus

Spiritualiter notanda sunt tria: primo, quid est, quod Lazarus a Domino amatur? Secundo, quid est, quod languet, mortiur et quatriduanus inveniter? Tertio, quid est, quod Dominus suos discipulos exhortatur, quod in die ambulent? Lazarus adiutus a Domino interpretatur. Iste significat virum, qui habet gratiam adiuvantem, secundum illud Isaiae quadragesimo nono: In tempore accepto exaudivi te, et in die salutis auxiliatus sum tui. Iste Dominum diligit, ideo et amatur; Proverbiorum octavo: Ego diligentes me diligo. Iste Lazarus languet in peccati delectione, de quo languore Ecclesiastici decimo: Languor prolixior gravat medicum: quia vix contingit, quin morosa delectatio demergat in mortale peccatum. Sed moritur in consensu, quia tunc consummatur peccatum interius; Iacobi primo: Concuspiscentia, cum conceperit, parit peccatum; peccatum vero, cum consummatum fuerit, generat mortem. Et quatriduanus efficitur et foetidus, dum a consensu pervenitur in opus, ab opere in consuetudinem, a consuetudine in peccati impudentiuam, quando frons meretricis fit homini, ut iam nolit erubescere; et tunc foetidus est; quia iam peccatum eius in alios diffunditur; Amos quarto: Ascendere feci putredinem castrorum vestrorum in nares vestras etc. Ad hunc peccatorem suscitandum a mortuis Dominus sollicitat discipulos suos, quos et praelatos ordinaverat; Proverbiorum sexto: Discurre, festina, suscita amicum tuum. Et hortatir, quod de die ambulent. Dies dicitur tempus merendi, quia, dum sol oritur, homo exit ad opus suum, et daemones absconduntur; Psalmus: Ortus est sol, et congregati sunt etc; et post: Exibit homo ad opus suum etc. Iste dies durat ab adventu Christi usque ad diem iudicii; quia supra nono: Quamdiu sum in mundo, lux sum mundi; et ipse et in mundo usque ad consummationem saeculi; Matthaei ultimo: Ecce, ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi. Et hoc operandum, ut peccatores suscitentur; ad Galatas sexto: Operemur bonum ad omnes, maxime autem ad domesticos fidei. Sanctus Boneventura, Commentarius In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput XI Source: Here, p876

Spiritually three things must be noted. Firstly, what does it mean that Lazarus is loved by the Lord? Secondly why is it that he sickens and dies and is found four days in the tomb? Thirdly, why does the Lord exhort His disciples to walk during the day? 1 Lazarus is interpreted 'Helped by the Lord'. This signifies the man who has grace aiding him, according to which the forty ninth chapter of Isaiah says: 'At an acceptable time I heard you, and in the day of your salvation I aided you.' 2 He loves the Lord, therefore he is loved. The eighth chapter of Proverbs says: 'I love those who love me.' 3 Lazarus sickens in the pleasure of sin, concerning which sickening Eccleisasticus says in the tenth chapter: 'A long illness burdens the physician,' 4 because scarcely does it touch than the easy pleasure plunges into mortal sin. But he dies in consenting, because then the sin is consummated within. In the first chapter of James it says: 'Desire when it is conceived births sin, but sin when it is consummated generates death.' 5 And 'four days it has been,' and 'he rots' 6 when by consent he comes to the deed, and from the deed to habit, and from habit into shamelessness in sinning, when 'a man sports the brow of whore, for now he does not even blush.' 7 Then he rots, because now his sin spreads to others. In the fourth chapter of Amos it says: 'I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils.' 8 The Lord plainly tells his disciples that this sinner must be raised from the dead, those whom He arranged to be preferred. In the sixth chapter of Proverbs it is said: 'Run, make haste, raise up your friend.' 9 And He exhorts them to walk in the day. 10 The day, it is said, is the time of earning, because, when the sun has risen, a man goes out to his work, and the demons flee. The Psalm says: 'The sun has risen and they are gathered,' and 'A man shall go out to his work,' etc. 11 And this day lasts from the advent of Christ to the day of judgement, because He said in the ninth chapter here: 'While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' 12 And He is in the world to the end of the age. The last chapter of Matthew says: 'Behold, I am with you every day even to the end of the age.' 13 And that this must be done, that sinners be raised up, is said in the sixth chapter of Galatians: 'Let us do good to all, especially to the servants of the faith.' 14 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 11 1 Jn 11.5-17 2 Isaiah 49.8 3 Prov 8.17 4 Sirach 10.10 5 James 1.15 6 Jn 11.39 7 Jerem 3.3 8 Amos 4.10 9 Prov 6.3 10 Jn 11.9-10 11 Ps 103.22-23 12 Jn 9.5 13 Mt 28.20 14 Galat 6.10