When Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, fifteen stades; and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them in their sorrow for their brother. And when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; Maria was sitting at home. 

The Lord deliberately delayed so that Lazarus would be four days old, then went to make the miracle free from slander on all sides. Why does the Evangelist add that Bethany was fifteen stades from Jerusalem? In order to show that indeed many of the Jerusalemites came, for Bethany was not far away. The Jews comforted these women not because Christ loved them (for the Jews had already conspired to excommunicate from the synagogue the one who recognized Him as Christ - John 9:22), but either because of the severity of the calamity, or because those who came were not of the wicked, from which many of them believed. Martha only goes forward to meet her, and does not take her sister with her, because she wanted to see Him alone and tell Him about what had happened. When the Lord aroused good hope in her, then she left and called her sister. Before, she had not told Sister Mary about the coming of the Lord, in order to conceal it from those who were with her. For if Mary had heard that Jesus was coming, she would have gone immediately to meet Him, and the Jews who had come would have followed her: but Martha did not want them to know of the coming of Jesus.

     Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord! if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that He will rise again in the resurrection, on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, shall live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to Him, "Yes, Lord! I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, coming into the world. Having said this, she went and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Master is here and calling you."

 Martha had faith in Christ, but it was not complete, not proper. For this reason He says: Lord! if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She said this, no doubt, because she did not believe that, if He had willed, He could have prevented her brother's death without being present in person. And then he reveals an even greater weakness of faith. For He says, Whatsoever Thou askest of God, He will give Thee. You see, she considers Him to be some kind of person, virtuous and pleasing to God. For she did not say, "Whatsoever thou wilt, thou shalt do all"; but, whatsoever thou askest, he shall give thee all. The Lord, refuting such an understanding of it, says: "Thy brother shall rise again." He did not say to her, "Yes, I will ask God, and He will give Me," nor did he agree with her speech, but used a moderate expression. And then He expounds His power and authority much more clearly; I, he says, am the resurrection and the life. Since Martha did not yet believe and did not understand the meaning of the words: "Thy brother shall rise again," but thought that he would rise again in the last resurrection (and that there would be a last resurrection, Martha knew partly from the Divine Scriptures, and still more from Christ's frequent discourses on the resurrection), therefore, since the woman was still a woman, the Lord raised her up and stirred up her faith, as if it were dead, To put it more plainly: You tell Me that God will give Me whatever I ask of Him. But I tell you plainly that I am the resurrection and the life, so that My power is not limited to the place, but I can equally heal by being present in the place and in absentia. For I distribute good things, and not on behalf of anyone else, but I Myself am the resurrection and the life, and I Myself have the power to raise up and to give life. He who believes in Me, even if he dies this bodily death, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will not die a spiritual death. Therefore, do not be dismayed. For though your brother is dead, he will live. And what do I say about your brother? And you, if you believe in Me, will not die, but will be above spiritual death, which is much more terrible. And He who delivers from the most terrible death, the more easily will deliver your dead brother from a less terrible death. Do you believe this? - the Lord asks Martha. And she, although she had listened to such lofty speeches, did not understand what the Lord had said to her. I think that she suffered from grief and lack of understanding. For the Lord asks one thing, she answers another. The Lord asks whether she believes that He is resurrection and life, and that he who believes in Him will never die, whether you mean spiritual or bodily death. For it is rightly said of the faithful, because of their hope of the resurrection, that they do not die. And what does Martha answer? - I am sure that You are the Christ, the Son of God, coming into the world. Her answer is good and fair, but the answer is not to the question. However, she received this benefit from this, that the power of her sorrow was tamed and her sorrow was lessened. - Martha "secretly" calls her sister; and she did it very wisely. For if the Jews who came to them had known that Mary was coming to meet Christ, they would have left them, and the miracle would have been left without witnesses. And now the Jews thought that Mary was going to the tomb to weep, and they went with her, and of necessity became obvious witnesses of the miracle. Martha says to Mary: The Master is calling you. And the Evangelist does not notice that the Lord called her. This can be explained in the following way: the Evangelist kept silent, that the Lord commanded Martha to call her sister, or she considered the very coming of the Lord as an invitation and said that the Teacher was calling you. For when the Lord came, should she not have gone to Him? Thus, the coming of the Lord, which necessarily requires (from Mary) to meet Him, the Evangelist called an invitation. For the Master speaks, He has come, and calls thee; and since He came, His very coming is a call to you. For as soon as He has come, it is necessary for you to go to meet Him.

     As soon as she heard, she hurriedly got up and went to Him. (Jesus had not yet entered the village, but he was at the place where Martha met Him.) The Jews, who were with her in the house and comforted her, seeing that Mary had hurriedly stood up and went out, followed her, supposing that she had gone to the tomb to weep there. And Mary, having come to where Jesus was, and seeing him, fell down at his feet, and said to him, Lord! if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 

Mary, as soon as she learned that Jesus had come, did not hesitate, but hurriedly got up and went to Him. From this it can be seen that Martha had not warned her before, although she knew that Jesus was coming. But Jesus had not yet come to the village, for He walked slowly, so that they would not think that He Himself was asking for a miracle, but that He would perform it at their request. And since the miracle that is to be performed was great, not performed many times, and had to benefit many, the Lord arranges so that many will become witnesses of the miracle. For the Evangelist says that the Jews who were with her in the house followed her. Mary came to Christ with more fervor than her sister Martha. For when she saw Him, she fell at His feet, not being ashamed of the people, not paying any attention to the fact that some of those who were there were hostile to Christ. In the presence of the Master, she threw away all mankind and cared only to honor Him. She says: "Lord! if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Martha does nothing of the kind, for she does not fall down before Him, but, on the contrary, when Christ gives good hope for her brother, she turns out to be unbelieving. Though Mary is imperfect when she says, "If thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died," yet Christ does not say to her anything that He said to her sister, because there were many people there, and it was not the time for such speeches. He condescends even more, clearly shows Human nature in Himself and reveals its properties. For listen to what the Evangelist says.

     And when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her, weeping, he himself was grieved in spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid him? They said to him: Lord! Go and see. Jesus shed tears. Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him." And some of them said, "Could not this one, who opened the eyes of the blind, make this one also die?