Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Then when Jesus came [to Bethany, as some Greek Codices add] He found that he had lain in the grave four days already. That Isaiah , he had been buried four days ago. For the messenger respecting the illness of Lazarus came from the sisters to Jesus (says Chrysostom) on the day on which Lazarus died; the two following days Jesus remained in Bethabara; on the fourth day He went at length to Bethany. Therefore Lazarus seems to have died and been buried on the same day on which the sisters sent a messenger to Jesus; for otherwise Lazarus would not have been four days dead and buried when Christ came, as is here said.
More probably, Euthymius and Maldonatus think that Lazarus died indeed on the day on which the messenger came to Christ, but was buried on the following day, lest perhaps there might remain in him some signs of hidden life; that Christ remained two days in Bethabara, and on the fourth day departed thence towards Bethany; but because this journey was one of about ten hours, it could scarcely have been traversed by Christ and the apostles in one day on foot; hence Christ reached Bethany on the following morning, which was the fifth from the burial of Lazarus and then raised him from the dead; for neither was it becoming that he should be raised in the evening (lest it might seem a fancied and illusive raising), but in the morning, or in full day. Wherefore Lazarus had already been four complete days in the tomb or sepulchre, and the fifth from his burial was begun; so that it might well appear to all that he was not only dead, but decaying and devoured by worms. Hence the raising of Lazarus performed by Christ was a most certain and wonderful miracle, which could in no way be hidden, or carped at by the scribes.
Typically, one buried four days is a sinner having the habit of sinning, who is dead in sin and as it were buried in it, and lies past cure, without hope of forgiveness and spiritual life. For the first day is that in which any one sins by the consent of the will. The second, on which any one completes the sin in act. The third, on which he repeats it again and again, and brings upon himself a custom and habit of it. The fourth, on which this habit becomes obstinate, and Isaiah , as it were, turned into nature; according to S. Augustine (Confess, Lib. viii.), "Out of the perverted will a lust is formed; and when the lust is served, it becomes a custom; and when the custom is not resisted, it becomes a necessity, and thus being connected together by certain (as it were) cramps, they formed what I have called a chain, and a hard slavery held me bound. Such a sinner, then, is by the great and rare grace of Christ to be raised from this sepulchre again; which, that Christ might signify, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth."
So also S. Augustine (On the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount) "As we come to sin by three degrees, by suggestion, by delectation, by consent; so also of the sin itself there are three differences; in heart, in action, in custom—three deaths, as it were. One, so to speak, in the house, when in the heart consent is given to the desire; a second, now carried forth, as it were, beyond the door, when consent goes on into action; a third, when the mind, being weighed down by the force of evil custom, as it were by a mass of earth, Isaiah , so to speak, already decaying in the grave. And whosoever has read the Gospels recognises that the Lord has raised up these three kinds of dead. And he perhaps considers what differences there were in the word itself of Him who raised them: in one place. "Maiden, arise," and in another, "Young Prayer of Manasseh , I say unto thee, Arise;" and in another, He groaned in spirit, and wept, and again He groaned, and then afterwards He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth!
Thirdly, the Gloss, out of S. Augustine and Bede. The first day of death is that in which we are born with original sin. The second, that in which, coming to years of discretion, we transgress the natural law. The third, in which we despise the written law. The fourth, in which we disdain also the Gospel of Christ and His grace. Contrariwise, S. Bernard takes the four days for the four motives and actions of a penitent; the first of fear; the second of conflict against sins; the third of grief; and the fourth of shame for the same.
