And said,
Where have you laid him?
They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
All Commentaries on John 11:34 Go To John 11
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And said, Where have ye laid him, &c. Christ knew the place where Lazarus was buried: for, as S. Augustine argues, Didst thou know that he was dead, and art ignorant where he is buried? Yet He asked the question; because He acted with men after a human manner, and by the inquiry prepared Himself, and cleared the way for the raising up of Lazarus; and excited the attention at once of Mary, Martha, and the Jews, so that they should watchfully consider the words and actions of Christ, who was about to raise him.
Symbolically, S. Gregory says: Christ recalling to the women the sin of Eve, says, "I have placed the man in Paradise whom ye have placed in the tomb."
Come and see. Eagerly they invite Jesus to come and see, hoping that He who had raised up strangers" dead, would raise up also Lazarus His intimate associate, who was so beloved by Him. Whence, mystically, the Gloss: "See, that is pity;" for, as S. Augustine says, the Lord sees when He pities, according to this, "Look upon my adversity, and forgive me all my sins." S. Chrysostom, and after him Theophylact: He seemed to them about to go thither that He might weep, not that He might raise up [the dead].
