The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

354 THE RESURRECTION
tears, saw in them a token of a friendship more sacred
than their own. While others, with the sneer of
scepticism, with an animosity which even that scene
of sorrow could not hold in check, called to remembrance
the miracle which had caused the enmity
that sought His life, and asked, " Could not this
man who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
that even this man should not have died" Most
unexpected was the answer to that hostile question.
The sepulchre was a cave cut in the rock. Jesus
ordered the stone which closed its entrance to be
removed. He uttered a thanksgiving to the Father
for the power He was about to exert. " He cried
with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he
that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with
grave-clothes
;
and
his face was bound about with a
napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let
him go."
Such events are a savour of life unto life, or
of death unto death. They either bear down
opposition or intensify it ; they either conciliate
friendship, or inflame with hatred. Some of the
wondering spectators believed, while others went
away to mature their dark and hostile plots. And
what of the overjoyed sisters, who had now the oil
of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness And what of him who for
four days had been brought nigh to the dark
secrets of the grave—what were his thoughts, what
his words Tradition tells us that for thirty years
the life thus given back was prolonged sufficient
to see the Church of Christ rise as an institution
upon the basis of the Lord's own resurrection. But as