Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again? Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” (John 11:1-16)
Today as we continue in our final segment with the story of Lazarus I’m going to be reading from the Kempton translation.
“And after this he says to them, ‘Lazarus, our friend reposes, but I go that I may bring him out of sleep.’ Then his disciples said, ‘Lord, if he repose he will be saved.’ But Jesus had told of his death, but they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep. Then said Jesus to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and I rejoice on your account that I was not there, that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Then said Thomas, who is called Didymus, to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us go that we may die with him.'” (John 11:11-16)
So Jesus, by whom we now understand the internal sense of the Word from which comes all motivation in the spiritual life, having just provided insight into the need to live in the spiritual light the Word offers and not in the darkness of the ignorance of self-intelligence, now seeks to direct the attention toward clarifying the pressing issue. The disciples, representing our developing understanding of spiritual realities, are now to be instructed as to the impact that active unregenerate states of mind represented by Judea have on those things of the Lord which exist on a lower plane of awareness. Lazarus represents that which is open to spiritual influence on this lower level, but as yet is unable to be maintained in its sense of the power of the Word or Logos due to the influences of evils arising from falsities tied to the appearances of the senses.
The Word works continuously to awaken the human mind out of sleep, to raise it up out of its ignorance of spiritual realities through providing a new vision of reality grounded in truths of the Word. Spiritual sleep is a lack of spiritual consciousness or a state in which spiritual principles become inactive or unavailable as a basis for interpreting what’s being experienced through the senses. Spiritual sleep is a condition of the understanding in contrast to spiritual death which is a condition of the will. When the appearances of the senses dominate a person’s sense of reality, the sense of self is identified with external life. They fall into a waking sleep or a kind of hypnotic trance in which spiritual things appear vague and dreamlike, if they appear at all and natural things seem to be what is real and substantial. When in this state, the mind can be said to be spiritually sick or infirm even if by worldly standards it demonstrates a high level of functioning. The Greek word describing Lazarus as sick or infirm in verse 2 can be literally read as unfirm as in not firm.
whose brother, Lazarus, had been continuing ill (weak; sick) (Jonathan Mitchell New Testament)
For the mind undergoing regeneration it describes a state in which the natural mind is not yet firmly established as a vessel for higher spiritual principles and so is easily swayed by the appearances of the senses. This idea is captured in verse 10 where it states that
if a man walk in the night he stumbles because there is no light in him.
The term sleep and night both denote a lack of light and where there is a lack of spiritual light or the light of spiritual consciousness, ignorance and obscurity rule.
All the characters in the story represent aspects of a single mind so the story is a description of a psychological process. It describes the operation of the Logos represented by Jesus working to bring insight into the precarious state of the external level of the mind as represented by Lazarus in Judea. So it is an image of the natural mind that is under the influence of the old will that is being instructed through a receptivity to spiritual teachings, as represented by the disciples, so that there is a willingness from the understanding given to follow where the Lord as the Word leads.
There is a process of clarification here which can be seen in the dialogue between Jesus and the disciples. If Jesus represents the Word and the disciples represent our developing understanding that receives instruction from the Word, then the dialogue represents the process of thinking from the insights being offered as we engage with the Word. And remember that speech represents thought, so in the Word whenever anyone is speaking it is thought that is being represented. So if we look at the dialogue here we see that there is a degree of obscurity on the part of the disciples as to what it is Jesus is saying concerning Lazarus. As the literal sense goes it appears as if Jesus Himself is adding to the confusion by not clearly stating from the outset that by sleep he meant death. In verses 11 to 14 we read,
He says to them, ‘Lazarus, our friend reposes, but I go that I may bring him out of sleep.’ Then his disciples said, ‘Lord, if he repose he will be saved.’ But Jesus had told of his death, but they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep. Then said Jesus to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead,
Spiritually, this apparent confusion in the letter of the Word so far as the disciples were concerned serves to convey how we work through things mentally as we look to the Word to gain clarity as to what it is that is being asked of us. Spiritual communication is a process of influx and all communication is by means of correspondence. However influx is not a movement of something from point A to point B. The term influx describes the experience of receiving insight or light arising within our natural awareness after the natural mind has been brought into a corresponding alignment with higher psychic structures that can serve to have what is spiritual within the natural shine forth to view – and this is why working with the Word is so important. For the Word being the Lord present with us in the form of Sacred texts provides the corresponding vessels or ideas that ground heavenly thoughts and affections into our awareness and so into our life.
Coming back to the dialogue, we see that there is a movement from a focus on the issue as a problem with the understanding as represented by Lazarus being said to repose and sleep, to gaining more clarity through engaging with the Word that the real issue is one of the will. That is, Lazarus is dead. This reflects a common misattribution in the spiritual life that fails to recognise that the old will being our sense of self is dead, that is, it is dead to anything good and true. There is an inherent tendency toward which the human mind is prone and it is that knowledge in and of itself can save it. That one merely has to think aright and all will be well. But even if a dead man thinks aright it doesn’t change the fact that he is still a dead man. The whole psychic structure of the self identified in the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity as the infernal proprium and here represented by Judea, is spiritual death. No amount of effort in concealing the spiritual fact beneath the well-formed doctrines of religious thought and traditions of a historical faith changes the condition of what lies beneath it all. The following from the work the Divine Providence 282 speaks to this,
It would have been possible for the Lord to heal the understanding in every man, and so cause him to think not evil but good, and this by means of fears of various kinds, by miracles, by conversations with the dead, and by visions and dreams. But to heal the understanding alone is to heal man outwardly only; for the understanding with its thought is the external of man’s life, while the will with its affection is the internal of his life. Therefore, the healing of the understanding alone would be like palliative healing, by which the interior malignity, shut in and prevented from coming out, would destroy first the near and then the remote parts till the whole would become mortified. It is the will itself that must be healed, not by means of an influx into it of the understanding, for that is not possible, but by means of instruction and exhortation by the understanding. If the understanding alone were healed man would become like a dead body embalmed, or covered over with fragrant spices and roses, which would soon draw from the body such a foul odour that they could not be brought near anyone’s nostrils. So would it be with heavenly truths in the understanding if the evil love of the will were denied outlet.
And so it’s not enough that the Word remain at the level of the disciples or understanding only. This must be brought into Judea so that the evils of the old will can be exposed, acknowledged and shunned which then releases the power of the Word to regenerate the human mind as represented ultimately by the Lord calling Lazarus forth from out of the grave or tomb.
1 Now there was a certain man being constantly ill (habitually weak; progressively infirm; repeatedly sick) – Lazarus, from Bethany, from out of the village of Mary and Martha, her sister. 2 In fact, it was the Mary who at one time rubbed and anointed the Lord (the Master) with perfumed oil (ointment) and then wiped off His feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, had been continuing ill (weak; sick). 3 So the sisters dispatched a message to Jesus, which was saying, “O Lord (Master), take note, he whom You habitually regard as a friend (constantly treat with fondness and affection; continuously cherish and love as a congenial associate) continues being weak and sick.” 4 Now Jesus, hearing [this], said, “This weakness (sickness; infirmity) is not directed or leading toward death, but to the contrary [is] over [the issue of] God’s glory (or: reputation), to the end that through it God’s Son would be glorified (may receive a good reputation and a manifestation which calls forth praise).“ 5 Now Jesus was loving and continued in loyal appreciation of Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 However, when He heard that he continues being sick and weak, He then, indeed, remained two days within [the] place in which He was [staying]. 7 Thereupon – after this – He is saying to His disciples, “We should proceed going into Judea again.” 8 The disciples are then saying to Him, “Rabbi, at the present time the Jews (= leaders of the Jewish religion) have been seeking to stone You – and You are proceeding to go there again?” 9 Jesus decidedly replied, “Are there not twelve hours [in] the day (= of daylight)? If anyone may habitually walk around (= live his life) within the Day, he does not constantly stumble (cut toward or strike against [something]), because he continually sees (looks at; observes) the Light of this world (of this cosmos; this system’s light; or: = because he progressively perceives the light and understanding that guides this System and secular society). 10 “Yet, if anyone should habitually walk around within the Night, he constantly stumbles (strikes against [things]), because the Light is not (does not exist) within him.” 11 He said these things, and after this He presently says to them, “Our friend Lazarus has been made to sleep (or: has been lulled to sleep; has been caused to sleep; or, as a middle: has fallen asleep; has found repose), but even so, I am setting out to proceed in journeying to the end that (or: so that) I can awaken him out of [his] sleep.” 12 Therefore the disciples said to Him, “O Lord (Master), since (or: if) he has been caused to sleep (or: fallen asleep) he will be restored to health (made to recover; saved; rescued; delivered).“ 13 Now Jesus had spoken (made a declaration; = used the phrase) about his death, yet they suppose (imagine; think) that He is saying [it] concerning (or: is talking about) the taking rest and repose of sleep. 14 Therefore, Jesus then plainly and openly said to them, “Lazarus died. 15 “And because of you folks I am progressively rejoicing that I was not there, so that you can trust (or: would believe). But now, we can (or: should) be going to him.” 16 Then Thomas, the one being normally called “ [the] Twin” (or: Didymus), said to [his] fellow disciples, “We should also be going, so that we can die with Him.”
(Jonathan Mitchell New Testament)