.
11). Was he mistaken? Such words should at least not be entirely
disregarded, even though the other words follow immediately after,
"Lazarus is dead" (John xi. 14). That a highly gifted nature, like that of
Jesus, may have possessed wonderful healing powers, cannot be denied,
however difficult it may be to determine the boundary between what is and
is not possible here. On the other hand, it is firmly established that
when once such an idea as the raising from physical death becomes rooted
in the popular mind, the details, especially such as can serve as
evidence, are provided spontaneously. The nucleus of the story of the
raising of Lazarus lies of course in the words (John xi. 25, 26), "_I am
the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me though he were
dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
never die._" Here we have the true teaching of Christ, in his own
apparently contradictory language. The saying, "Whoever believes in me
shall never die," does not necessarily mean that his body will never die;
and so the words, "Though he were dead, yet shall he live," certainly do
not signify that his dead and decayed body shall receive new life. But the
people wanted something else. For the true miracles, for the spiritual
resurrection, they had no comprehension, they wanted sensuous miracles,
they wanted the resurrection of a body already decayed, and this is
described in the Gospels in detail. Such is the regular privilege of
popular tradition, and it happens without deliberate intention, except
that of bringing vividly before us the common interpretation of the fact.
Popular tradition is not intentional deception, it is only an unavoidable
fusion of facts with conventional ideas, whereby God becomes a laborer
wearied by six days' work; his seat becomes Olympus or a golden throne in
some corner of the blue sky; the Son of God sinks to the level of a prince
of the house of David, the Saviour to a miracle doctor, and his message of
salvation to a promise of resurrection from physical death. There are many
good men and women fulfilling in their daily walk the commands of Christ,
to whom the true historical conception of the gospel story would be a
terrible disillusion. Well, such Christians are at liberty to remain in
their own views. Our own interpretation of many of the details in the
traditional representation of the Gospels, though details certainly of
very great significance, makes n