By this saying, He soothes the minds of those that were present, and shews that it is easy to Him to raise the dead; the like He did in the case of Lazarus, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” [John 11:11] This was also a lesson to them not to be afraid of death; forasmuch as He himself also should die, He made His disciples learn in the persons of others confidence and patient endurance of death. For when He was near, death was but as sleep. When He had said this, “They mocked him.” And He did not rebuke their mocking; that this mocking, and the pipes and all other things, might be a proof of her death. For ofttimes at His miracles when men would not believe, He convicted them by their own answers; as in the case of Lazarus, when He said, “Where have ye laid him?” so that they that answered, “Come and see,” and, “He stinketh, for he hath now been dead four days,” could no longer disbelieve that He had raised a dead man.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).