Lazarus #86

Lazarus of Bethany was a friend of Jesus who lived with his sisters Mary and Martha in a village near Jerusalem. He appears only in the Gospel of John, where his death and return to life form the last and greatest of the signs before Jesus’ own passion. He should not be confused with the poor man named Lazarus in Jesus’ parable in Luke 16:19-31, who is a different figure in a story Jesus told.

Biblical Significance

John introduces Lazarus as one whom Jesus loved, and the sisters’ message to Jesus is simply that the one he loves is ill (John 11:1-3). Jesus deliberately waits two days and then tells his disciples that the illness is “for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4). By the time Jesus reaches Bethany, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days (John 11:17). Jesus weeps (John 11:35), then asks that the stone be removed, prays aloud to the Father, and calls with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The dead man comes out, still bound in grave clothes, and Jesus tells the onlookers to unbind him and let him go (John 11:38-44).

The miracle divides the crowd. Many believe, but others report it to the Pharisees, and the chief priests and council decide that Jesus must die, with Caiaphas saying it is better that one man die for the people (John 11:45-53). Lazarus becomes part of the story afterward: he is among those at the supper in Bethany where Mary anoints Jesus (John 12:1-3), and crowds come not only to see Jesus but to see Lazarus, so that the chief priests also plan to put Lazarus to death (John 12:9-11).

Legacy

Lazarus is a picture of resurrection, but a temporary one. He was restored to earthly life, not given the glorified body promised at the end, and he would die again. John presents his rising as a sign pointing to Jesus’ own words, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and to Jesus’ own resurrection soon afterward.

Nothing more is said about him in the New Testament. Later Christian traditions fill the gap: Eastern tradition holds that he became bishop of Kition in Cyprus and that his tomb there, in what is now Larnaca, was honored, while a medieval Western legend brings him to southern France. These are traditions rather than biblical facts. In Christian teaching on death and the hope of eternal life, Lazarus remains a central image of Jesus’ power over the grave and his compassion for the grieving.