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| "Then Jesus shouted, 'Lazarus, come out!' And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in gravecloths, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, 'Unwrap him and let him go!'" John 11: 43-44 (NLT) |
Description of the illustration: copy of a Giotto, full color, mourners, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, grave, tomb
The Raising of Lazarus or the Resurrection of Lazarus, recounted only in the Gospel of John (John 11:1–44), is a miracle of Jesus in which Jesus brings Lazarus of Bethany back to life four days after his burial. In John, this is the last of the miracles that Jesus performs before the Passion and his own resurrection.
Jesus then delays his departure two days. The disciples are afraid of
returning to Judea, but Jesus says: "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I
am going to awaken him." when the apostles misunderstand, he clarifies,
"Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that
you may believe."
When they arrive in Bethany,
Lazarus has been dead and buried for four days. Before they enter the
town, Martha, Lazarus' sister, comes to meet Jesus and tells him: "if
you had been here, my brother would not have died". Jesus assures Martha
that her brother will rise again and states: "I am the resurrection and
the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Martha's affirmation that she does indeed believe, "Yes, Lord. I
believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into
the world", is only the second time (after Nathanael)
that someone declares Jesus as Son of God and the first time someone
equates him as 'Messiah' and 'Son of God' together. The only other time
this happens in the entire gospel is in the explanation the author of
the Gospel gives for writing his Gospel at the very end.
Upon entering the village, Jesus is met by Mary and the people who
have come to console her. Upon seeing their grief and weeping, Jesus is
deeply moved. Then, after asking where he was buried, the shortest verse
in the four Gospels, and the entire Bible is found - Jesus wept.
After that, Jesus asks for the stone of the grave to be removed, but
Martha interjects that there will be a smell. To which Jesus responds,
"Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of
God?"
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said: "Father, I
thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I
said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may
believe that you sent me."
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come
out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of
linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the
grave clothes and let him go."
The miracle of the raising of Lazarus is the climax of John's "signs". It explains the crowds seeking Jesus on Palm Sunday, and leads directly to the decision of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin
to plan to kill Jesus. Theologians Moloney and Harrington view the
raising of Lazarus as a "pivotal miracle" which starts the chain of
events that leads to the Crucifixion of Jesus.
They consider it as a "resurrection that will lead to death", in that
the raising of Lazarus will lead to the death of Jesus, the Son of God, in Jerusalem which will reveal the Glory of God.
Lazarus is mentioned again in the Gospel of John chapter 12. Six days before the Passover on which Jesus is crucified, Jesus returns to Bethany and Lazarus attends a supper that Martha, his sister, serves.
Jesus and Lazarus together attract the attention of many Jews and the
narrator states that the chief priests consider having Lazarus put to
death because so many people have come to believe in Jesus on account of
his raising Lazarus.
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