Holy Bible - Obsidian Study Guide

Lazarus

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Lazarus

Overview

Biography

Lazarus of Bethany is one of the most remarkable figures in the Gospels — not for what he said, for he speaks no recorded word, but for what was done to and through him. He was the brother of Martha and Mary (sister of Martha), and his household in Bethany was among the closest to Jesus of any in the Gospels. The Gospel of John states plainly: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). This is one of the rare direct statements of personal affection in the entire Gospel record.

Lazarus fell sick while Jesus was beyond the Jordan, and his sisters sent word: “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick” (John 11:3). Jesus’ response — to delay two more days before departing — was not indifference but divine intention: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4). By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days and lay entombed. The four-day detail is theologically precise: Jewish belief of the period held that the spirit lingered near the body for three days; by the fourth day, decomposition was certain and all hope extinguished.

The raising of Lazarus (John 11:1–44) is the seventh and climactic sign in John’s Gospel. Jesus wept at the tomb — “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), the shortest verse in Scripture — before commanding the stone removed and calling in a loud voice: “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43). Lazarus emerged still bound in graveclothes, and Jesus gave the command: “Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44). The miracle was witnessed by a large crowd and immediately reported to the Pharisees. It precipitated the final decision of the chief priests and Pharisees to put Jesus to death: “Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death” (John 11:53).

Lazarus reappears in John 12:1–11 at a supper given in Jesus’ honour in Bethany six days before the Passover. He sat at table with Jesus while Martha served and Mary (sister of Martha) anointed Jesus’ feet with costly ointment. His very presence was powerful testimony: “much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead” (John 12:9). This public witness was so threatening that “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus” (John 12:10–11). Lazarus became, in death and in resurrection, both the occasion for the greatest sign and a target of the same hatred directed at Jesus himself.

Key Events

  • Lazarus Raised — Died of illness, lay four days in the tomb, called forth by Jesus; the miracle that precipitated the council’s decision to kill Jesus (John 11:1–44)
  • Present at the Bethany supper six days before Passover; his presence drew crowds and prompted the chief priests to seek his death as well (John 12:1–11)

Key Verses

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” — John 11:25 (KJV)

“Jesus wept.” — John 11:35 (KJV)

“And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” — John 11:44 (KJV)

“But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.” — John 12:10–11 (KJV)

Cross-References

  • Martha — sister; went out to meet Jesus; made her great confession at his tomb
  • Mary (sister of Martha) — sister; fell at Jesus’ feet weeping; anointed Jesus at the Bethany supper
  • Jesus Christ — loved Lazarus; wept at his tomb; raised him with a word
  • Bethany — hometown; site of the tomb and the supper
  • John — chapter 11 (raising) and chapter 12 (supper) contain the full Lazarus narrative
  • Caiaphas — whose council decided to kill Jesus because of the raising of Lazarus, and later sought to kill Lazarus too

Notes

  • Lazarus speaks no recorded word in any Gospel; his significance is entirely in what is done to him and the effects that follow
  • The raising of Lazarus is John’s seventh and greatest sign; it functions as a public rehearsal of the resurrection of Jesus — sealed tomb, word of command, emergence from graveclothes
  • The four-day interval was not incidental: it refuted any claim that Lazarus was merely in a coma or trance, ensuring the miracle could not be explained away
  • Lazarus is the only named individual in the Gospels whom Jesus raised after a burial of multiple days (as opposed to the daughter of Jairus, raised immediately, and the son of the widow of Nain, raised on the way to burial)
  • His continued existence after being raised made him a living threat to the religious establishment — the chief priests wanted to suppress the evidence by killing him again (John 12:10–11)
  • No tradition records what became of Lazarus after John 12; later church tradition places him variously as bishop of Kition in Cyprus, but this is extra-biblical

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