The raising of Lazarus is one of the miracles performed past Jesus. Like the miracle of turning the water into wine at the nuptials at Cana, the raising of Lazarus is mentioned only in the Gospel of John. In the miracle, Jesus raises Lazarus of Bethany from the expressionless four days after Lazarus had been entombed.

Raising of Lazarus: summary

The only account of Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead is found in John chapter xi verses 1–44.

John tells u.s. that a man named Lazarus, of the town of Bethany, was sick. Lazarus is the brother of Mary (who is often identified with Mary Magdalene). Mary and her sis Martha sent for Jesus to come and help their brother, whom Jesus loved, as he loved Mary and Martha.

Only despite this, Jesus remained where he was for two more days, and didn't rush to Bethany to help Lazarus. Only then did he render to Judea, with his disciples. They tried to warn him off such a form of action, reminding him that Jews had sought to stone him to decease. Only Jesus responded cryptically that people who walk by day encounter the light, whereas those who walk at night stumble because in that location is 'no light' in them.

And with that, he went to Bethany to wake Lazarus from his 'sleep' of expiry.

It then became clear that Jesus had delayed from going to Lazarus immediately because he wanted to await until Lazarus was expressionless, so that he (Jesus) could testify his divinity to his disciples once and for all.

When they arrived on the outskirts of Bethany, they discovered that Lazarus had been dead for four days already. Martha, who had come out to run across them, told Jesus that if he had got in that location sooner, she knew he would have healed Lazarus. But she also had organized religion that if he asked God to restore Lazarus to life, information technology would be granted.

Jesus then declared: 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were expressionless, notwithstanding shall he live' (John xi:25). In other words, those who believe in God will live for all eternity in heaven, even after their mortal life has come to an end. Martha told Jesus that she believed he was the Son of God; she then called Mary out to them.

When Mary saw Jesus, she barbarous at his feet, and said what Martha had said: that if he had been hither when Lazarus lived, she knew he would have been able to save him. Jesus asked where Lazarus had been buried, and when they showed him, he wept. (This section of the Lazarus story is responsible for the shortest poetry in the whole of the Bible. John xi:35 is just two words: 'Jesus wept.')

It was clear to the onlookers how much Jesus loved Lazarus, and they all knew he could probably accept saved Lazarus. Jesus groaned equally he came closer to the grave, which was a cave with a stone across information technology. Jesus told them to curl the rock bated, simply Martha told him that information technology was four days since Lazarus died and his body would smell.

Jesus told her to believe in the glory of God, so they took the stone away from the cave and Jesus lifted his eyes to sky and prayed to God. Then Jesus cried out for Lazarus to come out of the grave. And 'he that was dead came forth' (John 11:44), every bit Lazarus, jump in his funeral garments, stepped out from his grave, alive again.

Raising of Lazarus: analysis

The raising of Lazarus is the final of the miracles or 'signs' of Jesus' divinity which John relates. It is clearly offered to us as the summation of Jesus' divinity, representing his ability to conquer death itself, through bringing the dead dorsum to life. Merely the positioning of this miracle in John's narrative of Jesus' life likewise suggests that the event is meant to complement, and dovetail with, Jesus' ain imminent death. He has returned to Bethany to restore Lazarus to life, in full knowledge that he will pay with his own life. Sure plenty, he volition be arrested and crucified not long after this.

All the same, Jesus' raising of Lazarus as well prefigures Jesus' own triumph over death through his resurrection, iii days after the Crucifixion. As the final miracle he will perform in this life, it paves the way for his own resurrection, with the detail of the stone rolling away from the tomb too paralleling Jesus' revival of his friend.

Who was Lazarus? Lazarus was known in full every bit 'Lazarus of Bethany'. Bethany is at present the Due west Bank town of Al-Eizariya, which translates to 'the place of Lazarus'. Through being brought back to life by Jesus, Lazarus became famous. Confusingly, though, in that location are two Lazaruses mentioned in the New Testament.

They appear to accept been unlike people. Luke (chapter 16) tells of Jesus' parable of the rich human and Lazarus, but this Lazarus (a ragamuffin) isn't the i whom Jesus raised from the dead. Merely only John mentions the story of Jesus raising Lazarus (the other ane) from the expressionless. It'due south possible (as the authors of the Dictionary of the Bible propose) that John is expanding the parable of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke'due south gospel (in which Lazarus, the humble beggar, goes to heaven merely the rich man does not).

Whatever the truth of it, there are examples elsewhere in the Gospels of Jesus raising the dead. In Luke 7:14-xv, Jesus raises the dead son of a widow, with the wording of Luke ('And he that was dead sat up') existence echoed by John'due south 'And he that was dead came along'. However, Luke'south account of this event is much briefer than John's Lazarus story, and it happens much earlier in Jesus' life. John conspicuously saw the Lazarus event every bit the last great deed Jesus performed as proof of his divinity before his arrest and crucifixion.