Who is Lazarus!?

This magnificent narrative about the raising of Lazarus teaches us some profound truth, gives us great hope, But also raises many questions, in particular who is Lazarus?

Last year, when most of the Gospels were taken from Luke, we heard the Parable of Jesus about Lazarus and the rich man, how both die and Lazarus is in the "bosom of Abraham." The rich man asks Father Abraham" to send Lazarus to warn his brothers lest they come to Hades after the Last Judgment because of their ignoring the Lazarus (poor and suffering) of the world. Father Abraham says: "If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead" (Lk 16:19-34).

Some would suggest that the Lazarus narrative in John's Gospel is just a fictional story which answers that question in the Gospel of Luke, i.e. someone raised from the death, and still most people did not believed in the words and deeds of Jesus.

More questions: Luke writes of Martha and Mary and a visit by Jesus to their home (Luke 10:38-42), but nothing is said about Lazarus. John says Mary anointed Jesus' feet with "costly ointment" and wiped them with her hair (Jn 12:1-8), a scene Matthew (26:6-12) and Mark (14:3-8) recall without naming the woman. Luke recalls "a sinful woman" washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and then anointed them with ointment, but none of these name her as Mary of Bethany, and none mention Lazarus.

John stresses that Jesus "loved" Lazarus (11:3, 36), and later we have several scenes in which the "disciple whom Jesus loved" appears, such as at the Last Supper (Jn 13:23), with Peter in the courtyard of the High Priest (18:15), with the mother of Jesus at the cross (19:26), with Peter at the empty tomb (20:3-10), and finally with Peter on the shore of Tiberius (21:7). Is this Lazarus?

These are the little mysteries that fascinate students of the Bible, and they may affect the way we hear and understand the narratives, but -- to borrow a Bill Clinton phrase -- when you read the Gospel of John for meaning, "It's the dialogue, stupid!"

The details of scenes are secondary to the dialogue between Jesus and the other characters! Jesus says to Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" And later he says to her: "Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God"(11:40)?

Whatever we can say about the Lazarus of history, he stands for us as a symbol of our resurrection destiny. If we believe in the risen Lord and live as he teaches us, we too shall see the glory of God. We too shall be raised up. That's the bottom line. "Unbind him and let him go free." Jesus would unbind us now from the fear that wraps us about death, and 'later from the reality of death itself.                                                                     Joseph+