The Beloved Lazarus

I have the keys of Hades and of death

Jesus Christ prepared the hearts and minds of the disciples, the crowd, and Mary and Martha to accept the truth of resurrection; He strengthened their faith in Him as the giver of life, and the source of resurrection. Everyone saw Him standing in front of the tomb, in which Lazarus was buried for four days, they saw Him raising His hands to the heaven, holding the keys to Hades and of death (Rev 1:18) and they heard Him talking to the Father. They all felt that the act Jesus about to do with great authority is for the glorification of the Father, so that the Son would be glorified through Him... Jesus then called with a great voice saying, "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43) So the dead came out with his hands and feet wrapped and his face covered. Truly, the abyss heard the voice of the Lord and trembled, "The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh." (Ps 29:4-8) the abyss heard and its forces released its captive.

Jesus awoke Lazarus from his deep sleep with His great voice (John 11:11) disregarding death, as He is Life. It is a picture of what Paul described "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first." (1 Ths 4:16)

It is clear that the Jews who came for consolation, some of them when they saw what happened believed in Christ, as if the voice that Lazarus heard in the tomb reached their hearts, and the force of life that flowed the dead and raised him, flowed in them and raised them, and made them experience life in Christ, as they believed in Him as the Lord of life coming to the world. Others did not have spiritual ears and eyes, they did not hear or see. Those are whom Christ described saying by Abraham in the story of the rich and Lazarus saying, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31) All their interests were restricted to the mundane, and for them raising Lazarus was discrediting the Sanhedrim. So, getting rid of Christ became their only goal. (John 11:47,48)

Lazarus the beloved and his two sisters

The name "Lazarus" means "God is helping", he was from Bethany which means "house of suffering", it is about a mile and a half from Jerusalem. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. It seems that Martha was the older, as she was always the hostess, and she always took care of serving the Lord as it shows in the Gospel of St. Luke (Luke 10:38-40). Mary, on the other hand, was very interested in listening to the Lord, she abandoned all her duties, and sat at His feet to listen to Him, and she poured the fragrant oil on His feet, and wiped them with her hair. (John 12:3)

Lazarus was mentioned only in the Gospel of John, and it seems that his friendship to the Lord, and Jesus's Love to him was deep (John 11:5), he did not follow Jesus in His travel, but rather Jesus rested from his travel in Lazarus's house. There is nothing that shows the depth of this relationship more than the words of Mary and Martha to Jesus when they said "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." (John 11:3) and the words of Christ Himself, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." (John 11:11) So we are dealing with a family that was loved by Christ, and whose love was mentioned a lot in the bible (John 12:,2,3; Luke 10:38) and whose house was a place of rest for Christ, giving an example that must be followed in love.

Despite the love between Christ and this family, they still went through this great hardship. Lazarus, the head of the household was sick, and Christ was late in coming to them, and then Lazarus died, and buried for four days. This shows that being loved by God does not mean that we will be free from hardships, but  He will be with us when we go through them, "In all their affliction He was afflicted" (Isaiah 63:9) as we saw Him weeping at Lazarus's tomb (John 11:33-35). And our love to Him gives us faith that everything is for the good "all things work together for good to those who love God" (Rom 8:28) for the glory of God "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)
Truly, these hardships that we face as sons of God show the depth of the Love of Jesus for us, He who shares our troubles with us "Surely He has borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows." (Isaiah 53:4) and this in return leads us to steadfast in this love to the end.

What is the goal of this miracle?

By this miracle Jesus showed that He has authority over death, and that He is the source of life. (John 11:25) It is an example of the resurrection in the final day, which we can experience from now. The move from death to life can happen now as Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24) and to further emphasize this, explaining the meaning of "now" He adds, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead (i.e. dead by sin) will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear (i.e. those who will repent) will live." (John 5:25) which is similar to what will happen in the final day, as He said the same without saying now, "for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:28,29) This same concept was clear in this miracle when Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." (John 11:25) which was achieved by raising Lazarus from the dead, and He also showed that He can raise the dead from sin when He said, "Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." (John 11:26) which can be seen, for example, in Martha who proclaimed that Jesus is Christ the son of God coming to the world (John 11:27).

Truly, resurrection and life start now by abiding in Christ the resurrection and life, as we say in the prayer of the gospel, "You are our life and our resurrection." "Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." (Col 3:4) This miracle, also shows the greater authority of Christ in the final day, in the general resurrection and judgment.

This miracle, also, was necessary to strengthen the faith of the disciples. It showed to them the authority of Christ over death, through which He will go soon by His own will, and then arising again in the third day as He said, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:18) Jesus explained this when He said to the disciples at the death of Lazarus, "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe." (John 11:15) and in His prayer before raising him form the dead, "Because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me” (John 11:42)

This miracle, was also a way to encourage the disciples, ad us with them, in the midst of the troubles, as The One who has authority over death can give us victory over any other kind of trouble, as He said, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) If we believe in that, we witness the glory of God, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40) as these troubles may exist for this sole reason, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." (John 11:4)

Let us also go, that we may die with Him.

Thomas said this when Jesus wanted to go to Judea, knowing that it was dangerous for His life (John 11:16) It was easy for him to die as a response for the love of Jesus, but it was hard for him to believe in resurrection. It is also a sentence that shows our wish to go with Christ through His sufferings... or at least, our wish to die for He who died by His own will for our sake, not only during the holy week, but every day, as Paul says, "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom 8:36)

The true Lazarus

The beloved Lazarus, actually is the human being, "Adam" who represents the whole humanity. Since he has accepted in his body the sin that produced death, he was in darkness, as he lost the source of true light. Then Jesus Christ, the new Adam, removed our sin and the sentence of death. And resurrection was proclaimed, and the light shone again.

Who is Lazarus but me and you who are wrapped by sin which paralyzes the soul, and leaves us in the silence of the tomb, instead of joining in praises with angles.

We are listening to You, O Son of God... aren't we Your dead?

My Lord, I am Lazarus, I am the dead, sin is enfolding me, and I am buried in the tomb of my lusts. My eyes lost the light of life, and the darkness of evil engulfed my mind. My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, and my lips have ceased from praising You. My heart stopped from loving you, and it is hardened by hate.

My Lord, if the dead had any hope in crying, then this would be my hope, but your weeping for Lazarus is enough for me. It is my reliance. You who cried for His beloved dead, I have no Mary or Martha, I beg your love and mercy, order your angels to "Loose him, and let him go."