Lazarus

Biography

Lazarus lived in Bethany with his sisters Mary and Martha in a household Jesus loved and often visited. When Lazarus fell seriously ill, the sisters sent word to Jesus, expecting Him to come quickly, yet Jesus deliberately remained where He was two more days, declaring that the illness was for the glory of God and the Son of God, that He might be glorified through it. By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb four days, well past any doubt of a natural revival. Both sisters greeted Jesus with the same lament, that had He been present their brother would not have died. Jesus, deeply troubled and moved, wept openly at the tomb before commanding it opened despite Martha's warning of the smell of decay. Standing before the tomb, Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth,' and the dead man emerged still bound in his grave clothes, which Jesus instructed the onlookers to loose. This unmistakable public miracle, performed so near Jerusalem before many witnesses, became a decisive turning point that hardened the religious leaders' resolve to kill Jesus, and eventually Lazarus himself, since so many were believing because of him. Lazarus later reclined at the table during the supper in Bethany where his sister Mary anointed Jesus, a living testimony to Christ's power seated among the guests who had come specifically to see the man Jesus had raised from the dead.