John 11 and the following chapter of John 12 act like a literary bridge between Jesus’ ministry with others and his own final demonstration that God indeed provides eternal life. There are seven signs, and the story of Lazarus illustrates the final one: the resurrection and the life. You may recall that the ‘miracles’ or healings referred to in the other gospels are called ‘ signs’ in John’s Gospel. (The synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke also contain a story of Jesus’ raising the dead, but in those three cases it is Jairus’ daughter ( Matt. (If you’re studying a Biblical book with friends in a Bible Study group, or on your own, one of the joys is reading chapter by chapter and finding inspiration in why a certain story appears where it does.) In the case of the Gospel of John, this story of the raising of Lazarus serves as a catalyst leading up to Jesus’ own death and resurrection. Ok, so you found it was Chapter 11, the approximate halfway point in John’s 21 chapters. You’ll probably want to get your Bible and look it up. So why was the Lazarus story so key for early Christians and what can we learn from this? And if it was so impactful, why did Lazarus’ rising appear only in John’s Gospel? Is there a role the Lazarus story plays for John that sheds light on the rest of the Gospel of John? These are the kinds of questions that cause us to don our spiritual detective hats and result in fresh inspiration to even the most familiar of stories.īecause John’s Gospel, like the others, is told in chronological order, paying attention to where the Lazarus story appears in relation to the whole, makes sense. After all, the paintings of Mary and the baby Jesus predominate, along with those of the crucifixion and resurrection. Maybe this doesn’t match your own experience of looking at Christian religious art in the world’s great museums. Perhaps all these artistic renderings of Lazarus’ emergence from his tomb three days after his burial are the reason behind historians’ belief that the raising of Jesus’ good friend, made a deeper impression on early Christians than almost any other New Testament text. The Good Shepherd Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Rome, showing Jesus raising Lazarus from his tomb.
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