This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to reflect on John 11:32-44. The English Standard version supplies the reading with the headings “Jesus Weeps” [verses 28-37] and “Jesus Raises Lazarus” [verses 38-44].
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by calling to him from outside the cave-tomb in which he had been bound and placed. It’s the last miracle he did before he was arrested, tried, and crucified. The account of Jesus resurrecting Lazarus is often read and preached at funerals.
John’s gospel has been divided into 21 chapters. Chapter 11 has the story of Lazarus. It’s set in Bethany, a couple of miles from Jerusalem. It begins with Jesus and his disciples in Galilee, a 30-hour walk from Bethany.
Jesus had a soft spot for Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. Once, Mary had anointed Jesus with costly perfume. This had exasperated Judas. He said she should’ve sold it and given him the money, for Jesus. But Jesus publicly chided Judas and cherished Mary. And upset Judas.
Lazarus was probably fairly young at the time of his death and resurrection. Why? Because his raising isn’t recorded in the other gospels.
Why not? After all, the raising of Lazarus prompted the plot by the political elite to kill Jesus. And it was Jesus’ prophetic enactment of his own burial and resurrection. Why did the synoptics omit it?
The most probable answer is that Lazarus was still alive, and Matthew, Mark and Luke didn’t want to draw attention to him and endanger him. They structured their gospels so that they could make their case that Jesus was the Messiah without the evidence of the raising of Lazarus.
Probably, by the time John wrote, mentioning Lazarus wouldn’t have put him in danger. And John wanted to show how God the Father directed Jesus the Son to prophetically enact his own death and resurrection.
Why is this passage so popular at Christian funerals? Two reasons come immediately to mind.
First, it normalizes or sanctions the feeling and expression of grief and sorrow when we lose family or friends. Weeping is okay.
Second, it shows us the humanity of Jesus, for he too wept when his friends died or lost loved ones.
A third reason is possible. I’ve seen it at two funerals. First, of an older man who died after a battle with disease. Second, of a teenager who also died after battling disease. At these funerals, some appealed to this passage and called out to God for the life of the deceased to be returned.
The gospels contain two other reports of Jesus raising people from the dead.
The first is contested, because the people thought a daughter of Jairus, a Synagogue chief, was dead. But Jesus insisted she was just sleeping. He said to her, “’Talitha cumi,’ which means ‘little girl, I say to you, arise.’” And she did. You can read it in chapter five of Mark’s Gospel.
The second is undisputed. It happened as Jesus approached the gates of the town of Nain. At that moment, a funeral procession for a young man came out. His mother was consumed in grief. Jesus had compassion on her. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” He did. And Jesus “gave him to his mother.” You can read about it in chapter 7 of Luke’s Gospel.
And then we have the raising of Lazarus in our passage. The difference in the stories is that the little girl and young man were strangers to Jesus, but Lazarus and his family were known to him. The sameness is that Jesus wept with those who wept, had compassion, and raised the dead.
But that’s not all there is to John’s account. As I’ve said elsewhere, John’s gospel is very different from the synoptic gospels.
John is theological. The raising of Lazarus is a sign-act. A prophetic enactment. Like a trailer for a movie. A movie which ends in the wrapping, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
The centre of John’s account is the proclamation which Jesus directed to Martha. It’s the sixth of seven “I AM” sayings of Jesus in John’s account:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Prophecy, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and final judgment are the chapter headings of the biography of Jesus. Every chapter shows that he’s God and Man, divine and human, peace in the midst of conflict.
One of the striking things about the account of the raising of Lazarus is the central role played by two women. They are models of faith because they “get” who Jesus is, and they trust Jesus. They sent for him.[1]
What they didn’t know is that God had a greater plan for them. God’s plan was for them to be his stage and props for showing his compassion, power, and plans for mankind. And for them to respond in faith.
How are we the stage and props for showing God’s compassion, power, and plans for mankind?
Peace be with you.
[1] Those who’ve compared the gospels with other writings from the period (few have survived) and with archaeological findings, have mostly concluded that Jesus was far more inclusive of women than his contemporaries. One Catholic nun has summed it up beautifully: “Jesus refuses to see women as inferior or unclean, and even makes them his disciples and reveals himself to them. His is a new model of how to treat women.” (Franciscan Media, Barbara Leonhard, OSF)
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