The Day Lazarus Was Raised

Historically it seems clear, or at least likely, that the day before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was the day on which he raised Lazarus from the dead. The only Gospel that records the raising of Lazarus is St. John (the eleventh chapter), though it is possible that Matthew’s enigmatic reference of what happened when Jesus died (“the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many”), itself at least anachronistic in one respect, namely that in referring to those being raised going into the holy city after the resurrection, he might have had Lazarus in mind. Perhaps the synoptic evangelists chose not to include Lazarus or this event because at the time they wrote he was still alive, in which case the report could have caused unnecessary trouble for him. In any event, it was John who saw fit to include this important piece of history, and likely the time frame of it as well. It serves to provide a possible explanation of why such large crowds were present on Palm Sunday, the next day. This was a catalyst for Jesus’ Passion, since it stirred up his enemies all the more, as most certainly his cleansing of the temple immediately after the triumphal entry also would have done (this sequence of events is also provided only by St. John). But by reporting that the raising of Lazarus occurred the day before Jesus’ Passion, John also provides an important connection between the raising of Lazarus and Jesus’ own Passion, death, and resurrection. It was because of what would transpire during holy week that Lazarus was bodily raised from the dead, though in his case it was only a return to mortal life. Still, Lazarus provides a stunning confirmation of Jesus’ promise, also made in John 11, to Martha: (“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” This confirms the promise not only for Lazarus, who had to face his own mortality a second time, but of course for us. A great day indeed!