6. Raising Lazarus from the Dead Flashcards
- Beginning
- Sign begins with Lazarus dying, who is the brother of Martha and Mary (2 friends of Jesus)
- There is an element of theatre to this miracle…
- Jesus can heal at a distance with just a word. Jesus can heal at a distance
- Jesus does not heal Lazarus and waits 2 more days so that Lazarus actually dies before Jesus reaches Bethany.
- Jesus’ Motives
- JC has already healed the sick and the blind
- He has something greater in mind that will glorify God and himself as Son of God (the ultimate statement of God’s power and love)
- Response From Jewish Authorities
- Final straw for Jewish authorities
- Jesus predicts the coming Darkness of his crucifixion when the Light appears to be extinguished.
- The Sanhedrin are told by the high priest that they “know nothing at all” and that it is “better for you that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish”
- Martha
• Jesus is met by Martha
• J’s Gospel presents Martha as more confident but less insightful than Mary
• Martha believes in life after death (a belief shared with Pharisees but not Sadducees). But she appears to blame Jesus for being late.
• Jesus states: “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”.
• Jesus tells Martha that Eternal Life is available here-and-now for those who believe in Jesus. (Martha is one of two people who recognise Jesus as ‘Son of God’ in his lifetime)
• Dodd: Jesus preaches a ‘Realised Eschatology’
- Jesus teaches that Judgement Day, Heaven and Hell are happening right now.
- Mary and Emotions
• Mary arrives who is more emotionally destressed.
• Within this passage there is the shortest verse: ‘Jesus wept’
- This expresses JC’s humanity.
- Brown: the phrase could mean ‘angry’ as well as sad.
• Jesus is not just weeping for Lazarus, but for all of humanity.
- God created humans to be immortal so for Jesus it is deeply troubling to see death.
- Jewish people believe he is crying for Lazarus. However, he is also crying for them (they are spiritually blind to this)
- Browne
- Browne: 17th century doctor who summed up the Christian response to death in an interesting way: “I am not so much afraid of death as ashamed of it”
- Browne examined dead bodies and was struck by the indignity and horror of death and decay.
- Christians: believe humans are in the image of God so death is an expression of their Fall that has cut them off from God (Jesus is here to re-connect)
- Cave
• Cave: with the stone over it foreshadows the tomb where Jesus will be buried
- Jesus’ Tomb will be opened after 3 days (Lazarus: 4)
• Tomb opens, and Jesus cries out to Lazarus, bringing him back to life
• Brown: points out that the expression “cried out” is used again when Jesus is being tried by Pontius Pilate and on 4 occasions the mob “cry out” for Jesus to be crucified.
- Irony of this: Jesus cries out for life while his enemies cry out for death
- Life
- Lazarus has been brought back to life, but it is only physical life (bios)
- This is not like Jesus’ Resurrection, where Jesus is raised to anew supernatural life (zoe).
• That’s why Lazarus emerges wearing his grace clothes – he will need them again one day when he dies…
- When Disciples find Jesus’ empty tomb , Christ has left his clothes behind.
- Implications
• Brown: argues that the entirety of John’s Gospel has a hidden meaning to it
- It refers to the experiences of the Johannine Community: they were thrown out of the Synagogues by fellow Jews for believing Jesus to be Son of God.
• Lazarus symbolises the Johannine Community for many reasons…
- Like Lazarus, the Community was ‘sick’ when it was a despised sect.
- The Community ‘died’ when it was rejected
- It was cut off from its friends and family (tomb)
Summary
- Beginning
- Jesus’ Motives
- Response From Jewish Authorities
- Martha
- Mary and Emotions
- Browne
- Cave
- Life
- Implications
