,Study Aid

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is one of the most dramatic miracles in the Gospel of John.

• This incident, according to John, leads to Jesus's arrest and execution because it causes many to believe in him, concerning local authorities about Roman oppression.
• The Gospel of John (chapters 11-12) details Lazarus of Bethany's sickness, death, and resurrection. He is the brother of Mary and Martha.
• Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus's feet, a story sometimes conflated with Mary Magdalene or the sinful woman in Luke.
• Jesus delays his arrival in Bethany, stating Lazarus's sickness is for God's glory.
• Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days when Jesus arrived.
• Martha expresses faith, and Jesus declares himself "the resurrection and the life," one of seven "I am" statements unique to John's Gospel, implying divinity.
• Jesus weeps at the tomb, then commands Lazarus to come forth. Lazarus emerges, still bound in grave clothes, and Jesus tells them to release him.
• The aftermath: Jewish leaders plot to kill Jesus and Lazarus due to the miracle's impact.
• Lazarus is not mentioned in Mark or Matthew.
• Luke's Gospel has a parable of a poor beggar named Lazarus, distinct from the wealthy Lazarus of Bethany.

• The Gospel of John (Fourth Gospel):
• Differs from Mark, Matthew, and Luke (the Synoptics) in content, theological emphasis, chronology, and style.
• No parables in John; Jesus speaks in short, pithy statements in the Synoptics.
• Traditionally attributed to the Apostle John, equated with the "beloved disciple."
• Scholarly consensus suggests the beloved disciple's name is never revealed, nor is the gospel explicitly attributed to John.
• John 21 describes the beloved disciple, with traditions suggesting he would live until the Second Coming.
• The text suggests multiple authorship/editorship: an original writer, John 1 (a subtle theologian with a spiritualized eschatology), and John 2 (a less subtle editor with a literalist view of the Second Coming and re-emphasis on physical practices like baptism and eucharist).
• Evidence of multiple endings (Chapter 20 and Chapter 21) supports this.
• Ancient scribal practices allowed for easy expansion and alteration of texts.
• The story of the woman taken in adultery is a later interpolation into John.
• The Epistle of Jude was expanded and reworked into 2 Peter, demonstrating how texts were reused and attributed.
• The Signs Gospel:
• A hypothetical earlier source text for the Gospel of John, proposed by Rudolf Bultmann.
• Consisted primarily of seven "signs" (miracles) performed by Jesus to prove he is the Messiah:
• Water into wine.
• Healing an official's son.
• Huge catch of fish.
• Feeding of the five thousand.
• Raising of Lazarus.
• Blind man given sight.
• Crippled man healed.
• Also likely included a Passion and Resurrection story.
• The Lazarus story and water into wine miracle are central to this hypothetical Signs Gospel but absent from the Synoptics.
• The Beloved Disciple:
• Figures in six episodes in John.
• Possible identities:
• An anonymous long-lived member of the Johannine community who knew the historical Jesus.
• A symbolic figure representing the reader, with the intention for the reader to identify as "beloved."
• Lazarus, as Jesus explicitly loved him, and he is called "he whom you love."
• The anonymity is a point of scholarly debate.
• Lazarus and Other Gospels/Traditions:
• No explicit mention of Lazarus in Mark or Matthew.
• Luke's parable of Lazarus the beggar (distinct from John's Lazarus) raises questions of connection due to the shared name and themes of sickness and death/afterlife.
• The Anointing at Bethany: In Mark, an unnamed woman anoints Jesus at Simon the Leper's house. In Luke, an unnamed sinful woman anoints Jesus in Galilee. John places it at Lazarus's home with Mary.
• Secret Gospel of Mark: A disputed letter from Clement of Alexandria describes a "Secret Mark" that includes a Lazarus-like story, equating Mark's "young man with the linen cloth" with Lazarus. This version of the Lazarus story has parallels to the Egyptian Osiris myth.
• Resurrection and Afterlife:
• Resurrection was not originally a core belief in First Temple Judaism (Old Testament) and was denied by some Jewish sects (Sadducees) during Jesus's time.
• Influences from Persian religions (Zoroastrianism) and potentially Egyptian myths (Osiris) likely contributed to the development of resurrection beliefs in Second Temple Judaism.
• The Osiris myth shares striking parallels with the Lazarus story: death, being wrapped in linen, four days in the tomb, mourning by two sisters, calling forth from the tomb, and needing to be unwrapped.
• Early Christians, including Paul, largely believed in a literal, imminent Second Coming and resurrection.
• John 1, the sophisticated author of John, offers a spiritualized interpretation of resurrection as a present, spiritual rebirth in Christ, contrasting with the literalist views of many early Christians and John 2.
• Modern Interpretations:
• The Lazarus story can be interpreted literally, as a historical event and a sign of future literal resurrection.
• It can also be interpreted spiritually, as by John 1, emphasizing spiritual rebirth in the present.
• The concept of "born again" in modern Christianity has roots in John's Gospel, though interpretations vary between symbolic baptism and a personal spiritual experience.
• Scholars often view the Lazarus story as a literary creation rather than a historical account due to its lack of attestation outside John.
• Differences in gospel accounts often lead to attempts to "glom" characters or events together, but scholars often prefer to treat them as distinct narratives.