Lazarus of Bethany

Lazarus of Bethany appears in the New Testament’s Gospel of John, where Jesus brings him back to life four days after his death. This event is counted among Jesus’s miracles. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, he is honored as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead. Later details of his life differ between Eastern Orthodox and Catholic traditions.

Raising of Lazarus

Within John’s sequence of seven signs, the raising of Lazarus in Bethany—now the West Bank town of Al-Eizariya, meaning “the place of Lazarus”—serves as the story’s climax. It demonstrates Jesus’s power over death, “the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity,” and is therefore given a central place in the gospel. The name Lazarus appears often in science and culture to describe a return to life.

Conflation with the beggar Lazarus

Examples include the Lazarus taxon (organisms that vanish from the fossil record and later reappear), the Lazarus sign, and Lazarus syndrome. A North Korean cybercrime group is called Lazarus Group, and the name appears in many literary works. A separate character named Lazarus appears in the Gospel of Luke’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In that story, both men die; the rich man, suffering in hell, begs Lazarus to comfort him.

The raising of Lazarus is recounted in John 11:1–44 and also in a fragment of an extended version of Mark known as the Secret Gospel of Mark. In John, it is the last miracle Jesus performs before his passion, crucifixion, and own resurrection. The narrative introduces Lazarus as a follower of Jesus living in Bethany near Jerusalem, brother of Mary and Martha.

The sisters send word that Lazarus is sick. Jesus says the sickness will not end in death but will glorify God. He waits two days before traveling. When the disciples fear returning to Judea, Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep and he will wake him.

Narrative

He clarifies that Lazarus is dead and that he is glad he was not there, so the disciples may believe. Arriving, Jesus finds Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. Martha says if Jesus had been there, her brother would not have died.

Jesus replies, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.” Martha affirms her belief. Mary repeats the same lament. The narrator notes, “Jesus wept.”

At the tomb, Jesus asks for the stone to be removed. Martha warns of the smell. Jesus responds, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” The stone is rolled away. Jesus prays, thanking the Father for hearing him, and calls, “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus emerges wrapped in grave-cloths.

Jesus tells others to remove them and let him go. Many witnesses believe; others report the event to religious authorities in Jerusalem. John 12 mentions Lazarus again. Six days before the Passover of Jesus’s crucifixion, Jesus returns to Bethany, where Lazarus attends a supper served by Martha.

Many Jews come to see both Jesus and Lazarus, and the chief priests consider killing Lazarus because his miracle draws so many believers. This miracle, the longest continuous narrative in John outside the Passion, is the culmination of John’s “signs.” It explains the crowds on Palm Sunday and leads directly to the decision of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin to put Jesus on trial. A similar resurrection story appears in the Secret Gospel of Mark, though the young man is unnamed. Some scholars think the Secret Mark version may be an earlier form of the canonical story.