Delve Into Jesus : Questions : Lazarus And Jesus

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I've consulted 4 bible commentaries and none of them have made a direct connection between the resurrection of Lazarus and Jesus' own resurrection. Instead, it appears that Jesus, through this resurrection and the others during His ministry, is establishing a pattern of His ability to overcome death and to elicit the faith of his followers through this very powerful demonstration of His power.

arsindelve- 8/12/2007 9:46:23 PM

To be more specific, Jesus waited a full four days so that it would be beyond doubt that Lazarus was dead; in fact, when Jesus got there and told them to roll the stone away from the grave covering, the people complained that there would most certainly be a foul smell. Jesus didn't want anyone to be able to say "he was just sleeping", because raising a man from the dead would bring more glory to God than merely preventing him from dying. Plus, it would be much more impressive!

It is possible that Jesus did not want people to confuse Lazarus' death with the prophecy about his own death, that he would be raised on the third day. Perhaps he wanted to avoid some fanatic movement that proclaimed Lazarus as the messiah...but I think his motivation was more for the aforementioned reasons, even if he had taken this possibility into account.

anonymous- 10/28/2007 10:43:41 PM

What about Luke 7:11-13? Jesus raised the boy from death before he was buried. And the little girl in Luke 8:51-55. Just showing His power, but in every case they were raised because of His compassion for their family members.

mrspiggy- 2/21/2008 1:17:43 PM

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