Lazarus of Bethany

Drawing of Lazarus by Lorenzo Ferri Salton according to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Lazarus is a man of the Jewish high society, son of a Syrian, Theophilus, local governor of the Province, and of Eucheria of Theophilus, a Judean of royal lineage. This explains the protection he and his properties benefit from by the Roman authorities.

For Lazarus, by inheritance, is "powerfully rich. A good part of the city (of Jerusalem) belongs to him as well as many lands in Palestine." He notably owns:        

• the Cenacle,        
• a property in Jerusalem outside the walls, near the Cedron,        
• Gethsemane, outside the city, on the Mount of Olives,  
• a rich palace in Jerusalem, guarded by Levi, which he deserts as long as his sister, Mary of Magdala (Magdalene), behaves improperly,        
• Bethany where he takes refuge with his other sister Martha,    
• properties in Antioch of Syria, future bases of a flourishing Christian community,    
• orchards near Gaza; a property at the borders of the Samaria, The Clear Water, first refuge of Jesus in the face of the hostility of his Enemies.        

This enumeration shows how many of Lazarus' properties serve as support for evangelization.        

How can Jesus, "who does not even have a stone to rest his head"- have such a rich and powerful friend? Jesus explains it:       

"... Lazarus is an exception among the rich. Lazarus has reached this virtue which is very difficult to find on earth and even more difficult to practice in order to teach it to others. The virtue of freedom with regard to riches".  

Character and appearance

Lazarus is "affable, distinguished and full of confidence like all men of great birth..." in his early thirties, about 1.65 m tall, he is not imposing:

"Always thin and pale, with short hair, not thick and without curls, shaved to the chin, dressed only in very white linen".        

When Simon the Zealot (Apostle), the apostle from Bethany, introduces his neighbor Lazarus, Jesus discovers a highly cultured person, reading a lot also due to his illness, imbued with Hellenistic culture detested by the rulers of Israel: "He who initiates his son into the science of the Greeks resembles him who raises pigs" says the Talmud (Bara Kama f 82 b).

Jesus verifies that these readings do not distance him from God, nor from His law, and do not trouble his Soul. Noticing that he does not have "the leaven of evil and spiritual gangrene," he encourages Lazarus in these secular readings which will help him "know the pagan world."
This remark on the pagans, which seems innocent, is related to the tradition that makes Lazarus the evangelizer of the Greek city of Massalia (Marseille).

Jesus recognizes his goodness and thanks him: Lazarus anonymously redeemed the house of his friend Simon, without disputing the price, so that the Apostles and Jesus would be hosted near him when they come to his region. Furthermore, because of the exorbitant demands of Doras, he also doubled the normal sum to redeem his servant slave Jonas. He arranged not to take from Simon’s funds in order to give him the pleasure of helping Jesus and his poor greatly. He wanted to act in secret, "Oh! Don’t tell! I thought I was doing so well to act thus and in secret." But Jesus, who says "I read in hearts", knows it.

On this occasion, Jesus emphasizes Lazarus’ humility and the value of his prayer asking for spiritual Graces (and not only material or physical benefits, such as his healing):

"Do you want me to tell you why the goodness you already have naturally is tinged with a supernatural perfection? It is because you ask for a supernatural gift: you ask for the salvation of a Soul at the same time as your holiness and that of Martha.     

... You have not heard my words. But I said: "When you do good, do it in secret, and the Father will greatly reward you". You acted by a natural impulse towards humility. And, in truth, I tell you that the Father is preparing for you a reward that you cannot even imagine."    

"The redemption of Mary? ..."
"That’s it, and more, much more." 

Life journey

Pain for the waywardness of his sister

Although Lazarus belongs to high society, he is excluded from it: he is a mixed-blood Judean-Syrian, protected by the Roman invaders, brother of the one who was initially the very scandalous Mary of Magdala (Magdalene).

"Is Lazarus your friend?" a Sanhedrist (the cruel Doras) wonders to Jesus. "But you must not! Don’t you know he is anathema because his sister Mary is a prostitute?"

It is rather a dissolute life for Mary Magdalene: she burns her life in the company of successive lovers. But due to her misconduct, Lazarus loses all his friends, except a handful of faithful: Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Simon the Zealot (Apostle), his neighbor.  

His illness and death

The torments caused by his sister’s misconduct add to Lazarus’s health problems. His illness, gangrene, continues its inexorable progress. Lazarus’s legs rot, giving off a nauseating odor which his sister Martha bravely tries to endure while caring for him (helped by Mary after her conversion). Maria Valtorta emphasizes that his wounds are particularly "frightening and repulsive".

At first revolted by the idea of dying, he comes to understand the meaning of sacrifice and to desire it. Jesus says to him about this:

"Do more, my friend. It is already a lot to resign yourself and endure the pain. But you, give it a greater value."        

"What, my Lord?"       "Offer it for the redemption of men."
"I am a poor man, too, Master. I cannot aspire to be a redeemer."       

"You say so, but you are wrong. God became Man to help men. But men can help God. The works of the just will be united with mine at the hour of Redemption. (...)

To Save oneself? It is little. It is a "minimum" of holiness. It is good to save, to give oneself to save, to push love to become a blaze of immolation to save. Then love is perfect. And very great will be the holiness of the one who is generous." 

"How good all this is, isn’t it, my sisters?" says Lazarus with a dreamy smile on his delicate face.  

But the sufferings and mortifications serve for the long-awaited conversion of Mary Magdalene. She asks Jesus if it is she (and her conversion) who cost these sufferings to her brother:

Jesus, sincere to the end, says: "Certainly Yes! (...) But this must not give you an anguish that weighs you down, but rather the desire to become perfect because of what you have cost. And rejoice! Rejoice because, to have you, Lazarus tore you from the demon..."
"...for that, he deserved from God a future reward thanks to which nations and the Angels will speak of him (...)"

Despite the supplication of Martha and Mary, Jesus seems powerless to save his friend from death: Lazarus dies after a terrible agony. "Lord, he smells," says Martha to Jesus who returned too late to Bethany: Lazarus had been dead for 4 and a half days. His death moves "All Jerusalem", explained by the wealth and power of the deceased.

But the Sanhedrin mostly came to mock the manifest powerlessness of Jesus to save his friend. For them, his "imposture" is unmasked. Some even demand to see the body to be sure there will be no trickery.
However, it is indeed a body in decomposition that Jesus will publicly resurrect:

"Lazarus! come out!"

Nota bene: The description of Maria Valtorta was contested by an expert of the Holy Office on the ground that it would contradict John 11:30. This disregards the Jewish Mourning laws (Shiva) which Maria Valtorta’s account perfectly integrates.

His Resurrection

It is the most powerful miracle of the three years of Jesus' public life, in the presence of many witnesses and personalities, friends or enemies.

He prays to the Father in a very powerful voice, chanting the words, then appears in Ecstasy, and finally shouts extremely loudly:

"Lazarus! Come out!" (...) Lazarus comes forward. (...) In the sunlight that envelops him, the bandages seem here and there to let the rot flow (...) there is putrefaction flowing from the nose, ears, mouth. (...)"

His servants clean him, and his sisters cry out in surprise seeing his legs: the bandages have absorbed very abundant purulent discharge. But beneath, the gangrene wounds are completely healed.
The meaning of his resurrection is later given to him by Jesus:

- "You who are newly born,... You are a man and you are a child. You are a man by age, you are a child by the purity of your Heart. You have the advantage over children of already knowing Good and Evil, and having already known how to choose Good. You have been plunged into the flames kindled by love. You must be 'love', so as never to know anything other than the loving embrace of God."
- "And in acting thus, will I accomplish the Mission for which you resurrected me?"
- "By acting thus, you will accomplish it."

And in the eyes of the world:

"...I needed to convince the most obstinate unbelievers by the resurrection of an already advanced putrefaction. And my Apostles also, who were destined to carry my Faith into the world, needed to possess a faith supported by miracles of the first magnitude."
"But the stench of the corpse, the rot of the bandages, the long stay in the tomb did not leave Doubt."

Lazarus, once resurrected, appears everywhere and "as far as Syria". He arouses curiosity and apprehension everywhere, but at the same time publicly manifests the power of Jesus.

Refuge for the Apostles who will flee

After the last meal Jesus takes in Bethany, he takes Lazarus aside, announces his imminent Passion and formally orders him not to leave Bethany at the hour of the approaching turmoil. He must host the disoriented Apostles:

"... where will they go in their despair? To Lazarus. … Gather them. Give them courage. Tell them that I forgive them. I entrust you with my forgiveness for them. They will have no Peace because of their flight. Tell them not to fall into a greater sin by despairing of my forgiveness."

Appearance of the Risen Jesus

He comes to thank him for his faithfulness in this terrible trial of his Passion. Indeed, not witnessing it to keep his promise to Jesus was even worse for Lazarus, who could only imagine his torments without being able to comfort Him at the foot of the Cross.

But his prayers played a great role:

"Your spirit was at the foot of my Cross and was in the darkness of my Tomb. You called me earlier, like all those who have totally loved me, from the depths where I was (...)" 

Jesus instructs Lazarus to immediately send the Apostles he has gathered to the house of the Last Supper, which he does shouting and crying with joy:

 "Go! Go! He wants to see you! He loves you! Do not fear him... Oh! he is more than ever the Lord, the Goodness, the Love!" 

Ascension of Christ

At the Ascension, he is called very close to Jesus:

"You, Lazarus, my friend. You, Joseph, and you, Nicodemus, full of pity for the Christ when it could have been very dangerous".

With the emerging persecutions Lazarus, like the Bethany Family, goes into exile:

"One cannot certainly say that Lazarus, Mary and Martha were fearful creatures. You see, however, that, as good as with extreme pain, they moved away from here to carry the divine Word elsewhere, which here would have been stifled by the Jews".

This corroborates the tradition of their exile in Gaul (see below).

His name

Lazarus is the Greek form of Eleazar [Èl'azar] which means God has helped or God comes to help. Historical reference: the son of Aaron who became high priest like him at his death.

Where is he mentioned in the work?

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Learn more about this character

Extracts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, According to Maria Valtorta (Msgr. René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):

Several writings attest to the exile of the Lazarus Family in Narbonese Gaul following the emerging persecutions and the appointment of Lazarus as bishop of Marseille where he died. Among them: The Golden Legend by Jacques de Voragine in the 13th century, the Annales ecclésiastiques of Cardinal C. Baronius at the end of the 16th century, A.C. Emmerich at the beginning of the 19th century, etc... It is sometimes necessary to distinguish, in an abundant literature, what popular piety may have added, in legendary facts, to the accounts of tradition.    

Epiphanius (4th century) writes that it was tradition to believe that Lazarus was 30 years old when he was resurrected and that he lived another 30 years. He would therefore have died in 60. The Church celebrates him on July 29. His head is kept in the ancient cathedral of the Major in Marseille.    

Until the 3rd century, the other bishoprics recognized Marseille as the place of the "first" Church of Gaul. This primacy of the port of Marseille then passed to Arles, then Lyon.        

Saint Jerome of Stridon indicates his tomb in Bethany, but this is undoubtedly that of his resurrection.

Notes and references

Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.

Place located in Jerusalem where Jesus celebrated Passover with his Apostles and instituted the Eucharist on the eve of his death (from Latin cenaculum: dining room). This place became the first Church at the request of the Virgin Mary.

Person who is not religious or a non-religious affair.