Lazarus of Bethany

Drawing of Lazarus by Lorenzo Ferri according to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heir 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 receive from the Roman authorities.

For Lazarus, by inheritance, is "mighty rich. A good part of the city (of Jerusalem) belongs to him as well as many lands of 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's misconduct lasts, Mary of Magdala (Magdalene),        
• Bethany where he takes refuge with his other sister Martha,    
• properties in Antioch in Syria, future bases of a flourishing Christian community,    
• orchards near Gaza; a property on the borders of the Samaria, the Fair Water, the 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 on"- have such a rich and powerful friend? Jesus explains it:      

"… Lazarus is an exception among the rich. Lazarus has reached that virtue which is very difficult to find on earth and even more difficult to practice and teach to others. The virtue of freedom from the riches."   

Character and Appearance

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

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

When Simon the Zealot (Apostle), the apostle from Bethany, introduces his neighbor Lazarus to him, Jesus discovers a very cultured man, who also reads a lot because of his illness, imbued with Hellenistic culture hated by the leaders of Israel: "He who initiates his son into Greek knowledge is like one who raises pigs" says the Talmud (Bara Kama f 82 b).

Jesus checks 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 instead encourages Lazarus in these secular readings that will help him "know the pagan world."
This remark about the pagans, which seems insignificant, 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 repurchased the house of his friend Simon, without bargaining on the price, so that the apostles and Jesus had lodging near him when they came to his region. Furthermore, due to the exorbitant demands of Doras, he also doubled the normal sum to buy back his servant slave Jonah. He arranged it so as not to take from Simon’s money, 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 had done so well by acting thus in secret." But Jesus, who says "I read hearts," knows it.

On this occasion, Jesus emphasizes Lazarus’s 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 did not hear my words. But I said: "When you do good, do it in secret, and your Father will reward you greatly." You acted by a natural impulse towards humility. And, in truth, I tell you that the Father is preparing for you a reward you cannot even imagine."    

"The redemption of Mary? ..."
"That is it, and more, still more." 

Life course

Pain over his sister’s waywardness

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

"Is he your friend Lazarus?" a Sanhedrin member (the cruel Doras) asks Jesus in surprise. "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 because of her misconduct, Lazarus loses all his friends, except a handful of the faithful: Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Simon the Zealot, his neighbor.  

His illness and death

The torments caused by his sister's misconduct add to Lazarus's health troubles. His illness, a gangrene, continues its inexorable progression. Lazarus' legs rot emitting a nauseating odor which his sister Martha tries to courageously endure and heal (aided by Mary after her conversion). Maria Valtorta notes 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 much to resign yourself and endure the pain. But you, give it a greater value."        

"Which one, 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 that, 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. (...)

Saving oneself? That is little. It is the "minimum" of holiness. It is beautiful to save, to give oneself to save, to push love to make oneself a blazing immolation to save. Then love is perfect. And very great will be the holiness of the generous one." 

"How beautiful all this is, isn't it, my sisters?" says Lazarus with a dreamy smile on his fine 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) that cause these sufferings to her brother:

Jesus, sincere to the end, says: "Certainly yes! (...) But this must not give you an anguish that burdens you, but rather the desire to become perfect because of what you have cost. And rejoice! Rejoice, for to have you, Lazarus has torn you from the devil..."
"...for (that), he has deserved from God a future reward through which nations and 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 stinks" says Martha to Jesus who returns too late to Bethany: Lazarus has been dead for four and a half days. His death moves "All Jerusalem", which is explained by the wealth and power of the deceased.

But the Sanhedrin especially came to enjoy Jesus' manifest powerlessness 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 by Maria Valtorta was contested by an expert of the Holy Office on the grounds that it would contradict John 11:30. This ignores the Jewish mourning laws (Shi'va) that 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 with a very powerful voice intoning the words, then seems to be in ecstasy, and finally shouts extremely loudly:

"Lazarus! Come out!" (...) Lazarus advances. (...) In the sunlight that envelops him, the bands seem here and there to let the rot flow (...) there is the rot that has flowed from the nose, ears, mouth. (...)"

His servants clean him and his sisters scream in surprise seeing his legs: the bandages had very abundant purulent discharge. But underneath, 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 for the purity of the heart. You have the advantage over children of already knowing the Good and Evil, and of having already known how to choose Good. You have been plunged into the flames kindled by love. You must be "love", to never again know anything but the loving embrace of God."
- "And by acting so, will I accomplish the mission for which you resurrected me?"
- "By acting so, you will accomplish it."

And in the eyes of the world:

"...I needed to convince by the resurrection of an already advanced decomposition the most obstinate unbelievers. And my apostles too, who, destined to carry my Faith into the world, needed to have a faith supported by miracles of the highest order."
"But the stench of the corpse, the rot of the bandages, the long stay in the tomb, left no doubt."

Once resurrected, Lazarus appears everywhere and "even in 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 has in Bethany, he takes Lazarus aside, announces to him his imminent Passion and formally orders him not to leave Bethany at the hour of the coming turmoil. He must welcome the disoriented apostles:

"... where will they go in their disarray? To Lazarus. … Gather them. Encourage them. Tell them 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 fidelity during the terrible trial of His Passion. Indeed, not being able to witness it to keep his promise to Jesus was even worse for Lazarus, who could only imagine his tortures without being able to comfort Him at the foot of the Cross.

But his prayers have 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 entrusts Lazarus with sending immediately 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 close to Jesus:

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

With the rising persecutions, Lazarus, like the family of Bethany, goes into exile:

"We certainly cannot say that Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were fearful beings. Yet you see that, although with extreme pain, they moved away from here to carry elsewhere the divine Word 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 aid. Historical reference: the son of Aaron who became high priest like him at his death.

Where is he mentioned in the work?

EMV 70 EMV 71 EMV 83 EMV 84 EMV 90
EMV 104 EMV 109 EMV 112 EMV 113 EMV 114 EMV 116 EMV 117 EMV 121 EMV 133 EMV 135 EMV 136 EMV 172 EMV 174 EMV 198 EMV 199
EMV 200 EMV 204 EMV 205 EMV 206 EMV 206 EMV 210 EMV 211 EMV 226 EMV 235 EMV 243 EMV 247 EMV 269 EMV 270 EMV 279 EMV 281 EMV 282 EMV 283
EMV 302 EMV 311 EMV 313 EMV 319 EMV 322 EMV 323 EMV 334 EMV 338 EMV 365 EMV 372 EMV 375 EMV 376 EMV 378 EMV 393
EMV 415 EMV 427 EMV 464 EMV 481 EMV 485 EMV 488
EMV 519 EMV 527 EMV 536 EMV 540 EMV 541 EMV 542 EMV 543 EMV 544 EMV 545 EMV 546 EMV 547 EMV 548 EMV 548 EMV 549 EMV 550 EMV 551 EMV 554 EMV 559 EMV 560 EMV 562 EMV 566 EMV 572 EMV 578 EMV 581 EMV 582 EMV 584 EMV 585 EMV 586 EMV 587 EMV 590 EMV 592 EMV 593 EMV 594 EMV 596 EMV 598
EMV 616 EMV 621 EMV 628 EMV 630 EMV 631 EMV 634 EMV 635 EMV 636 EMV 638 EMV 641 EMV 642 EMV 644 EMV 646 EMV 648 EMV 649

Learn more about this character

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

Several writings attest to the exile of Lazarus' family in Narbonese Gaul following rising 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 Ecclesiastici of Cardinal C. Baronius at the end of the 16th century, A.C. Emmerich at the beginning of the 19th century, etc... Sometimes it is necessary to distinguish, in abundant literature, what popular piety may have added as legendary facts to the traditional accounts.

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 after. He would therefore have died in 60. The Church celebrates him on July 29. His head is preserved in the ancient Major Cathedral 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 to Lyon.

Saint Jerome of Stridon mentions his tomb in Bethany, but it is probably that of his resurrection.