Lazarus of Bethany

Drawing of Lazarus by Lorenzo Ferri 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 a very wealthy man. A large part of the town [Jerusalem] belongs to him as well as much land 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 amongst the rich. Lazarus has been successful in achieving that most difficult virtue to be found on the earth, and even more difficult to be practised when it is recommended by other people. The virtue of freedom from wealth."

Character and appearance

Lazarus conducts himself with an "affable gentleman­ly manner, with the confidence of all men of high birth". He is in his early thirties. At about 1.65 m tall, he is not imposing:

"He is thin and pale, as I have always seen him, and tall; his short hair is neither thick nor curly, while his little sparse beard is confined to the lower part of his chin. He is wearing a snow white linen garment [...]"

When Simon the Zealot, 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.

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 ferment of evil or of spiritual gangrene", he encourages Lazarus in these secular readings which will help him "understand 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 say that! I thought I had arranged things so well and secretly." But Jesus, who says "I read into 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):

"«Shall I tell you why your natural goodness is touched by supernatural perfection? Because you are asking for a supernatural gift, the salvation of a soul, your own holiness and Martha’s. [...]

You did not hear My words. But I said: 'When you do a good deed, do it secretly, and the Father will give you a great reward'. You did it out of a natural inclination to humbleness. And I solemnly tell you that the Father is preparing for you a reward that you cannot even imagine.»

«Mary’s redemption?!…»

«That, and much, 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.

"Is Lazarus Your friend?" a Sanhedrist (the cruel Doras) asks Jesus. "You must not do that. Don’t You know that he is anathematized 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, 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 disgusting".

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 than that, My dear friend. It is a great thing to be resigned and bear sorrow. But you can give it greater value.»

«Which, my Lord?»

«Offer it for the redemption of men.»

«I am a poor man myself, 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 deeds of the just will be united to Mine in the hour of Redemption. [...]

than this ability to suffer and die to give glory to the Lord and eternal salvation to our brothers. To save ourselves for our own sake? It is very little. It is the “least” degree of holiness. It is beautiful to save other people, by sacrificing ourselves, to love to such an extent as to become a sacrificing fire to save our neighbour. Love is then perfect. And great will be the holiness of such generous souls.»

«How beautiful that is, isn’t it, sisters?» exclaims Lazarus with a dreamy smile on his thin 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, Who is sincere to the utmost, says: «Yes, Mary, you most certainly are! [...] But this must not cause a dull anguish to you, on the contrary it must urge your will to become perfect, for what you cost. And rejoice! Rejoice because of Lazarus, for snatching you from the demon…» [...] «… for snatching you from the demon, has deserved from God a future reward, whereby peoples 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. "He will certainly smell notwithstanding the ointments", 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!"

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!" [...] As the sun shines on him, putrid matter can be seen dripping already here and there from the bandages [...] there is matter that has certainly dripped from the nose, ears and 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 born again [...] You are a man and a child. A man by age, a child by the purity of your heart. You have the advantage over children of being already acquainted with Good and Evil, and of choosing Good even before your Baptism in the fire of love. [...] You have been immersed in the burning flames of love. You must be “love”, so that you may no longer know anything but the embrace of God."

- "And by doing so shall I fulfil the mission for which You have raised me from the dead?"

- "By doing so you will fulfil it."

And in the eyes of the world:

"[...] I needed to convince the most stubborn incredulous people by means of a resurrection from advanced rottenness. And also my apostles, destined to spread my Faithin the world, needed a faith supported by miracles of the first magnitude."

"But the stench of the corpse, the putrefaction of the bandages, the long period in the sepulchre left no doubts."

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 bewilderment? They will come to Lazarus. [...] Gather them. Encourage them. Tell them that I forgive them. I entrust you with the task of forgiving them on My behalf. They will not be able to set their minds at rest for running away. 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 it was in the darkness of My sepulchre. From the depth 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 you! He loves you! Be not afraid of 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, My friend Lazarus, you, Joseph, and you, Nicodemus, who took pity on the Christ when to do so might have been very dangerous."

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

"No one can certainly say that Lazarus, Mary and Martha were fearful people. And yet, you can see that, although with deep sorrow, they have gone away from here, to take His divine Word elsewhere, as here it would have been suffocated by the Judaeans."

This corroborates the tradition of their exile in Gaul.

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?

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

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.

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.