RAISING OF LAZARUS DEFINITION SERIES

In actuality, it is not clear how many days before the Triumphal Entry the raising of Lazarus actually took place: the Gospel of John records that Jesus withdrew from the public eye to a village called Ephraim for some time before Passover (John 11:54), after which occurred the dinner at which Mary anointed Jesus’ feet. This feast celebrates Jesus’ power over death as it was so powerfully demonstrated in his calling Lazarus forth alive from his grave in Bethany. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the Saturday before Palm Sunday is celebrated as “Lazarus Saturday” (although because most Eastern churches follow the Julian calendar, the events from Lazarus Saturday up through and including Easter usually fall on a later date than they do in the West). If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.”Īnd one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, “Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, “What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

While the cleansing of the temple appears to be one of the triggering factors that led to the arrest-and eventually the crucifixion-of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John presents the raising of Lazarus as the proximate cause of Jewish leadership’s decision to try to put Jesus to death:īut some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

RAISING OF LAZARUS DEFINITION SERIES

The raising of Lazarus is an appropriate prelude to a celebration of Holy Week, both because it foreshadowed Jesus’ own coming resurrection and because it seems to have been a major cause in the series of events that led to his arrest and death.

Raising of lazarus definition