Paper 168 Overview: The Resurrection of Lazarus

The resurrection of Lazarus represents the supreme manifestation of divine power during Jesus' incarnation as the Son of Man, a pivotal moment where he deliberately orchestrated a public demonstration of his authority over death. After consciously deciding to delay his journey to Bethany following news of Lazarus's illness, Jesus created an opportunity for this unprecedented display of divine power. The narrative reveals remarkable cosmic coordination between Jesus' Personalized Adjuster and other celestial personalities in preparation for this event, which occurred on Thursday afternoon at approximately 2:30 PM, involving a vast assembly of celestial beings under Gabriel's direction.

The repercussions of this miracle were immediate and far-reaching, crystallizing both devotion among believers and implacable opposition among the Jewish leadership, particularly the Sanhedrin. Their response was unprecedented: a formal resolution to execute Jesus without trial, characterized by Caiaphas's pragmatic rationalization that "it is better that one man die, than that the community perish." The profound teachings on prayer that Jesus delivered to his apostles following the resurrection elucidated the complex relationship between finite petitions and infinite divine responses. Lazarus's subsequent life included his flight to Philadelphia to escape persecution, his role in the early church, and his eventual death at age sixty-seven from the same illness that had previously claimed his life in Bethany.

Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus arrived at Bethany, with his body having been interred late Sunday afternoon and the tomb sealed on Thursday morning prior to Jesus' arrival. Martha and Mary had dispatched a messenger to Jesus in Philadelphia when Lazarus first fell ill, confident that Jesus would intervene, perhaps even remotely through a spoken command to heal. When Lazarus died shortly after the messenger's departure, they presumed Jesus had received the news too late. Yet, they remained perplexed by the return message indicating his illness was "not really to the death," a statement seemingly contradicted by subsequent events.

The family's standing in the community was considerable; they were children of a wealthy and honorable Jewish family who owned extensive vineyards and olive orchards in the vicinity, their affluence further evidenced by their possession of a private burial tomb on their property. Many friends from Jerusalem and surrounding villages had gathered to comfort the grieving sisters, who responded differently to their loss. Mary succumbed to overwhelming grief while Martha maintained hope for Jesus' arrival, stationing a young boy on the eastern hill to watch for his approach. Upon receiving word of Jesus' imminent arrival, Martha rushed to meet him while Mary remained at the house, unaware of his presence until Martha secretly informed her that the Master had requested to see her.

When Martha encountered Jesus, she fell at his feet with words that balanced faith with implicit disappointment: "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus, lifting her up, responded with one of his most profound declarations: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live. In truth, whosoever lives and believes in me shall never really die." Martha affirmed her faith in Jesus as "the Deliverer, the Son of the living God," after which she hastened to inform Mary of Jesus' arrival. Mary's reaction mirrored her sister's, falling before Jesus and uttering the identical lament, prompting Jesus to comfort both sisters with "words of comfort and exhortation to maintain strong faith in the Father and complete resignation to the divine will."

Upon arriving at the burial cave, Jesus wept, a complex emotional response the narrative attributes to multiple factors: genuine human affection for Lazarus and his sisters; perturbation at the presence of hypocritical mourners who harbored murderous intentions toward him; and hesitation about returning Lazarus to mortal life, knowing the persecution he would face as living proof of Jesus' power. The narrative provides remarkable insight into the cosmic mechanics behind the resurrection, revealing that Jesus' Personalized Adjuster had issued orders for the retention of Lazarus's Thought Adjuster on the planet fifteen minutes before Lazarus expired, a directive recorded in universal archives well before his death. This cosmic preparation underscores the premeditated nature of the miracle, though the narrative leaves open the question of how much Jesus, in his human consciousness, anticipated this outcome.

As approximately forty-five mortals assembled before the tomb, they could dimly discern Lazarus's linen-wrapped form resting in the burial niche while, unseen to human eyes, a vast host of celestial beings assumed their positions under Gabriel's command. Jesus requested the removal of the stone sealing the tomb, prompting Martha's practical concern about decomposition after four days, a comment reflecting the common Jewish belief that the soul might linger near the body for three days but would certainly depart by the fourth when decay became evident. Jesus reminded her of his earlier assurance that this experience would reveal God's glory if she maintained her faith, after which the stone was removed by the apostles and willing neighbors.

After Jesus offered a prayer of gratitude to the Father, he called out with a powerful voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" In a mere twelve seconds of earth time, the celestial host coordinated an extraordinary materialization as Lazarus's form began to move, then sat up and finally stood at the entrance, still bound in grave cloths with his face covered by a napkin. Following Jesus' command to "Loose him and let him go," Lazarus greeted Jesus and the apostles in bewilderment, requiring Martha to explain that he had died on Sunday and was now restored to life on Thursday. This was a span of time he could not account for, as "time is nonexistent to those who sleep the sleep of death." The resurrection prompted polarized reactions: many fled in terror, some embraced belief in Jesus, while others hastened to report the event to his enemies in Jerusalem, accelerating the opposition that would culminate in his crucifixion.

The resurrection of Lazarus served as a catalyst, crystallizing faith among believers while intensifying the determination of Jesus' opponents to eliminate him. By one o'clock the following day, the Sanhedrin convened an emergency session to address what they perceived as an escalating threat to their religious authority and potentially to the nation's political stability. After more than two hours of acrimonious debate, a Pharisee proposed an unprecedented resolution calling for Jesus' immediate execution without trial, a flagrant violation of Jewish legal tradition that prompted fourteen members to resign their positions in protest rather than participate in such a perversion of justice.

Though these resignations were not formally processed for nearly two weeks, this marked the beginning of a purge that eventually removed nineteen members from the Sanhedrin, creating a body characterized by near-unanimous hostility toward Jesus. When Lazarus and his sisters were later summoned to testify, the Sanhedrin could not deny the reality of the resurrection but officially attributed it to "the power of the prince of devils," attempting to discredit the miracle while acknowledging its occurrence. It was during this deliberation that Caiaphas the high priest articulated the pragmatic rationale that would justify Jesus' execution: "It is better that one man die, than that the community perish." This was a calculation based on fear that Jesus' growing popularity would provoke Roman intervention. Jesus, informed of these developments, remained undisturbed and adhered to his planned itinerary, resting in Bethpage over the Sabbath before departing with his apostles for the Pella encampment on Sunday.

As they journeyed from Bethany to Pella, the apostles posed numerous questions to Jesus about resurrection and the nature of death, subjects he addressed selectively, recognizing certain matters transcended their comprehension. The disciples were particularly perplexed by the apparent contradiction between Jesus' earlier statement that Lazarus's illness was "not really to the death" and the reality that Lazarus had indeed died, remaining dead for four days before his restoration to life. This seeming inconsistency prompted Jesus to deliver profound teachings about the nature of prayer and divine response, a subject of perpetual significance to spiritual seekers.

Jesus delineated ten fundamental principles concerning prayer, elucidating the complex relationship between finite petitions and infinite responses: 1) that prayer represents a finite mind's attempt to approach the Infinite and is therefore constrained by mortal limitations; 2) that apparent delays in answering often result in superior outcomes from the divine perspective; 3) that some prayers are so expansive they require fulfillment in eternity; 4) that answers may await the petitioner's attainment of the spiritual capacity to receive them; 5) that prayers may be so distorted by ignorance or superstition that the actual answer becomes unrecognizable; 6) that all true prayer receives spiritual answers, as spirit beings cannot bestow material responses to spiritual petitions; 7) that sincere faith implicitly grants divine entities the prerogative to answer according to supreme wisdom rather than limited human desire; 8) that children may rightfully petition parents, while parents remain obligated to respond according to mature wisdom; 9) that answers to genuine spiritual longings remain "on deposit" awaiting the petitioner's future spiritual development; and 10) that all authentic spirit-born petitions will ultimately receive answers, though believers must factor the time-space element into their expectations of divine response.

Following his resurrection, Lazarus remained at his Bethany residence where he became a focal point of interest for both sincere believers and curious observers until the time of Jesus' crucifixion. The Jewish leadership, recognizing the compelling testimony Lazarus represented as living evidence of Jesus' miraculous power, determined that his elimination was necessary to their campaign against Jesus. They reasoned logically that executing Jesus would prove ineffective if the most dramatic manifestation of his power, a man publicly restored to life after four days in the tomb, remained alive to bear witness to his divine authority.

When Lazarus received warning of the Sanhedrin's decree condemning him to death, he promptly fled southward through Jericho and across the Jordan, continuing his journey until he reached Philadelphia where his friend Abner offered protection. Martha and Mary subsequently liquidated their Bethany properties and joined their brother in Perea, where Lazarus assumed the role of treasurer for the Philadelphia congregation. In this capacity, he became a staunch supporter of Abner in the theological controversies that later emerged between Abner and Paul, representing a significant schism in early Christian development between the Jerusalem church and more progressive interpretations of Jesus' teachings. Lazarus ultimately lived to the age of sixty-seven before succumbing to the same illness that had previously caused his death at Bethany, a poignant detail suggesting that his resurrection, while miraculous, did not fundamentally alter his mortal nature or provide immunity from his physical vulnerabilities.