Lazarus Saturday

This coming Saturday, we commemorate the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  The Gospel account is only found in the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 11.

It is an important account for us in this world, for it tells us much about the God we serve, about His heart and His love for us.  In the Gospel of Saint John, the Evangelist records that this was "Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha."  Why is Saint John careful to reference Lazarus to these two women?

We find the answer not in the Gospel of Saint John, but in the Gospel of Saint Luke.  There, in Chapter 10 we find the account of Jesus going to the home of these sisters.  Saint Luke records, "He entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word."  It was characteristic in that time for the men to gather for teaching, but the women would be left to serve.  It is for this reason that Martha complained to the Lord.  "She approached Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore, tell her to help me.'"  We can understand the plea!  And yet Jesus, in what had to be a surprising statement for the time, rebuked Martha, saying, "You are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." 

One thing is needful!  Only one thing!!  And that is attaining salvation.  In the Orthodox sense, it is called Theosis, becoming like God, emulating Him so that we approach Him in as many ways as we can while we dwell upon this earth.  Mary has chosen that part of 'serving' - serving the needs of her soul first.  And Jesus refuses to take from her (or from anyone with such a heart) the answer to their prayer of hearing His voice, listening to His words, and following His commandments.

Saint John records, "It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair."  This statement is often used to confuse this Mary with one of the other women who also did this service to our Lord.  Saint John Chrysostom teaches that this is NOT the harlot mentioned in Matthew 26:7.  We know this because of the testimony of Saint Matthew, who is careful to note where and how that anointing happened, as he writes, "When Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table."  The house of Simon the leper, not that of Martha or Mary.  And the oil was placed on the Lord's head, not His feet.   The other similar account happens in Luke Chapter 37.  But there we also have careful evidence from Saint Luke to show this to be yet a different woman, as he records, "And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil."  This is the account we remember at the Bridegroom Matins service of Holy Wednesday (celebrated on Tuesday evening) in the "Hymn of Cassia", the woman who "had fallen into many sins."

Saint John Chrysostom contends that Mary here is "grave and earnest," not full of "many vices," but filled with love for the Lord.

And so we find that the sisters love Jesus, and He in turn loves not only them, but also their brother, Lazarus.

God loved them!  Why, then, did He allow Lazarus to die?

The Gospels show us plainly that Jesus knows what is happening to Lazarus.  Saint John records in Chapter 11, "When He heard that he (Lazarus) was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was."  Saint John records that Mary and Martha had sent messages to Jesus to ask Him to come and help.  But He did not yet come.  Jesus finally says to His Apostles, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."  And the Apostles did not understand.  It took our Lord's becoming brutally frank with them to awaken them from their spiritual slumber as He said to them, "Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe." 

Jesus allows Lazarus to die.  Not only to die, but to be dead for four days - longer than even He will spend in the tomb.  Lazarus' body is already decaying, because the stench of death overwhelms the entry to the tomb where they have placed him to such an extent that the people warn Jesus not to go near it.

But God the Son, God the Word, He who created us goes to reclaim what is His.  He shows clearly that death has no power over His authority.  He does this on this day, one week prior to His own sojourn in the tomb, so that those who love Him will have faith to hold until He too arises from the tomb!

How can we not enter this week with fear and trembling at the power of our God!  How can the heart remain hard, or the eye without a tear over our state of fallenness?  Even our God, when He comes to the tomb of Lazarus, weeps for what He beholds as the fallen state of His creation!

As we come to this weekend, to the tomb of Lazarus, to the cheering crowds in the streets of Jerusalem who shout, "Hosanna!", which means, "Save now!", let us open our hearts to walk with Him, to remain with Him, to watch with Him, to stand at the Cross near Him, to be with Joseph and Nicodemus as they carry His lifeless body and lovingly entomb It, so that we may also be found worthy to be amongst those loving and faithful myrrhbearers who will be the first to hear the joyous words of the angel, "He is not here.  He is risen!"