7 Aspects of the Miracle by Jesus when He raised Lazarus -This wonderful miracle terrified those who opposed Jesus.
IN BRIEF:
7 ASPECTS OF THE MIRACLE BY JESUS WHEN HE RAISED LAZARUS FROM DEATH TO LIFE:
1. By the will of Christ and the strength of His Word, the soul of Lazarus was joined back into his body.
2. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead AND brought life back into every part of his being, completely healing his ravaged and decomposing body.
3. Even though Lazarus was tightly bound up with wrappings around his hands and feet, Jesus raised him up off and out of his burial place.
4. The head of Lazarus was also wrapped in a cloth and he could not even see where he was going, but he quickly moved to the door of his tomb.
5. Jesus eliminated the stench and gave him new life, renewing his skin, flesh, muscles, and bones, replacing the ravaged or missing parts of his body.
6. Many skeptical people came to see if Jesus could bring Lazarus back to life and His healing of Lazarus was so convincing that no one could say it did not happen.
7. This miracle was so dramatic that the temple leaders felt very afraid that there would be a massive conversion of the Jews if Jesus was not stopped.
EXPLANATION:
7 ASPECTS OF THE MIRACLE BY JESUS WHEN HE RAISED LAZARUS. Many people do not realize how great the raising of Lazarus was, and how important and instrumental it was in helping to spread faith in Jesus Christ. The followers of Jesus needed miracles of the first magnitude in order to convince the skeptics that Jesus was and is God. The raising and cure of Lazarus, who had been in the sepulcher for four days, was one of the most convincing miracles of Jesus. Jesus knew this and prayed for this before the miracle.
John 11 says: Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you for hearing Me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent Me. (Jn. 11:41-42).
There are seven interesting aspects of the miracle involved in the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The raising of Lazarus was much more amazing than when Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus to life, who was still in the bed where she died a few hours earlier (Mt. 9:18FF; Mk. 5:21ff). And it was also much more dramatic than when He raised the son of the widow of Nain (Lk. 7:11ff). No one could say that Lazarus was sleeping, as people tried to say about the other two people whom He raised from the dead.
Lazarus had a terrible disease when he died and he was in a sepulcher rotting with a horrible stench. The door to the sepulcher was completely covered by a tightly fitting stone. Jesus ordered the stone to be removed and he ordered Lazarus to come out of his tomb. He said loudly: Lazarus come out (Jn.11:43). If He did not say the name of Lazarus, many of the dead would probably have come out of their graves, not just Lazarus.
HERE ARE THE 7 ASPECTS OF THE MIRACLE BY JESUS WHEN HE RAISED LAZARUS FROM DEATH TO LIFE:
- By the will of Christ and the strength of His Word, the soul of Lazarus was joined back into his body.
- Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead AND brought life back into every part of his being. He completely healed his ravaged and decomposing body. This was especially strong evidence to prove that Jesus could do anything.
John 11 says: Martha said: Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days (Jn. 11:39).
- Even though Lazarus was tightly bound up with sepulcher wrappings around his hands and feet, Jesus raised Lazarus up off or out of his burial place.
John 11 says: The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, Untie him and let him go (Jn. 11:44).
- The head of Lazarus was also wrapped in a cloth and he could not even see where he was going. But, without walking, he quickly moved to the door of his tomb carried merely by the command of Christ. Lazarus stood there in view of everyone and Jesus ordered the people to remove the wrappings which would have been discolored from the illness he had.
- Jesus eliminated the stench and gave him new life, renewing his skin, flesh, muscles, and bones, replacing the disfigured, ravaged, or missing parts of his body.
- The raising of Lazarus was a type of miracle that many of skeptical people came to see if Jesus could bring Lazarus back to life. The healing of Lazarus was so dramatic and convincing that no one could say it did not happen or that he never really died. Or that the many witnesses were delusional or drunk.
John 11 says: Now MANY of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what He had done began to believe in Him.
- This miracle was so convincing that the temple leaders felt very afraid that there would be a massive conversion of the Jews if Jesus was not stopped.
John 11 says:So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This Man is performing many signs. If we leave Him alone, ALL will believe in Him… So from that day on they planned to kill him (Jn. 11:47-53).
IN SUMMARY: This was one of most powerful miracles of Jesus where multitudes of people witnessed it and many people including some of the leaders were converting and believing in Jesus. Many must have said that truly Jesus is God and Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. This is proven by the fact that the leaders saw many people being convinced that Jesus was (and is) God. They felt so threatened by Him that they had an emergency meeting and plotted how they could bring Roman authorities to crucify Him.
John 11 says: Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we leave Him alone, all will believe in Him… (Jn. 11:45-47).
WHAT GREAT JOY THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS MUST HAVE FELT, ESPECIALLY THE SISTERS OF LAZARUS: MARTHA AND MARY!
A possible reason the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) did not include the raising of Lazarus: These gospels were written close enough to the event that mentioning it in those accounts (and thus giving it greater publicity than it had already had), in addition to specifically naming Lazarus, Mary, and Martha (who could all have still been alive), might have subjected them to more persecution, since it was such a convincing proof of Jesus’s identity as the Son of God. However, by the time St. John wrote his gospel (toward the end of his long life), that consideration would no longer have applied, leaving John free to include the event in his account.
REASONS MIRACLES AND VISIONARIES ARE NECESSARY: They can sometimes help many people to pray more, to know how much God loves us, and to highlight Biblical teachings that the world has ignored or is suppressing. Vatican Council I issued a decree confirming that miracles are necessary to prove the credibility of Christianity. Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA, said the following in a homily on EWTN on April 8, 2016: An article of the Christian faith is that miracles are necessary to make our faith believable or Miracles are necessary to make the Christian faith to be credible. During the time that Jesus was on earth, miracles confirmed the truth of the Gospels. Gamaliel, a Pharisee and teacher of the law respected by all the people, said in Acts 5:34-39, there were others who had a following at the time of Jesus but they faded away. In contrast, the truth of Jesus was confirmed by the miracles that Jesus performed. In an article by Fr. John Hardin entitled Christ the Miracle Worker in the Eucharist, he said: Christ continues to perform miracles in our own day and they are necessary to make our own faith credible. Please do not forget this statement is an article of the Catholic faith. Fr. Joseph added on April 17, 2016 that this comes from a decree issued by Vatican Council I confirming that miracles prove the credibility of Christianity. Also, miracles are required for beatifications and canonizations.
NOTE: Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA, is EWTN Chaplain and Administrator, Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.
LAZARUS IS A SAINT: Pope Francis Added Feast of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus to Church Calendar -The memorial of St. Martha was already included on Jan. 29 in the General Roman Calendar before the Second Vatican Council, but St. Lazarus and St. Mary had been originally left off due to uncertainty about the identity of Mary Magdalene -Feb. 2, 2021- Pope Francis on Tuesday added the memorial of Sts. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to the General Roman Calendar, giving the siblings the combined feast day of July 29.
A decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship said on Feb. 2 that Pope Francis had included the three saints in the General Roman Calendar “considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life.”
The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, which denotes the dates of holy days and the feast days of saints commemorated annually.
The memorial of St. Martha was already included on Jan. 29 in the General Roman Calendar before the Second Vatican Council, but St. Lazarus and St. Mary had been originally left off due to uncertainty about the identity of Mary Magdalene. The decree explained that these uncertainties “have been resolved in recent studies and times,” and pointed out that Mary and Lazarus are already commemorated on July 29 in the Roman Martyrology, the Church’s official catalog of martyrs and saints. Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were three siblings living in the town of Bethany outside of Jerusalem during the time of Christ.
The July 29 feast day of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus will now appear in the Church’s calendars and liturgical texts as a memorial…. The memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus will be an obligatory memorial, which means it must be observed…. READ MORE HERE.