In what sense, then, is the Resurrection of Lazarus to be understood as a symbol or a type?

XI. 1-16.

The story of the Resurrection of Lazarus is preceded by a lengthy introduction that deals with Lazarus' illness. His sister notifies the Lord about her. And to the very first news Jesus answered: "... this sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it" (v. 4). He remains two days in the place where the news found him, v. 6. After that, He tells His disciples about the death of Lazarus. But they cannot understand His words, "Lazarus our friend is asleep" (v. 11). This is the same method of misunderstanding that we observe throughout Jn. But also something more. Of Jairus's daughter, too, the Lord said, according to the testimony of all three synoptics (cf. Matt. IX. 24; Mk. V. 29-30; Lk. VIII. 52-53), that she is not dead, but is asleep. This means that in the face of Divine omnipotence and love, death is not an impassable border. Sleep is an image of death. But for God, death is also a dream. Thomas calls his disciples to go to Jerusalem with Jesus: "... we also go to die with Him" (v. 16)—not with Lazarus, of course, but with Jesus.

XI. 17-40. The resurrection of Lazarus as a symbol.

The whole passage can be said to be under the sign of death: the death of Lazarus, the mortal danger facing Jesus, Thomas's willingness to die with Him. And against this background, the teaching of the Resurrection and Life unfolds in the dialogue of the Lord with Martha. It begins with her silent plea: "Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you" (v. 22). The Lord says to her, "Your brother shall rise again" (v. 23). But she does not dare to understand this word except for the coming resurrection on the last day (v. 24). The Lord answers: "I am the resurrection and the life" (v. 25) and says of Himself as the beginning of life for the one who believes in Him: "He who believes in Me will never die" (vv. 25-26). Lazarus is no longer mentioned, and Martha, in response to Jesus' question about faith in Him as the beginning of life and resurrection, confesses Him as the Messiah. He confesses with extraordinary force. Πεπίστευκα is rendered in the new Russian translation, "I have believed and believe" (v. 27), but its confession has no direct relation to the resurrection of Lazarus: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." And yet Lazarus was the one who died and was resurrected by the Lord. It turns out to be a symbol of the future general resurrection through faith in Jesus. Jesus' words about death and resurrection, spoken by Him before the resurrection of Lazarus, are often striking in resemblance to what He said after He had healed the sick man at the Sheep's Font (Chapter V) and in the Capernaum Synagogue (Chapter VI). This coincidence allows us to understand the Resurrection of Lazarus as a symbol, or more precisely, as the symbolic act that encapsulates the Lord's teaching, just as the healing of the king's servant's son in Capernaum (cf. IV. 46-54) also symbolically contains the earliest teaching. We have seen that the symbolic act in Jn. has the significance of either the prelude to the teaching or its conclusion. Such a conclusive meaning is in Jn. and the Resurrection of Lazarus in the context of the Gospel. But the significance of the Resurrection of Lazarus is not limited to this.

The resurrection of Lazarus as a type.

The resurrection of Lazarus was a manifestation of Glory. This is what the Lord says at the very beginning of the narrative, when he receives the first news of Lazarus' illness (cf. v. 4). He repeats this at the moment of the miracle, in response to Martha's timidity at the stench of her decaying body (cf. vv. 39-40). At this point, the story of the Resurrection of Lazarus requires comparison with the story of the healing of the man born blind. And there the Lord speaks of the manifestation of the works of God (cf. XI. 3-4), the accomplishment of which is limited to the short hours of the day that is ending. In the narrative of the Resurrection of Lazarus, instead of the works of God, the Glory of God is spoken of (cf. XI. 4 and 40). More importantly, the glory of God, as opposed to death, is expressed in the glorification of the Son of God (cf. v. 4). Dogmatically, the manifestation of the Glory of God through the glorification of the Son of God explains the union of the Father and the Son, of which the Son testifies for all to hear in a prayerful appeal to the Father at the tomb of Lazarus (cf. vv. 41-42). But we have already seen that throughout Jn. The Passion of Christ is interpreted as His Glory (cf. VII. 39 et al.). We also remember that in the sacrificial death of the Shepherd-Son the Father's love for Him is expressed (cf. X. 17). The reference to the glorification of the Son of God inevitably directs the reader's thought to the Passion. The expected denouement is also justified by the course of events. As we have seen, the entire introductory passage XI. 1-16 is marked by death, and the danger facing Jesus in Jerusalem is strongly emphasized (cf. vv. 7-9 and 16). It is foreseen by the disciples (cf. vv. 8-10 and 16). And the direct consequence of the resurrection of Lazarus is the decision of the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus (cf. vv. 46-53). Jesus withdraws with his disciples "to a country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim" (v. 54). Easter was approaching. There is an influx of pilgrims in Jerusalem. And "the chief priests and the Pharisees gave orders that, if any man knew where he was, he should report him, that he might seize him" (v. 57). The decision of the leaders to kill Jesus is obvious. Jesus Himself reckons with him.

The significance of the Resurrection of Lazarus lies not only in the fact that it symbolically expresses the content of John's speeches throughout the entire first part of the Gospel. Our latest observations show that it is directed towards the future and directs the reader's attention to the inevitability of the Passion. And this applies equally to theological teaching and to the facts of history.

But there is more than that. The reader's attention dwells on the details of the description of the burial of Lazarus. His tomb is a cave covered by a stone (ό λίθος, v. 38). When the stone was taken and the Lord commanded Lazarus to come out, it was found that his body was bound "with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth" (σουδαρίω, cf. v. 44). The narrative of Christ's Resurrection also speaks of the stone (λίθος) with which the entrance to the tomb was closed (cf. XX. 1) and of the cloth (σουδάριον) that was on Jesus' head (cf. XX. 7). These details are etched into the memory of the reader, who sees a certain parallelism between the burial of Lazarus and the burial of Christ. It is difficult to think that this parallelism is accidental. If the Evangelist understood the Resurrection of Lazarus as a symbol that expressed the essential content of Christ's speeches in Jerusalem and Galilee, recent observations allow us to assert that the Resurrection of Lazarus was for the Evangelist not only a symbol turned to the past, but a type turned to the future.

In this second meaning, the death of Lazarus, his burial and resurrection prefigure the Passion of Christ. From the dialogue with Martha follows the symbolic meaning of the Resurrection of Lazarus, which is expressed in the fact that it is a symbol of the future general Resurrection according to faith in Jesus. Understanding the Resurrection of Lazarus as a prototype allows us to assert that the beginning of this general resurrection is the Resurrection of Christ. It is no accident that the Church sings in the troparion of the feast: "Assuring the general resurrection before Thy passion, Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead." According to the words of the Apostle Paul, Christ is the firstfruits of the dead. But the Resurrection of Christ is prefigured by the resurrection of Lazarus. The liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church confirms this understanding also by the fact that the Church commemorates the resurrection of Lazarus on the eve of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem, which is the Forefeast of Pascha. In this way it clearly violates history, because the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem is separated from the Resurrection of Lazarus of indefinite duration by Jesus' sojourn with His disciples "in a country near the wilderness, in a city called Ephraim" (cf. XI.54). Liturgical tradition leaves no room for this break. But the violation of the Gospel chronology emphasizes the inner connection between the two events, one of which, the Triumphal Entrance, is the Forefeast of the Resurrection of Christ, and the other, the Resurrection of Lazarus, is a prototype of it.

XI. 45-57. Decision of the bosses.

As already mentioned, in historical terms, the Resurrection of Lazarus was the final impulse that led to the Passion. The Jewish leaders saw a political danger in the person of Jesus: "... if we leave Him thus, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and destroy our Temple and the people" (v. 48). The rupture between Jesus and the world has already been completed. Bosses are the world. They think of worldly things. But they cherish the Temple, and Caiaphas, in his high priestly dignity, is able to utter prophecy. He said, "It is better that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish" (v. 50). For the evangelist, in this word of the high priest who was in power in that year,65 there was revealed a prophecy (έπροφήτευσεν) that "Jesus had to die for the people." Without thinking about it himself, he spoke about the substitutionary death of Christ. The Evangelist adds: "And not only for the people, but in order that the scattered children of God may also be gathered together" (cf. vv. 49-52). In the interpretation of this involuntary prophecy, we also recognize Christ's word about "the sheep of this fold" (cf. X. 16): the fullness of salvation through the Passion of Christ.

Chapter XII

XII. 1-19.