Lazarus: The Beloved Disciple?

Who was Lazarus?

In the Gospel of John, Lazarus is a very important character.

John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
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43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

This is a person Jesus loved, that Jesus resurrected and, furthermore, it was because of this resurrection that the plot to kill Jesus was initiated. What possible reason could there be for the other gospels not mentioning this man at all?

The author of John made him up!

From Luke to John

The Gospel of Luke does have a parable about a man called Lazarus:

Luke 16:19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And [r]besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

This parable may have been invented in part to explain why people were not already being resurrected, given the end times were here, though its main point obviously was to tell people to follow God, and give up their material goods.

Some points to note:

• this is a parable, there is no suggestion it actually happened
• the rich man asks that Lazarus is resurrected, but Abraham refuses
• Lazarus has his head on Abraham's bosom.

The author of John has turned this on its head to create a new character in the passion narrative. He has turned a fictional character into a supposedly real character, a character God has said he would not resurrect into a person who was resurrected.

The Beloved Disciple?

There is also good evidence this is the beloved disciple mentioned several times in John's passion narrative - in part because he is introduced as someone Jesus loved, as seen in the text above.

Following the parallel from Luke, we perhaps see Lazarus has been moved from Abraham's bosom to Jesus':

John 13:21 When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will [c]betray Me.” 22 The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. 23 There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 So Simon Peter *gestured to him, and *said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” 25 He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, *said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”

We see that referenced later, in chapter 21:

John 21:20 Peter, turning around, *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 So Peter seeing him *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” 22 Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” 23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

More importantly: Why was there confusion over whether the disciple would die?

Because, if he was Lazarus, he had already died once, and it seemed reasonable to suppose he might now live forever. Jesus was resurrected and now would live forever, perhaps that was also true of Lazarus? Thus, the question makes sense for him in a way that it does not for anyone else.

Note that the synoptic gospels are clear that only the twelve disciples were with Jesus at the Last Supper, but in a sense that fits with Lazarus, the beloved disciple - he is an invention of the author of John, so of course is absent from earlier accounts of the Last Supper.

I am not entirely convinced, but it all fits. If this is right, then the testimony recorded in the gospel of John is presented as that of a fictional character!

24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.