A Lazarus Apologetic

When most of us think of Christian Apologetics, we might think of a man standing before a crowd or an individual sharing the truths and defenses of the Christian faith.  We seldom look at a passage of Scripture and see the writer giving obvious evidence for the truth of a particular situation.  These apologetics in Scripture do exist, though, and one is in John chapter 11: the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

First we have statements by John, Jesus, Martha and Mary – Lazarus’ sisters – that Lazarus was indeed dead:

Vs. 14: ¹⁴ So then [Jesus] told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,

Vs. 21: ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

 Vs. 32: ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Vs. 44:  ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

So, we can be sure Lazarus was dead.  Also, the people there saw him die and his sisters were eyewitnesses as well.

Could this be a trick?  Well, Jesus alone as the center figure in the drama at the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary had the idea Lazarus would rise from the dead.  He alone called for Lazarus using the power only God could provide, the reanimation of the dead.  Satan is not interested in raising people from the dead and does not have power to do so if he were.

Now Lazarus was alive.  The people who saw him die were there to see him alive.  He had been in the tomb for four days (vs 39).  This would eliminate the chance of a trick since four days without water would certainly result in one’s death from thirst.

Jesus was outside of town, not even nearby when Lazarus was put in the tomb (vs. 30), another proof of no tricks.  The sisters of Lazarus saw him both dead and alive and could testify to the facts.  Of course Jesus saw him alive as well.  Many who were there believed in Jesus because they saw Lazarus alive. 

Even those who were eyewitnesses but didn’t believe Jesus was the Son of God took the story to the chief priests and Pharisees (vs.47).  And even they didn’t doubt that Lazarus was now alive since they plotted to kill him as well as Jesus (vss 12:9-10).  The Pharisees couldn’t afford to have Lazarus, a living testimony to God’s power through His Son, walking around for all the world to see. They would lose their jobs (11:48).

Why is this important?

I think this is important for a couple of reasons.  First, Jesus had been accused of working the devil’s work and that He was not from God (Luke 11:14-15).  But raising someone from the dead is God’s work, not Satan’s.

Secondly, I think Jesus was still trying to completely convince His disciples He was God, and there was no limit to His power.  They needed to understand He could even raise Himself from the dead.

Like us, His disciples believed God could do some things, but they thought raising someone from the dead was too much to ask even though they had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:54) and the son of the widow at Nain (Luke 7:15).

You and I see God do something in our lives that we doubted He could or would do.  We’re limited creatures.  I remember a fairly famous pastor say once he had seen God heal many he had prayed for, but he didn’t have the faith to pray for a missing limb to be restored.  He believed God could do it, but didn’t have the faith to ask God to do it. He had never seen God do it.

Our understanding of God is so limited do to His vastness and our smallness.  I’m not sure we will ever overcome it this side of heaven.  Like the event with Lazarus, though, God has given us times in our lives when we have seen Him work, and those experiences increase our faith in praying for miraculous acts of God.  If we remember the times God has pulled our irons out of the fire, our faith grows so we’ll be more ready to believe next time. 

God proved His power at the raising of Lazarus.  After that event, the faith of Martha and Mary and certainly Lazarus was increased.  They had seen God act and began to see His limitless power.