READ IT AGAIN
By Professor E M Blaiklock MA DLITT
XXXVI.
STORY OF LAZARUS.
Please read John 11.
Concerning that chapter, is it nol strange that the story of Lazarus should not be found in the three synoptic Gospels?
No!
Not if the circumstances are considered. Lazarus was a standing refutation of the Pharisees' case. It is possible that when the records of Matthew, Mark and Luke were put together, or when the earlier documents which perhaps lie behind them were compiled, Lazarus was in actual danger from the hatred which had crucified his Lord. Perhaps it was wise that too great prominence should not be given him. When John wrote, towards the end of the century, Jerusalem was destroyed and the society of the days of Jewish persecution blotted out. Then, again, the plan of the Fourth Gospel is quite distinct. John does not seek to fill out the earlier narratives. He is pre-occupied with the purpose expressed at the end of his twentieth chapter. His plan is to group his incidents round great sayings. Nicodemus and the new birth, the Samaritan woman and the water of life, both illustrate this plan. The incident of Lazarus's resurrection attaches itself to the great word, "I am the resurrection and the life," and appears in the Gospel in conformity with the writer's project.