A Tale of Two Lazarus-es

The Bible, like our own circle of friends, family and acquaintances, often records people having the same name. At the pre-school where I worked we had three children named Aiden at one time, and a couple of Briannas. The New Testament of the Bible records several Marys. There are at least three other men named Judas in addition to the most notable one who betrayed Jesus. Today I am focused on two men named Lazarus, who were spoken of in the New Testament of the Bible.

One man named Lazarus, along with his two sisters Mary and Martha, were all good friends of Jesus. You can read their remarkable story in John Chapter 11. The other Lazarus is presumably fictional, a beggar character from one of the parables Jesus told. You can read about him in Luke Chapter 16. If you're not familiar with those passages you might take a moment to click on the links and read them, they are not very long.

Up until recently I thought it was unremarkable that these two men shared the same name. After all, that was common throughout the Bible. Then it hit me - one man was from a parable and the other was an actual person among Jesus' followers. I was even more interested to note Jesus told more than 50 parables, yet none but this one record a name. Jesus refers to the parable characters in general descriptive terms. They are called things like 'the unjust judge,' 'the widow' and 'the sower' and a 'certain' woman or man. Even in the parable with Lazarus, the other man is simply called 'the rich man.' I wonder why The Lord gave the beggar in this particular story a name, and what is the significance of that?

The name Lazarus itself means "God's assistance" or "God will help." And God surely did help him. I think Jesus also could have given a name to the parable Lazarus to further stress that the disenfranchised of the world are known and loved by God. As the parable tells, the rich man had his respect, ease and comfort in this world - but in the afterlife he suffered because He did not know and love God or his neighbor. The beggar Lazarus was ignored and despised by the world, yet in the afterlife, he was received with comfort and love.

First of all, this particular parable is not simply a learning tool of analogy, as many of the parables are. Parables such as The Woman and the Lost Coin and The Pearl of Great Price teach us that God's Kingdom is precious and to be highly valued, sought diligently and kept. The parable of the sower and the seed teach us about how people will respond to the Gospel message. This parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man does contain those types of principals but it also contains something prophetic at the end, therefore having a multilayer-ed meaning.

In the parable the rich man asks Father Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers. As Jesus tells it, Father Abraham responds with prophetic words that directly apply to Jesus Himself: If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead. Jesus is the one telling this story-parable and He is, or will be, the one who was raised from the dead, though that had obviously not yet happened at the time He told this story. I think it's quite notable then, that Jesus performed a miracle that raised an actual man named Lazarus from the dead. It's sort of like a double prophecy, isn't it? Just to be even more gracious and drive the point home even more, He sent His own friend, poor, four-days-dead Lazarus - like what the rich man requested the beggar Lazarus be allowed to do - back from the dead. I suppose He did this to further demonstrate to His contemporaries and all those around that He was who He said He was. When Jesus raised Lazarus, it was well known at the time it happened. It was what stirred up Jesus' enemies even more to plot against Him, and it preceded His own death an resurrection by a very short space of time. Could that be the reason for the name? I think there is a strong chance it could be.

I believe there must be some reason why Jesus chose to name the beggar in this parable and hope to continue to study further.

See Part 2 here.


picture from here.