In order to highlight the uniqueness of the resurrection of Jesus, let us consider the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus during his public ministry. Among the Gospels, John alone has this incident narrated in detail in the whole chapter 11 of the Gospel. There are critics who would not like to admit that it really happened during the life of Jesus and see it as a mere throwback from the experiences of the disciples of Jesus being intoxicated with their new vision gained from his resurrection memory. What goes against this theory are the graphic details in the narration of the raising of Lazarus beginning with Jesus who was not in Judea at the time where Lazarus was living with his sisters Mary and Martha. Even the sympathetic emotions of Jesus are recorded by the Evangelist to the point of noting that Jesus wept (John, 11:35). If the disciples were so out of the world because of their new experiences, it would not have been possible for them to make up incidents like raising a person dead and buried for four days with descriptions of such concrete details of everyday life!
There are , however, indications to show that it was written after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus followed by the reception of the Holy Spirit by the disciples as they would not have understood , during his public ministry, the implications of what he said to Martha about his being the resurrection and life. It only means that their power to grasp what Jesus taught through his words and actions was enhanced after the experience of his resurrection and not that they imaginatively fabricated incidents that did not take place. Actually, the relevance of the fact of the raising of Lazarus is two-fold, namely, that the return to life of Lazarus is of entirely another order compared to the resurrection of Jesus and that even in the case of Lazarus the interplay of theology and history or Faith and Reason is evident. While the return to life of Jesus was permanent and eternal whereby death has no more hold on him , Lazarus was destined to die again as his return to life was only a temporary measure aiding in the ministry of Jesus. Even eating and drinking after their re-entry into life had totally different connotations for Jesus and Lazarus. Although Jesus did not need to nourish his risen body with the food we eat, he ate before the disciples in order to help them verify the actuality of his identity before and after the resurrection. His glorified body did not depend on doors to enter a room and he could appear and disappear at will whenever and wherever he wanted to. The resurrected body of Lazarus did not have any of these qualities and that is why the chief priests were able to think of doing away with him after he was raised to life along with Jesus before his resurrection (John, 12:10).
If we want to further probe into the elements of faith and reason in this incident, we might consider the attitudes of Martha and Jesus in looking at the sad fact of the death of Lazarus. Martha was bound by the rationality of this world and life it can sustain when she tells Jesus that if he was present there at the time Lazarus would not have died. To the words of Jesus that he will be raised again, Martha thinks of the resurrection on the last day of which she had no doubt and , so to say, not concerned about right now as she was paralyzed with sorrow on the loss of her brother. Martha, it seems, tried to shove faith away from the present concerns of daily life and placed it securely for the end of times. Now as we live in this world, the demands of the world should be the determining factor of our present life, according to Martha, without denying faith in the ultimate concerns. This is the logic or rationality of even a believing person like Martha in the goodness of God against which Jesus introduces faith as an absolute requirement for life even in the life we lead in this world. The Evangelist is careful to bring out the response of Jesus in identifying himself with resurrection and life as the solution to Martha's dilemma of the ultimate reality and the present temporal needs by demanding faith in him from her. Our human tendency to cling to this world is transformed by Jesus by asking for faith in him and thus both Reason and Faith are allotted their proper places and functions when we are faced with ultimate questions.
There are , however, indications to show that it was written after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus followed by the reception of the Holy Spirit by the disciples as they would not have understood , during his public ministry, the implications of what he said to Martha about his being the resurrection and life. It only means that their power to grasp what Jesus taught through his words and actions was enhanced after the experience of his resurrection and not that they imaginatively fabricated incidents that did not take place. Actually, the relevance of the fact of the raising of Lazarus is two-fold, namely, that the return to life of Lazarus is of entirely another order compared to the resurrection of Jesus and that even in the case of Lazarus the interplay of theology and history or Faith and Reason is evident. While the return to life of Jesus was permanent and eternal whereby death has no more hold on him , Lazarus was destined to die again as his return to life was only a temporary measure aiding in the ministry of Jesus. Even eating and drinking after their re-entry into life had totally different connotations for Jesus and Lazarus. Although Jesus did not need to nourish his risen body with the food we eat, he ate before the disciples in order to help them verify the actuality of his identity before and after the resurrection. His glorified body did not depend on doors to enter a room and he could appear and disappear at will whenever and wherever he wanted to. The resurrected body of Lazarus did not have any of these qualities and that is why the chief priests were able to think of doing away with him after he was raised to life along with Jesus before his resurrection (John, 12:10).
If we want to further probe into the elements of faith and reason in this incident, we might consider the attitudes of Martha and Jesus in looking at the sad fact of the death of Lazarus. Martha was bound by the rationality of this world and life it can sustain when she tells Jesus that if he was present there at the time Lazarus would not have died. To the words of Jesus that he will be raised again, Martha thinks of the resurrection on the last day of which she had no doubt and , so to say, not concerned about right now as she was paralyzed with sorrow on the loss of her brother. Martha, it seems, tried to shove faith away from the present concerns of daily life and placed it securely for the end of times. Now as we live in this world, the demands of the world should be the determining factor of our present life, according to Martha, without denying faith in the ultimate concerns. This is the logic or rationality of even a believing person like Martha in the goodness of God against which Jesus introduces faith as an absolute requirement for life even in the life we lead in this world. The Evangelist is careful to bring out the response of Jesus in identifying himself with resurrection and life as the solution to Martha's dilemma of the ultimate reality and the present temporal needs by demanding faith in him from her. Our human tendency to cling to this world is transformed by Jesus by asking for faith in him and thus both Reason and Faith are allotted their proper places and functions when we are faced with ultimate questions.
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