One and the Same?

Abstract

Readers of John from Origen to the present have asked: is the Lazarus of John 11–12 wholly separate from the Lazarus of Luke 16, or are they, somehow, one and the same? Whence John’s Lazarus, however, cannot be answered without also asking When, How, and Why. When was the story composed relative to the contiguous text? How is it interwoven with the rest of John? Whence came this otherwise unknown brother of Mary and Martha? Why is his story here at this turn in the Fourth Gospel? The interpretation of John’s Lazarus narrative has languished in virtual stalemate for some time. This study aims to bring new evidence to the table, to gain a fresh perspective on the composition of that story and its relationship to Luke 16, in the context of a carefully constructed array of network connections with earlier and later texts in John.