Err, okay. There is some of this text in the
Mark section of the
Bible that has sometimes been
omitted.
There's this little point that people forget: Lazarus was never really physically dead, but really in a state of excommunication, a sort of pre-death, or a spiritual death by an official order. In Mark, Jesus and Lazarus yell to each other through the tomb door.
Of course, this release from excommunication is not really a miracle, so this section of the text is often omitted, in lieu of a facinating tale of a real dead person coming back to life.
As a kind of extention, this sheds light on the whole crucifixion thing, where, Jesus was, legally dead the second he was put on the cross. Death by crucifixion takes days, even a week, and, instead, he was taken to a tomb, only to arise from this spiritual (not real) death on the third day. This three-day thing is symbolic of sickness.
Back to Lazarus: after the three days, civil death would become reality as Lazarus would have been wrapped in a shroud and buried alive.
Lazarus' crime was that he led a revolt to protect the public water supply which had been diverted with an aqueduct in Jerusalem.
This release from spiritual death was something Jesus did without any priestly authority. What was really a miracle was that Herod-Antipas of Galilee forced the High Priest of Jerusalem to allow this action by Jesus. That was a real miracle.
bloodline of the holy grail by Lawrence Gardner