Giotto, “The Resurrection of Lazarus”, Padua, Scrovegni Chapel
Giotto presents him like this, in the fresco of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua: cadaverous and hampered by bandages, completely incredulous. It is Lazarus after what is believed to be Jesus’ greatest miracle, the resurrection. The American artist Jacob Epstein would do the same thing centuries later, in a sculpture preserved at the University of Oxford: the brother of Martha and Mary is totally wrapped in funeral cloths, with his eyes closed, unaware of what has happened to him, almost intent on regret leaving the grave. Van Gogh for his part – the work is located in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris – set the scene in more luminous terms, while Tintoretto, in a painting found a few years ago in the Jesuit house in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, suggests the full resurrection of Lazarus’ body, all bent towards Jesus like the sisters and others who participate in the event. The works dedicated to the miracle are numerous and with different tones, as James Martin testifies in the book “Lazarus, come out!”which comes out tomorrow (Lev, 400 pages, €25.00) with a preface by the Pope. The American Jesuit, well known in the USA for his theological works as well as for his apostolate in the world of LGBTQ+ people, explains how he became passionate about the story after seeing the story on TV. Jesus by Zeffirelli, at the age of 16: «Young as I was, looking for certainties», he says. At the time he lived in Philadelphia and his parents showed him the Florentine director’s screenplay: he was struck by Jesus’ calm in the face of death, by his confidence in his ability to change the course of things. Thus, during the pilgrimages carried out in the Holy Land, he went several times to Bethany, today El Eizariya, a town located in the Palestinian territories, not far from Jerusalem. The etymology of the name of the place could mean House of the Poor (but also House of Affliction or House of Dates), meaning that it probably housed a shelter for the sick. There are those who hypothesize for lepers, also because Lazarus, or rather Saint Lazarus, became the patron saint and protector against epidemics of leprosy and plague starting from the 11th century. The use of the term “lazzaretto” comes from him. It is no coincidence that Martin notes that Tintoretto’s rediscovered work was painted immediately after the plague spread to Venice. His is truly a singular and unusual depiction of the miracle: Lazarus has just been taken out of the tomb and appears exhausted: «he collapsed, exhausted by the illness, by the heartbreaking death and by the resurrection». His eyes stare at the Messiah, as do those of the two sisters, who are also exhausted by the test they have faced: “They look at Jesus with a mixture of pain and relief”. Not only does Lazarus express gratitude towards Jesus, gratitude for this gesture of infinite friendship, but also disbelief at having returned to life. Almost dismayed.
A similar feeling emerges in two plays, Calvary by Irish poet William Butler Yeats and Lazarus and his beloved by the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran: the miracle worker actually looks back and seems to prefer to remain in the tomb. We read in Yeats’s work: «But now you will blind with light the solitude / that death has generated; now you will disturb that corner / where I thought I could stay safe forever.” He is the author of the well-known collection The Prophet he asks himself: «Why, why, why did you call me from the living heart of eternity to this death while alive?». In its absolute specificity, the story of Lazarus takes on a universal meaning here: when something unprecedented and extraordinary happens to us, we struggle to detach ourselves from the past and embrace the new life that presents itself before us. «When you go outside – comments Martin – it is natural that you feel unstable. You have been in the darkness for so long that the light will seem strange to you. The tomb seems safe and the outside appears dangerous.”. Once again it is human freedom that is challenged: «Lazarus must make a decision: listen to the voice of Jesus, get up from the stone bed on which he lay and go out covered by his funeral cloths, wondering what awaits him; or remain in his tomb. Lazarus is not passive: he must act. Lazarus has a choice.” Pope Francis also points this out in the preface: «Reading James Martin’s detailed analysis, one can experience first-hand the profound meaning of Jesus’ gesture in front of a “dead” dead man, who gives off a bad smell, a metaphor for the internal putrefaction that sin generates. in our soul. Jesus is not afraid to approach the sinner, any sinner, even the most undaunted and brazen, He has only one concern: that no one gets lost.” And he quotes a passage from Cormac McCarthy to conclude: “God’s job is to forgive.”
Martin’s book becomes detailed at times, even on a theological level, as when he examines some theories that have denied the historical existence of Lazarus, to the point of discrediting them on the basis of the studies of the most important exegetes; or as when he seems to endorse the hypothesis that Jesus’ favorite disciple was not John but Lazarus himself; again, when one asks why none of Lazarus, Martha and Mary were married: perhaps they were lepers, or had they been? Moving pages dedicated to Martha and Mary: «They are among the most important women in the Gospels. Perhaps only Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the “woman at the well” are represented with as much sensitivity.” Martin denies the contrast between active life and contemplative life with which the two figures have often been interpreted, as if Jesus had wanted to discredit the importance of doing. A painting by Vermeer expresses the synthesis between action and contemplation well, Christ in the house of Martha and Mary. Even more, the story of the miracle of Lazarus sees them as prominent protagonists, both witnesses of faith in Jesus. Martin also has a good hand in noting Jesus’ predilection for women, who are always seen in a positive light and in close relationships with him: «No woman is shown resisting him, disbelieving him or cheating on him, which is in stark contrast to the way many men are portrayed». Not only that, they are never described in a conventional way.
But there are no topics inherent to the story of Lazarus that are not examined: from Jesus’ tears, testimony to his full humanity and divinity, given that “Christians do not believe in an apathetic or insensitive God”, to what happened after the miracle. Here history mixes with legend. The Gospel of John, the only one that tells us about the miracle, brings only two elements: that the Jews – unfortunately often indicated in a contemptuous manner by the evangelist – were planning to kill him and that Lazarus was present at a dinner with Jesus and the sisters of he. For some scholars it is very likely that he was put to death as happened to Jesus. Then, there are various traditions, according to one of which, of oriental origin, he fled to Cyprus to become bishop of Kition, now Larnaca, where he would die and be buried. The church of San Lazzaro stands on the site of his tomb. Others say that his remains were transferred to Constantinople and stolen by the Franks in the 13th century to be taken to Marseille. Which coincides in some way with Western tradition, which wants Lazarus, Martha and Mary to arrive in the French city, of which Lazarus would have been the first bishop. In the 10th century the relics were brought to Autun, where a majestic cathedral dedicated to him stands. How things turned out, the story of Lazarus still speaks to us today and disturbs us, as many authors not yet mentioned have written, from Kazantzakis to Lagerkvist to Toibin up to an unexpected David Bowiewho in one of his last songs, Lazarus, he writes: «Look here, I’m in heaven / I have scars that can’t be seen». The accompanying video shows the singer lying in bed, pale and emaciated, with his head wrapped in a bandage. Just like Lazarus.
