Lazarus

Lazarus is the critically ill man whose sickness prompts his sisters to send word to Jesus — the subject of the urgent message that sets the entire narrative in motion.

Lazarus is reclining at the dinner table — a living, breathing miracle casually eating bread, whose very presence at the meal is proof of Jesus' power over death.

Lazarus is the destitute, sore-covered beggar lying at the rich man's gate who is ignored in life but honored in death — his name being given (rare in Jesus' parables) signals his dignity before God.

Lazarus is invoked here as a contrast — he was someone Jesus wept over and raised, a display of Jesus' tender humanity, which makes the terrifying glorified vision of the same Jesus all the more staggering.