Richard Beard - Lazarus Is Dead

Absolom calls for wine. ‘To absent friends,’ he says, and they drink.

Lazarus is amazed by the changes since he was last in Bethany. Absalom’s serenity extends to sharing his table with Lydia, because Jesus suggested he should. Jesus, it seems, is a calming influence: Martha is resigned to the destruction of their home.

‘Life is short,’ she shrugs. ‘We worked hard. We saved money. Jesus has a different idea of what’s important.’

‘Which he hasn’t yet shared with me.’

Lydia laughs. ‘Same old Lazarus. Thinner, especially in the face, but still a little jealous.’

There is something radiant about the others that Lazarus envies. It is like the reverse of death. A light has been ignited in them, or like flowers in springtime first one then another of them blooms. They have opened up to belief, poc, to new possibilities.

Lazarus feels excluded from this unexpected optimism. They have changed in his absence, as if they know more about Jesus than he does. Even now, he wants to defend the uniqueness of his childhood friendship.

‘I came to find Jesus,’ he reminds them.

‘You should definitely talk to him,’ Lydia agrees. ‘It would help.’

‘That depends,’ Martha says. ‘Jesus doesn’t want to hear him complaining.’

‘It’s not for me. It’s for Isaiah. He thinks Jesus can heal Saloma.’

‘Oh Lazarus, you can do better than that. Start by being honest with yourself.’

‘Jesus is in danger. The assassin told me the priests have offered money to anyone who betrays him.’

‘Yes.’ Lydia says. ‘We know.’ She looks at him evenly. ‘The Romans are chasing you. The Sicarii may decide to kill you. You’re trapped in a rotten betrothal and you’re oblivious to the people who love you. We understand why you’re looking for Jesus.’

Hooves clatter in the square. A single rider dismounts, and they listen to footsteps heading away from them, in the direction of Lazarus’s house.

‘Quick. Find me somewhere to hide.’

4

On the Jesus side of the story, Thursday is also an eventful evening. While Lazarus is eating in Bethany, the disciples and Jesus are preparing themselves for what will turn out to be the last supper they share together. The meal will be eaten in the upstairs room of a Jerusalem inn. The location is secret, but archaeologists suggest a site close to the Siloam pool in the poorer Lower City.

In first-century Palestine the last supper would not have been prepared or served by men. The lamb and the bowls of bitter herbs would have been sent up from the inn below. Mary arranges them on the table. She places the bread and pours the wine.

When the meal finishes, Jesus will leave the inn. He and the disciples will walk to the Mount of Olives. No one knows exactly why. It may be, only hours before his arrest, that Jesus suddenly craves the open air, among olive trees, and a hillside where he can see and hear what the ancients saw and heard before him. He was brought up in Nazareth. He prefers outdoor spaces where simple truths remain true: fire and food, shelter and sleep, man and beast.

Or he may decide to leave Jerusalem at the suggestion of Judas Iscariot, after a discussion about the security of the upstairs room. Judas is wary of making accusations, but he suspects Mary of a loose tongue. He’d followed her to the market earlier that day, and when out buying bread she spoke with her sister Martha.

Or the reason Jesus leaves the inn is simpler still: no one can sleep through the noise of Passover celebrations rising from the room below.

There is another possibility. Jesus knows that Lazarus will set out from Bethany and make his way to the inn. Jesus always knows, and Lazarus must not become involved until the time is right. He is needed tomorrow, in the fading light, on the inevitable Hill of Skulls.

Cassius throws back the curtain covering the doorway.

‘I know he’s here.’

Absalom feels strong, less afraid of death. One week has changed everything. ‘He went back to Jerusalem.’

‘Lazarus, not Jesus. I don’t mean either of them any harm, I promise.’ Cassius holds out his arms. ‘I’m alone. I came to find Lazarus. He’s an extraordinary person who’s had an exceptional experience.’

‘You’ve got the wrong man.’

‘I don’t think I have.’

‘I think you have,’ Lazarus says. He steps into the room from the storage area where he’d tried to hide. With one foot in a wooden bucket, he’d felt absurd. Besides, Cassius was alone.

Lazarus sits down. He makes a point of looking into his bowl, pushes some bones over in search of meat.

‘Look at me sitting quietly here among friends. No thunderbolts, no lightning. Let’s not pretend. I am not the one.’

‘Humility is exactly what I’d expect. You came back from the dead.’

‘We’re glad Lazarus is with us,’ Martha says. ‘Of course we are. But we give our thanks and praise to Jesus. When you meet him, you’ll see why.’

‘I’ve met Lazarus.’

‘Yes,’ Lazarus says. ‘In the Antonia Fortress. What’s changed?’

‘I’ve changed. Your escape from the Antonia was miraculous.’

‘I’m just lucky. And you’re outnumbered. Apart from you and me everyone in this room believes in Jesus.’

‘Jesus is finished. One of the disciples betrayed him. I heard it from an informer in the Temple guards.’

He has their full attention.

‘Is that true? How can we warn him of the danger?’

‘You can’t. Not unless you know where he’s hiding.’

‘There is no time to lose. They leave Bethany as Jesus in Jerusalem says: ‘ Take and eat; this is my body ’ (Matthew 26: 26).

Cassius ties up the horse. He wants to blend in, like the speculatore he is, a pedestrian like Absalom and Lydia interested only in following Martha towards Jerusalem. They’re going to save the friend of Lazarus, and Martha knows from Mary where to find him.

‘ Drink from it, all of you ’ (Matthew 26: 27).

Lazarus keeps an eye on Cassius, and on the facts. He does seem to be acting alone but Romans can’t be trusted. Lazarus does not let Cassius out of his sight.

Martha leads them across the Kidron stream and takes the most direct route to the inn, through the Siloam Gate. As Lazarus enters the south of the city Jesus leaves it to the east, taking the Sheep Gate for a short walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.

In the narrow alleys of the Lower City, cats fight and midnight washwater is launched from upstairs windows. Martha stops outside a popular inn, at the foot of a wooden staircase.

‘Cassius goes first,’ Lazarus says. He is learning from his mistakes — sometimes it is wiser to hang back, and to be the one who follows.

Cassius climbs the stairs, tries the handle of the door. It is locked. He puts his ear against the wood, knocks. ‘It’s Lazarus. We’ve come from Bethany. Let us in.’

A key turns in the lock. Mary opens the door.

The room itself is ‘ furnished and ready ’ (Mark 14: 15), as famously depicted by Leonardo da Vinci in The Last Supper (1497). There are three rectangular windows in the far wall, looking out now on festive Passover lamps, and open to snatches of traditional song spilling through the night. Rectangular drapes hang from the side walls, and the ceiling is a boxed shape of beams.

‘They didn’t tell me where,’ Mary says. ‘But it’s late. I don’t expect they’ll be long.’

Mary has witnessed the covenant of the bread and wine, and it hasn’t surprised her to open the door to Martha and Lazarus. Their lives have been determined by Jesus since the day Lazarus first had a headache.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘We’ve eaten.’