Lazarus

1. ChristianityLazarus of Bethany, a man raised from the dead by Jesus Christ and later in Christianity revered as a saint.

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   I’ve always been moved by the story of Lazarus as it is recounted in the Gospel of John. The basic shape of the narrative is recognizable and relatable: Someone dies, and the heartbroken family pleads for their loss to be reversed. In the case of Lazarus, Christ is so moved by the family’s grief that he interferes with the natural order of things and grants an exception like no other: He brings the dead man back to life. This makes it an exemplar of a kind of cosmic partiality, what we would all hope for at our most wounded and vulnerable. Caravaggio pins the scene down to its material facts: the confused faces of the onlookers, the downcast faces of the sisters, the necrotic body of Lazarus, the supernatural authority of Christ.

   2020 September 23, Teju Cole, “In Dark Times, I Sought Out the Turmoil of Caravaggio’s Paintings”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Sep 2020

   Synonyms: Lazarus of Bethany, Saint Lazare, Saint Lazarus

2. biblicalA beggar in a parable by Jesus Christ, traditionally (Christianity) thought to have been a leper and often conflated with Lazarus of Bethany.
3. rareA male given name from Hebrew.
4. rareA surname from Hebrew.

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   Ken Cuccinelli tweaked the famous poem from Emma Lazarus – whose words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are long associated with immigration to the US and the nation’s history as a haven – as part of a case for strict new measures pushed Monday by the Trump administration that could dramatically change the legal immigration system.

   2019 August 13, Devan Cole and Caroline Kelly, “Cuccinelli rewrites Statue of Liberty poem to make case for limiting immigration”, in CNN

plural Lazaruses

1. figurativelyusuallyA person who was deceased and has been resurrected; a deceased person who could potentially be resurrected.

   1870, Edmond de Pressensé, Annie Harwood Holmden (translator), The Early Years of the Christian Church, Book 3: First Century, page 462, Those who hear the voice of the Son of man and live, are so many Lazaruses called to the life divine.

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   This was the classic age of all the various exhumations, restorations, and resurrections; it was a retrospective time — a time of ghosts and Lazaruses, more or less decomposed.

   1855, The New Monthly Magazine, volume 105, page 302

   Finally, in whatever state or condition of life the faithful may find themselves, even if they cannot, like the apostles, assist the Lazaruses to rise from their tombs[…].

   2010, Ippolito Desideri, translated by Michael J Sweet, Mission to Tibet: The Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Account of Father Ippolito Desideri, page 598

2. A poor person, a beggar.

   And do you not think, that all these poor Lazaruses, that you have persecuted, and do persecute, that when they die, they will not be carried into Abraham's bosom?

   1706, George Fox, Gospel Truth Demonstrated, in a Collection of Doctrinal Books, volume 2, published 1831, page 273

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   These are the Lazaruses who lie prostrate at the gates of our cities and neighborhoods, and these are the needs that affluent Americans have conditioned themselves not to see because reaching out in any significant way would be far too costly.

   2002, Stephen W. Plunkett, This We Believe: Eight Truths Presbyterians Affirm, page 109

   Do we respond to the poor Lazaruses in our midst with charity (scraps from our table), or do we seek to change the economic conditions that set up these extremes of rich and poor?

   2008, Charles McCollough, The Art of Parables, page 126

   Synonyms: pauper, beggar

present singular third person Lazaruses · participle present Lazarusing · participle past Lazarused · past Lazarused

1. transitiveAfrican-American VernacularTo rescue a dying person.
2. transitiveAfrican-American VernacularTo raise from the dead.