Lazarus’ Saturday – Saturday before Hosanna

Saturday before Hosanna (Lazarus’ Saturday).
Lord, behold the one You love is sick(John 11:3)
This miracle is Christ reassurance to His disciples before the coming Passion.
They are to understand that, though He suffers and dies, yet He is Lord and Victor over death.
The resurrection of Lazarus is a prophecy in the form of an action.
It foreshadows Christ’s own Resurrection eight days later, and at the same time it anticipates the resurrection of all the righteous on the Last Day.
Lazarus is “the saving first-fruits of the regeneration of the world.
Saint John Chrysostom
Christ calls death “Sleep”
Sleep is a physical rest, as the body regains its energy, to start a new day with vitality and activity.
This is true with regard to the sleep of death, as the believer, when he sleeps, rises in a new life with new capabilities in a new world.
In fact, it is not said of the saints that they are dead, rather it is said of them that they are asleep.