A “Seeker of Truth” Interviews Lazarus by Linda Dindzans
Seeker: Who are you?
Lazarus: My name is Lazarus, not an unusual name for men of my time. But it has become a name on every lip since Yeshua of Nazareth resurrected me four days after my widely witnessed death and burial.
Seeker: “Tell me what was it like to journey back from death?”
Lazarus: “As if born again from the womb of the tomb, I shuffled from darkness into the light. Those who had stayed to mourn with my sisters, Martha and Mary, disbelieving the witness of their own eyes, murmured with fear and awe. Some looked as though they would faint, thinking me a specter. Others embraced one another, rejoicing in the undeniable certainty of my resurrection. Yeshua smiled and reminded those distracted by the miracle of miracles that I was still bound by my graveclothes. He commanded men standing nearby to loose me—set me free.”
Martha came close. “Brother, there is no longer even a whiff of the stench of death. In the heat of the first day, corruption itself had begun to take hold, despite our use of copious burial spices.”
Her whisper was filled with wonder at the mystery.
I could not keep the hint of a smile from my voice “Sister, if the Lord can call me back from the grave, surely He can deliver me from all decay.”
Then Mary, her hands trembling, reached to touch my cheek. “Tell me, brother, where did your soul reside when your earthly body was laid in the grave?”
“It was a place of quiet calm, soft shadows. A place to be still and hear the voice of the Lord.”
“Were others there with you?”
“Yes. My spirit felt the nearby stirring of other souls. Souls of those whose hearts clung to the promise of the long-awaited Messiah. I wondered aloud if this was an echo of the closeness between Adam and his Creator before the Fall, when they walked together in the cool of the day.”
“This is merely a faint hint of the depth of our communion,” Adam, the first man, spoke with a tone that was low and otherworldly.
My mind seemed to ask without words, What is this place?
“You have been carried to the Bosom of Abraham.” The shadowy figure stepped closer. “In this place, time seems to stand still and yet pass more swiftly than a shooting star.”
A quiet knowing took root within me. This was the voice of Father Abraham.
“Lazarus, though we are outside of time, even beyond time, we all wait.”
The shadows shimmered as if with rising expectancy.
“At death, I entered a veil of forgetfulness, but now an onrush of something utterly new flooded my soul.”
“We can feel the loosening of the bonds of death,” a choir of heaven-touched voices whispered in my ear.
Then a light like the rising sun drew me to the boundary of that place. All else faded away.
“Lazarus. Come out.” 
The voice of my Lord was like thunder rolling over rushing waters, a voice that called to every corner of my heart, my mind, my soul.
Seeker: You tipped your head as if you had something more to share.
Lazarus: Had Yeshua not called out my name, I believe every soul with me in the shadowlands would have obeyed His command.
Seeker: That would have been a sight past all understanding, past all telling.
Lazarus: Yes, a foreshadowing of the Last Day and the resurrection of the dead.
Seeker: Go on.
Lazarus: I walked toward the light. My hands and feet moved freely in the shadowlands, but now were clumsy and encumbered by the ties of my graveclothes.
Seeker: What happened once you were freed?
Lazarus: I could see the delight of belief break across many faces. But some looked at me with eyes full of fear. Others glinted with daggers of anger. Those men ran off, likely to report to the Pharisees —and the chief priests—Sadducees who strongly denounced any hope of resurrection.
For reasons I could not name, I gathered my graveclothes into my arms, for they were not unclean. I was wholly alive in body, not just in spirit.
And I turned to Martha. “Sister, I am thirsty and famished.”
“Come, brother. We will remedy that. Yeshua and the disciples with Him must share in our feast of thanksgiving.”
We returned to my home in Bethany where many of Yeshua’s followers were camped in our fallow field. Over the next days, pilgrims came to see with their own eyes the man called back from the grave. Many reached to touch the hem of my robe as if it might convey healing or immortality. Some rumors even arose that I would never die.
Seeker: Did you think this was true?
Lazarus: I knew it was not. I kept my graveclothes because I knew I would one day need them again. I still felt the jab of stones beneath my feet, the stab of hunger in my stomach, the parched tongue of thirst.
Seeker: The crowds must have been burdensome.
Lazarus: Not at all. I delighted in telling all who would listen that I was evidence of resurrection and an afterlife. The Sadducees were wrong. I showed them my graveclothes as proof I had been undeniably dead and buried. There was a longstanding tradition among all the learned sects of our time that the soul lingered near the body for three days. Only a fool would deny that a resurrection after four days confirmed Yeshua’s power over death. He is without doubt our long-awaited Messiah.
Seeker: Did your testimony cause Yeshua’s enemies to surrender to His power?… Why did you just cross your arms and shake your head?— Surely they stopped seeking to kill Him.
Lazarus: No. Like stubborn donkeys, they stiffened their necks and set their faces more firmly against Yeshua. His enemies sought to kill me as well, to blot out all proof that their beliefs were false and that Yeshua was who He claimed to be, the true Messiah sent by the Lord.
Seeker: What did you do when you learned of the plot against your life?
Lazarus: I wanted to stay, to stand with Yeshua and continue to testify to the people of Jerusalem. But Thomas, the disciple, begged me to hide, to run for refuge.
Seeker: What did you decide?
Lazarus: More of my story can be found in Book Two of the A Certain Future series, A Certain Mercy released December 2025 and Book Three A Certain Refuge, a work in progress.
Seeker: Should Book One, A Certain Man, be read first?
Lazarus: While it is preferable for readers to experience the full backstory, Book Two can stand alone.
Seeker: Anything else you would like to share?
Lazarus: A Certain Mercy spans the final six months of Yeshua’s life on earth, prompting reflection that may be particularly poignant during the season of Lent.
Linda Dindzans, M.D., is an award-winning author, speaker, and retired ENT surgeon. Writing Biblical fiction allows her to indulge her longstanding fascination with God’s Word and a commitment to in-depth Bible study. A Certain Man, her debut novel, a tale of ancient Samaria at the time of Jesus, received multiple awards.
She is grateful for this time to lay down her scalpel and pick up her pen as she follows a call to write.
Several times per week, Linda can be found on the pickleball courts—content to supply the comic relief.
Wisconsin is home for Linda and her husband, a fellow physician, but they enjoy travel, photography, birdwatching, and singing with choirs across the world.
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Those stones are meant for Zara—the woman dragged through the dusty streets of first-century Jerusalem by the religious leaders— a women condemned to die for adultery.
Trapped in a loveless marriage to Joram, a ruthless gambler, Zara finds herself drawn to the one man she can never have—Auriga Maximus, the famed charioteer enslaved by her husband. What begins as stolen glances ignites into forbidden passion—and when their secret is exposed, Zara faces death by stoning.
But in her darkest moment, standing before an angry mob in the Temple courts, a Galilean teacher named Yeshua offers her something she never expected: mercy.
Spared from execution but shattered by shame, Zara must navigate a treacherous world of political intrigue, religious persecution, and her own haunting past.
From the opulent danger of Herod’s court to the quiet refuge of Bethany, from the shadow of the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection, A Certain Mercy weaves a powerful story of forbidden love, devastating betrayal, and the transforming grace of Christ.
Perfect for fans of Biblical Fiction like the works of Francine Rivers, Tessa Afshar, and Angela Hunt, A Certain Mercy invites you to walk the ancient streets, feel the dust rise beneath your feet, and witness a mercy as alive today as it was 2,000 years ago.
To learn more about Linda or her books, check out her website!