What does the raising of Lazarus mean?

There are actually two stories of the raising of Lazareth.

In Luke, the story is a parable told by Jesus and was intended to explain a moral principle. Luke, characteristically, wanted a story where the poor man triumphed over the rich man in heaven. Some say that the inspiration for this story was a much older Egyptian myth probably known to Luke.

The author of John changed the story, while keeping the main characters from Luke: Mary, Martha and Lazarus. This time, Jesus really did raise Lazarus, demonstrating his awsome power.