John 11

A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord’s feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very much is sick.”

A man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.

Mary would later pour perfume on the Lord. She would also wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick in bed.

So the sisters sent a message to Jesus. “Lord,” they told him, “the one you love is sick.”

When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory. God’s Son will receive glory because of it.”

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. After the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So after he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.

And then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

They said, “Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you’re going back?”

“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short time ago the Jews there tried to kill you with stones. Are you still going back?”

Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can’t see where he’s going.”

Jesus answered, “Aren’t there 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks during the day won’t trip and fall. They can see because of this world’s light.

But when they walk at night, they’ll trip and fall. They have no light.”

He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.”

After he said this, Jesus went on speaking to them. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” he said. “But I am going there to wake him up.”

The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he will get better.”

Jesus had been speaking about the death of Lazarus. But his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

For your benefit, I am glad I was not there. Now you will believe. But let us go to him.”

That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.”

Then Thomas, who was also called Didymus, spoke to the rest of the disciples. “Let us go also,” he said. “Then we can die with Jesus.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.

When Jesus arrived, he found out that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem.

Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary. They had come to comfort them because their brother was dead.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home.

Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “I wish you had been here! Then my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask for.”

Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again. This will happen when people are raised from the dead on the last day.”

“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even if they die.

And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied. “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. I believe that you are the one who is supposed to come into the world.”

After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”

After she said this, she went back home. She called her sister Mary to one side to talk to her. “The Teacher is here,” Martha said. “He is asking for you.”

The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him. Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

Jesus had not yet entered the village. He was still at the place where Martha had met him.

Some Jews had been comforting Mary in the house. They noticed how quickly she got up and went out. So they followed her. They thought she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

Mary reached the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she fell at his feet. She said, “Lord, I wish you had been here! Then my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him. He said, “Where did you put him?”

Jesus saw her crying. He saw that the Jews who had come along with her were crying also. His spirit became very sad, and he was troubled.

“Master, come and see,” they said. Now Jesus wept.

“Where have you put him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

The Jews said, “Look how deeply he loved him.”

Then the Jews said, “See how much he loved him!”

Others among them said, “Well, if he loved him so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man.”

But some of them said, “He opened the eyes of the blind man. Couldn’t he have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, “Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!”

Once more Jesus felt very sad. He came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone in front of the entrance.

“Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad smell. Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.”

Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Then Jesus said, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?”

Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”

They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that you sent me.”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up. He said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me.

I know that you always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here. I said it so they will believe that you sent me.”

Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.

Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

The Man Who Creates God-Signs

Then Jesus called in a loud voice. He said, “Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of linen. A cloth was around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the clothes he was buried in and let him go.”

The Plan to Kill Jesus

That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him. But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus. The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. “What do we do now?” they asked. “This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs. If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have.”

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did. So they believed in him.

But some of them went to the Pharisees. They told the Pharisees what Jesus had done.

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What can we do?” they asked. “This man is performing many signs.

If we let him keep on doing this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come. They will take away our temple and our nation.”

Then one of them—it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year—spoke up, “Don’t you know anything? Can’t you see that it’s to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?” He didn’t say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God’s exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.

One of the Jewish leaders spoke up. His name was Caiaphas. He was high priest at that time. He said, “You don’t know anything at all!

You don’t realize what is good for you. It is better if one man dies for the people than if the whole nation is destroyed.”

He did not say this on his own because he was high priest at that time. He prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation.

He also prophesied that Jesus would die for God’s children scattered everywhere. He would die to bring them together and make them one.

From that day on, they plotted to kill him. So Jesus no longer went out in public among the Jews. He withdrew into the country bordering the desert to a town called Ephraim and secluded himself there with his disciples.

So from that day on, the Jewish rulers planned to kill Jesus.

Jesus no longer moved around openly among the people of Judea. Instead, he went away to an area near the desert. He went to a village called Ephraim. There he stayed with his disciples.

The Jewish Passover was coming up. Crowds of people were making their way from the country up to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the Feast. They were curious about Jesus. There was a lot of talk of him among those standing around in the Temple: “What do you think? Do you think he’ll show up at the Feast or not?”

It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. Many people went up from the country to Jerusalem. They went there for the special washing that would make them pure before the Passover Feast.

They kept looking for Jesus as they stood in the temple courtyard. They asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the feast at all?”

Meanwhile, the high priests and Pharisees gave out the word that anyone getting wind of him should inform them. They were all set to arrest him.

But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders. They had commanded anyone who found out where Jesus was staying to report it. Then they could arrest him.