John 11
11
Lazarus Dies at Bethany
1Now a man was sick —Lazarus from Bethany,#Mk 11:1 the village of Mary and her sister Martha.#Lk 10:38–42 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,#Lk 7:38; Jn 12:3 and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God,#Lk 9:32; Jn 9:3; 10:38; 11:40; 17:24; 2Co 3:18; 2Pt 3:18 so that the Son of God#Jn 5:19; Heb 1:2 may be glorified through it.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 7Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea#Lk 1:5 again.”
8“Rabbi,”#Mt 23:7–8; 26:25,49; Mk 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; Jn 1:38,49; 3:2,26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2 the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you,#Jn 10:31 and you’re going there again?”
9 “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.#Mt 5:14; Jn 8:12 10But if anyone walks during the night,#Jn 9:4 he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”
11He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,#Ac 13:36; 1Co 11:30 but I’m on my way to wake him up.”
12Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”
13Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
16Then Thomas#Mk 3:18 (called “Twin”#11:16 Gk Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”
The Resurrection and the Life
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb#Jn 5:28 four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem#Mt 23:37 (less than two miles#11:18 Lit fifteen stadia; one stadion = 600 feet away). 19Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
20As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 “Your brother will rise #
Mk 9:27
again,” Jesus told her.
24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”#Jn 2:4; 6:39; 1Pt 1:5; 3:3; 2Pt 3:3; Jd 18
25Jesus said to her, “I am#Ex 3:14; Jn 8:24,58 the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me,#Jn 6:35 even if he dies, will live.#Php 1:21 26Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.#Jn 6:50; 8:51 Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah,#Mt 1:17; Eph 5:2 the Son#Jn 5:19 of God, who comes into the world.”#Jn 18:37
Jesus Shares the Sorrow of Death
28Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.#Mk 1:45 30Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb#Jn 5:28 to cry there.
32As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet#Rv 19:10 and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!”
33When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved#11:33 Or angry, also in v. 38 in his spirit#Ps 51:12 and troubled. 34“Where have you put him?” he asked.
“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”
35Jesus wept.#Lk 19:41
36So the Jews said, “See how he loved#Mk 14:44; Jn 5:20 him!” 37But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes#Jn 9:6–7 also have kept this man from dying?”
The Seventh Sign: Raising Lazarus from the Dead
38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.#Mt 27:60; Mk 15:46; Lk 24:2; Jn 20:1 39“Remove the stone,” Jesus said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”
40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory#Jn 17:24 of God?” #Mk 9:23; 1Jn 3:2
41So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank#Mk 8:6; Rm 1:8 you that you heard me.#Jn 9:31 42I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent#Mk 9:37; Jn 1:6 me.” 43After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.#Jn 2:23; 12:11 46But some of them went to the Pharisees#Mk 7:3 and told them what Jesus had done.
47So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin#Mk 13:9 and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans#Ac 16:21 will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49One of them, Caiaphas,#Mt 26:3,57; Lk 3:2; Jn 18:13–14,24,28; Ac 4:6 who was high priest#Lv 16:32 that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50You’re not considering that it is to your#11:50 Other mss read to our advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”#Is 53:8; Jn 18:14 51He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die#2Co 4:10 for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children#Lk 1:7 of God. 53So from that day on they plotted to kill him.#Jn 5:18
54Jesus therefore no longer walked openly#Jn 7:1 among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,#Mt 3:1; Rv 12:6 to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.
55Now the Jewish Passover#Ex 12:11 was near, and many went up to Jerusalem#Mt 23:37 from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. 56They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple,#Ac 21:26 “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival,#Jn 2:23 will he?” 57The chief priests#Mt 2:4 and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.
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John 11: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
John 11
11
1A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters#11:1. In the original it states that Lazarus lived in Bethany with Mary and her sister Martha. However, in verse 2 it's mentioned that Lazarus is Mary's brother, so their relationship is best identified at the outset. Mary and Martha. 2Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus: “Lord, your close friend is sick.” 4When Jesus heard the news he said, “The end result of this sickness will not be death. Through this God's glory will be revealed so that the Son of God may be glorified.”
5Even though Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6and had heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained where he was for two more days. 7Then he told the disciples, “Let's return to Judea.”
8The disciples replied, “Rabbi, just a few days ago the Jews were trying to stone you. Do you really want to go back there now?”
9“Aren't there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus replied. 10“If you walk during the day you don't stumble because you can see where you're going by the light of this world. But if you walk during the night you stumble because you have no light.” 11After telling them this, he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going to go there and wake him up!”
12The disciples said, “Lord, if he's sleeping then he'll get better.”
13Jesus had been referring to the death of Lazarus, but the disciples thought he meant actual sleep.#11:13. In the New Testament death is represented as a sleep. 14So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15For your sake I'm glad I wasn't there, because now you will be able to trust in me. Let's go and see him.”
16Thomas, the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples, “Let's go too so we can die with him.”#11:16. Meaning Jesus.
17When he arrived, Jesus learned that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was just two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to console Mary and Martha at the loss of their brother. 20When Martha found out that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 22But I'm certain that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24“I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” Martha answered.
25Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who trust in me will live, even though they die. 26All who live in me and trust in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one expected to come to this world.”
28When she had said this, she went and told her sister Mary in private, “The Teacher's here, and asking to see you.”
29As soon as she heard, Mary quickly got up and went to see him. 30Jesus hadn't arrived in the village yet. He was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who had been comforting Mary in the home saw how she'd got up quickly and left. So they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32When Mary arrived at the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.”
33When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying as well, he was very troubled#11:33. The word used here expresses intense emotion, even anger. Also used in verse 38. and upset. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
35Then Jesus cried too. 36“See how much he loved him,” the Jews said.
37But some of them said, “If he could open the eyes of a blind man, couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38Very troubled, Jesus went to the tomb. It was a cave with a large stone placed at the entrance.
39“Remove the stone,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man's sister, said, “Lord, by now there will be a terrible smell, for he's been dead for four days.”
40“Didn't I tell you that if you trusted me you would see God's glory?” Jesus replied.
41So they removed the stone. Jesus looked heavenwards, and said, “Father, thank you for listening to me. 42I know you always listen to me. I said this because of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.”
43After saying this, Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”
44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of linen, and with a cloth around his face.
“Unbind him and set him free,” Jesus told them.
45Consequently many of the Jews who had come to comfort Mary and who saw what Jesus did put their trust in him. 46But others went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the ruling council. “What shall we do?” they asked. “This man is doing many miracles. 48If we allow him to continue, everybody will believe in him, and then the Romans will destroy both the Temple and our status as a nation.”#11:48. Literally, “the place and the nation.”
49“You don't understand anything!” said Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 50“Can't you see that it's better for you that one man die for the people so that the whole nation won't be destroyed?” 51He didn't say this on his own behalf, but as chief priest that year he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. 52And this was not just for the Jewish nation, but for all the scattered children of God so that they might be gathered together and be made into one.
53From that time on they made plans as to how they might kill Jesus. 54So Jesus did not travel openly among the Jews but went to a town called Ephraim in the region near the desert and stayed there with his disciples.
55It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover, and many people went from the countryside to Jerusalem to purify#11:55. By a series of religious rituals. themselves for the Passover. 56People were looking for Jesus and talking about him as they stood in the Temple. “What do you think?” they asked each other. “Isn't he coming to the festival?” 57The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should report it so they could arrest him.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com