John 11
11
The Death of Lazarus
1 #
Lk 10.38–39
A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, was ill. Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 2#Jn 12.3(This Mary was the one who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.) 3The sisters sent Jesus a message: “Lord, your dear friend is ill.”
4When Jesus heard it, he said, “The final result of this illness will not be the death of Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory.”
5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he received the news that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was for two more days. 7Then he said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8“Teacher,” the disciples answered, “just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?”
9Jesus said, “A day has twelve hours, hasn't it? So whoever walks in broad daylight does not stumble, for they see the light of this world. 10But if they walk during the night they stumble, because they have no light.” 11Jesus said this and then added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up.”
12The disciples answered, “If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well.”
13Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep. 14So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him.”
16Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow-disciples, “Let us all go with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!”
Jesus the Resurrection and the Life
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before. 18Bethany was less than three kilometres from Jerusalem, 19and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them over their brother's death.
20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for.”
23 “Your brother will rise to life,” Jesus told her.
24“I know,” she replied, “that he will rise to life on the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; 26and all those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord!” she answered. “I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Jesus Weeps
28After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary privately. “The Teacher is here,” she told her, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet him. 30(Jesus had not yet arrived in the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.) 31The people who were in the house with Mary, comforting her, followed her when they saw her get up and hurry out. They thought that she was going to the grave to weep there.
32Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. “Lord,” she said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”
33Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people who were with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved. 34“Where have you buried him?” he asked them.
“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35Jesus wept. 36“See how much he loved him!” the people said.
37But some of them said, “He gave sight to the blind man, didn't he? Could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Lazarus is Brought to Life
38Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance. 39“Take the stone away!” Jesus ordered.
Martha, the dead man's sister, answered, “There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!”
40Jesus said to her, “Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?” 41They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, “I thank you, Father, that you listen to me. 42I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.” 43After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave clothes, and with a cloth round his face. “Untie him,” Jesus told them, “and let him go.”
The Plot against Jesus
(Mt 26.1–5; Mk 14.1–2; Lk 22.1–2)
45Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him. 46But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, “What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing! 48If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!”
49One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, “What fools you are! 50Don't you realize that it is better for you to let one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?” 51Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people, 52and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.
53From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus. 54So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.
55The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival. 56They were looking for Jesus, and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?” 57The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him.
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John 11: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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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