JHN 11

The Death of Lazarus

1 Now there was a man who was gravely ill, named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany—the village where Mary and her sister Martha resided.

2 This Mary was the same woman who would later anoint the Lord with fragrant oil and wipe His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.

3 So the sisters sent a messenger to Jesus with this urgent message: "Lord, the one You love dearly is seriously ill."

4 When Jesus received this news, He said: "This sickness will not ultimately result in death. Rather, it exists for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through what happens."

5 Now Jesus deeply loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6 Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He deliberately remained where He was for two more days.

7 Then, after this delay, He said to His disciples: "Let us return to Judea."

8 The disciples protested: "Rabbi, just recently the Jewish leaders were trying to stone You to death, and You want to go back there again?"

9 Jesus responded: "Are there not twelve hours of daylight in each day? If someone walks during the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.

10 But if someone walks during the nighttime, he stumbles around, because the light is not present in him."

11 After saying this, He continued: "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him from his sleep."

12 So the disciples said: "Lord, if he has simply fallen asleep, then he will recover."

13 Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought He was referring to ordinary, natural sleep.

14 So Jesus then told them in plain, direct language: "Lazarus has died.

15 And for your sakes I am glad I was not present there, so that you may come to believe more deeply. But let us go to him now."

16 Then Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: "Let us also go, so that we may die together with Him."

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

17 When Jesus arrived, He discovered that Lazarus had already been lying in the tomb for four days.

18 Now Bethany was located near Jerusalem, only about two miles away,

19 and many of the Jewish people had come out to Martha and Mary to offer them consolation regarding the loss of their brother.

20 So when Martha heard the report that Jesus was approaching, she went out to meet Him, but Mary remained sitting in the house.

21 Martha said to Jesus: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will grant to You."

23 Jesus said to her: "Your brother will rise again and live."

24 Martha replied to Him: "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection that will occur on the last day."

25 Jesus declared to her: "I Myself am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in Me will live, even if he dies physically.

26 And everyone who lives and continues believing in Me will never truly die for all eternity. Do you believe this truth?"

27 She said to Him: "Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God—the One who was prophesied to come into the world."

Jesus Weeps

28 After she had spoken these words, she went away and called her sister Mary privately, saying: "The Teacher has arrived and is asking to see you."

29 When Mary heard this news, she got up quickly and began making her way to Him.

30 Jesus had not yet entered the village itself, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him.

31 The Jewish people who were in the house with Mary, consoling her, observed that she stood up quickly and went out. They followed her, assuming she was heading to the tomb to weep there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet and said to Him: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and saw the Jewish people who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and profoundly troubled within Himself.

34 He asked: "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him: "Lord, come and see for Yourself."

35 Jesus wept.

36 The Jewish people who observed this began saying: "Look at how deeply He loved him!"

37 But some of them said: "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have done something to prevent this man from dying?"

Lazarus is Raised

38 Jesus, again deeply moved within Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, with a stone laid against the entrance.

39 Jesus said: "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him: "Lord, by this time there will be a terrible odour, for he has been dead four days."

40 Jesus said to her: "Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would witness the glory of God?"

41 So they removed the stone from the entrance. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upwards and said: "Father, I give You thanks that You have heard Me.

42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this aloud for the benefit of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that You sent Me."

43 After He had said these things, He called out in a loud, commanding voice: "Lazarus, come out of there!"

44 The man who had been dead came out, his feet and hands still wrapped with burial strips of linen, and his face covered with a burial cloth. Jesus said to them: "Unwrap him and release him to go."

The Plot to Kill Jesus

Matt. 26:1-5; Mk. 14:1-2; Lk. 22:1-2

45 As a result, many of the Jewish people who had come with Mary and had witnessed what Jesus did placed their faith in Him.

46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done.

47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said: "What action are we taking in light of the fact that this man is performing numerous miraculous signs?

48 If we allow Him to continue in this way, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and destroy both our temple and our nation."

49 But one of them, a man named Caiaphas, who was serving as high priest that year, said to them: "You people understand nothing at all!

50 You fail to take into account that it is better for you that one man should die on behalf of the people, rather than having the entire nation destroyed."

51 Now he did not speak this from his own understanding, but because he was high priest during that year, he unknowingly prophesied that Jesus was destined to die for the nation—

52 and not only for the Jewish nation, but also to gather together into one people the scattered children of God from all places.

53 So from that day forward they made plans together to put Him to death.

54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jewish people. Instead, He withdrew from there to a region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there He stayed with His disciples.

55 Now the Jewish Passover was approaching, and many people went up from the countryside to Jerusalem before the Passover in order to purify themselves ceremonially.

56 They were searching for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they were saying to one another: "What do you think? Will He come to the feast or not?"

57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had issued orders that if anyone learned where Jesus was, they must report it immediately so they could arrest Him.

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JHN 11: AFINT

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