John 11
The Death of Lazarus
11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.1 11:2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil2 and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)3 11:3 So the sisters sent a message4 to Jesus,5 “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death,6 but to God’s glory,7 so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”8 11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)9
11:6 So when he heard that Lazarus10 was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days. 11:7 Then after this, he said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”11 11:8 The disciples replied,12 “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders13 were just now trying14 to stone you to death! Are15 you going there again?” 11:9 Jesus replied,16 “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble,17 because he sees the light of this world.18 11:10 But if anyone walks around at night,19 he stumbles,20 because the light is not in him.”
11:11 After he said this, he added,21 “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.22 But I am going there to awaken him.” 11:12 Then the disciples replied,23 “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 11:13 (Now Jesus had been talking about24 his death, but they25 thought he had been talking about real sleep.)26
11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 11:15 and I am glad27 for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe.28 But let us go to him.” 11:16 So Thomas (called Didymus29)30 said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”31
Speaking with Martha and Mary
11:17 When32 Jesus arrived,33 he found that Lazarus34 had been in the tomb four days already.35 11:18 (Now Bethany was less than two miles36 from Jerusalem,37 11:19 so many of the Jewish people of the region38 had come to Martha and Mary to console them39 over the loss of their brother.)40 11:20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.41 11:21 Martha42 said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 11:22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant43 you.”44
11:23 Jesus replied,45 “Your brother will come back to life again.”46 11:24 Martha said,47 “I know that he will come back to life again48 in the resurrection at the last day.” 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live49 even if he dies, 11:26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.50 Do you believe this?” 11:27 She replied,51 “Yes, Lord, I believe52 that you are the Christ,53 the Son of God who comes into the world.”54
11:28 And when she had said this, Martha55 went and called her sister Mary, saying privately,56 “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”57 11:29 So when Mary58 heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 11:30 (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.) 11:31 Then the people59 who were with Mary60 in the house consoling her saw her61 get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep62 there.
11:32 Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people63 who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved64 in spirit and greatly distressed.65 11:34 He asked,66 “Where have you laid him?”67 They replied,68 “Lord, come and see.” 11:35 Jesus wept.69 11:36 Thus the people who had come to mourn70 said, “Look how much he loved him!” 11:37 But some of them said, “This is the man who caused the blind man to see!71 Couldn’t he have done something to keep Lazarus72 from dying?”
Lazarus Raised from the Dead
11:38 Jesus, intensely moved73 again, came to the tomb. (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.)74 11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”75 Martha, the sister of the deceased,76 replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell,77 because he has been buried78 four days.”79 11:40 Jesus responded,80 “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” 11:41 So they took away81 the stone. Jesus looked upward82 and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me.83 11:42 I knew that you always listen to me,84 but I said this85 for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 11:43 When86 he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice,87 “Lazarus, come out!” 11:44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth,88 and a cloth wrapped around his face.89 Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him90 and let him go.”
The Response of the Jewish Leaders
11:45 Then many of the people,91 who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus92 did, believed in him. 11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees93 and reported to them94 what Jesus had done. 11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees95 called the council96 together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. 11:48 If we allow him to go on in this way,97 everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary98 and our nation.”
11:49 Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said,99 “You know nothing at all! 11:50 You do not realize100 that it is more to your advantage to have one man101 die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.”102 11:51 (Now he did not say this on his own,103 but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation,104 11:52 and not for the Jewish nation105 only,106 but to gather together107 into one the children of God who are scattered.)108 11:53 So from that day they planned together to kill him.
11:54 Thus Jesus no longer went109 around publicly110 among the Judeans,111 but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim,112 and stayed there with his disciples. 11:55 Now the Jewish feast of Passover113 was near, and many people went up to Jerusalem114 from the rural areas before the Passover to cleanse themselves ritually.115 11:56 Thus they were looking for Jesus,116 and saying to one another as they stood in the temple courts,117 “What do you think? That he won’t come to the feast?” 11:57 (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees118 had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus119 was should report it, so that they could arrest120 him.)121