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A man named Lazarus was ill. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 2 Mary would later pour perfume on the Lord. She would also wipe Jesus' feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was ill in bed. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus. ‘Lord’, they told him, ‘the one you love is ill.’ 4 When Jesus heard this, he said, ‘This illness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory. God's Son will receive glory because of it.’ 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So after he heard Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was for two more days. 7 And then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’
8 ‘But Rabbi’, they said, ‘a short time ago the Jews there tried to kill you with stones. Are you still going back?’
9 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. 10 But when they walk at night, they'll trip and fall. They have no light.’
11 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.’
12 His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he's sleeping, he will get better.’ 13 Jesus had been speaking about the death of Lazarus. But his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. 15 For your benefit, I am glad I was not there. Now you will believe. But let us go to him.’
16 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.’
11:1–16 Jesus was close friends with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Yet he didn't hurry to heal Lazarus when Mary and Martha sent for him. Instead he told his disciples that he would raise Lazarus from the dead. This would be his seventh sign in John's gospel. It would show people God's plan for the resurrection. Jesus told the disciples there wasn't much daylight left. He meant that there wasn't much time left for him to do God's work. Jesus is God's Light but he wouldn't be in the world much longer. It was dangerous for Jesus to go south into Judea where Lazarus was. The Jewish leaders there wanted to kill him. The disciples didn't understand why Jesus was going there or what he was going to do. But they followed him into danger anyway.
17 When Jesus arrived, he found out that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than 2 miles from Jerusalem. 19 Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary. They had come to comfort them because their brother was dead. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home.
21 ‘Lord’, Martha said to Jesus, ‘I wish you had been here! Then my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask for.’
23 Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
24 Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again. This will happen when people are raised from the dead on the last day.’
25 Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even if they die. 26 And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
27 ‘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.’
28 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.’ 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Jesus had not yet entered the village. He was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 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.
32 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.’
33 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. 34 ‘Where have you put him?’ he asked.
‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, ‘See how much he loved him!’
37 But some of them said, ‘He opened the eyes of the blind man. Couldn't he have kept this man from dying?’
38 Once more Jesus felt very sad. He came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone in front of the entrance. 39 ‘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.’
40 Then Jesus said, ‘Didn't I tell you that if you believe, you will see God's glory?’
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up. He said, ‘Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42 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.’
43 Then Jesus called in a loud voice. He said, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44 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.’
11:17–45 Martha and Jesus talked about people rising from the dead. Martha's words showed what many Jews at that time thought resurrection meant. The common belief was that God's people would be rescued by him on the last day. The last day was another name for judgement day. He would raise up the dead who had been faithful to him. That was the hope that Martha spoke about. Jesus boldly said, I am the resurrection and the life. This was Jesus' fifth I am statement in John's gospel. Jesus makes the hope of resurrection come true. Those who follow him faithfully will live for ever after their bodies die. This is because Jesus will raise his people from the dead in the new creation. Martha believed what Jesus said about himself. She believed he is the Messiah and the Son of God. Martha was the fifth witness to Jesus in John's gospel. To help others believe him, Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb. Raising Lazarus from the dead was the seventh sign Jesus did. The crying and sadness over Lazarus' death stopped. Many people believed in Jesus when they saw this sign.
45 Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did. So they believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees. They told the Pharisees what Jesus had done. 47 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. 48 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.’
49 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! 50 You don't realise what is good for you. It is better if one man dies for the people than if the whole nation is destroyed.’
51 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. 52 He also prophesied that Jesus would die for God's children scattered everywhere. He would die to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on, the Jewish rulers planned to kill Jesus.
54 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.
55 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. 56 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?’ 57 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.
11:46–57 The Sanhedrin heard about Lazarus. They thought that to protect the Jewish faith they had to stop Jesus. The high priest Caiaphas spoke words that were truer than he knew. Jesus would die for the nation but not in the way that Caiaphas thought. Jesus' death would bring life to the world. Jesus would bring together into one family all who follow God anywhere in the world. Many people were looking for Jesus. The Jewish leaders wanted to arrest him. The crowds wondered if he would teach and do mighty works at the Passover Feast.