Listen

Description

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

• A man is mortally ill. In fact, by the time the messenger arrives, he is already dead.
• The village of Bethany has been renamed, in honor of Lazarus. Today it is called El-Azariyeh.
• It is obvious from chapters 11 and 12 that Jesus and Lazarus have a very special relationship.
• The verb in v.3 is phileîs, not agapâs. In NT Greek, these are virtually synonyms. V.36 contains the same verb: 
• Jesus stayed two more days (v.6) before heading to Bethany. This was not to give Lazarus time to die. The chronology of the passage shows that he was in fact already dead at this time. (Add the extra two-day stay to the two travel days, one for the messenger and one for Jesus.)
• Jesus rightly foretells that this sickness will not end in death (v.4), but will glorify God. (See 9:3.)
• Further: Some scholars, such as Ben Witherington III, believe that the disciple whom Jesus loved is none other than Lazarus -- an intriguing possibility.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

• Jesus returns (from Galilee) to Judea (v.7ff), to the surprise of his disciples, since there is a bounty on Jesus' head. But Jesus is undeterred. He knows he is following God's timing and besides, Lazarus is his friend.
• Further: A day has 12 hours (v.9). As the length of the day varied through the seasons, so the length of an hour varied, expanding or contracting so that twelve spanned the hours between sunup and sundown.
• As usual, the disciples are thinking on "channel 2" (v.12). Jesus, on "channel 1," is referring to death, not physical sleep. Despite the confusion, one cannot help but admire Thomas, who immediately volunteers to accompany Jesus, even though it will lead to death. (In fact, Thomas was more or less correct in his assessment.) Verse 16 is therefore for all readers of this gospel: "Let's go so that we may die with him."
• Further: If Thomas was a twin (didymos, in Greek), whose twin was he? The most popular suggestion is that he was twin brother of Matthew. Please listen to the podcast on Thomas in the NT Character Study series. Or click on this link for more.

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

• Jesus arrives at Bethany (v.17ff) and speaks with Lazarus' sisters, beginning with Martha. Many others have come out to mourn.
• Martha is deeply grieving. Jesus promises that he will rise again (v.23). Once again, she is thinking on a different wavelength. Jesus did not mean he would arise "some day," but now.
• Jesus is the resurrection and the life (v.25) -- the fifth of seven I am statements.
• Verse 25 is better translated "will come (back) to life" than "will live."
• Moreover, in verse 26 Jesus promises life before death! Those who believe will never die. Physical death will be but a brief transition between time and eternity.
• Martha then confesses her full faith in Jesus as the Messiah (v.27).
  • How amazing that despite his divinity, holiness, fame, and power, Jesus still made friends with this family, appreciating and loving them wholeheartedly.
  • This is the 6th of the 7th confessions of faith in John.

28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt 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 the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

• Having talked with Martha, Jesus now meets Mary, also deep in grief. Many others are weeping, and Jesus is deeply moved. His anger (vv.33,38) was apparently due to the refusal of the crowd to believe that he was the resurrection and the life.
• He bursts into tears -- tears that seem to have been more for Mary and Martha than for Lazarus. "Burst out weeping" is probably a better translation than "wept" (v.35), since it indicates continuous action.
• Jesus will now raise Lazarus from the dead (v.38ff).

38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

• The tomb was a cave (v.38).
  • Caves are abundant in Israel, and made natural and accessible burial sites.
  • To see what a typical first century tomb, click here.
• Martha objects: "By this time he stinketh" (KJV). That Lazarus had been four days in the tomb shows that he'd been buried on the day of this death -- normal practice at that time.
• Re: v.39, according to the Genesis Rabbah 100 [64a], "For three days the spirit returns to the tomb. It intends to reinhabit the corpse. But when it sees that the color of the corpses's face has changed, then it goes off and leaves the corpse." Thus Jesus' waiting till after the three-day period lends even greater punch to this miracle.
• The stone is removed, and Jesus prays. There is no shred of doubt in his mind that Lazarus will be reanimated. The prayer is not simply a request for Lazarus to be raised to life at all; it is uttered only for the sake of the witnesses to this incredible event.
• Jesus shouts, "Lazarus, come out!" As some preacher said, so powerful is Jesus' words that had he not specified to whom he was talking, everyone who had died would have come out! Lazarus emerges.
  • Lazarus is able to walk (hop?) out of the grave, but still his face has not been seen -- not until he has been unbound.
  • Here is a contrast. Lazarus emerges from the tomb with the graveclothes still wrapped around him. But Jesus would emerge from his grave without the cloth (20:6-7). Whereas Lazarus would still have to return to the grave (dying a second time), Jesus would triumph over death.
  • Always a practical man, Jesus directs that Lazarus be unbound. (What's the point of being raised to life if you've lost all mobility? Is there a lesson somewhere in there for us?)
  • Lazarus has been revivified--but not resurrected.
    • He does not possess a resurrection body.
    • His body does not have the qualities Jesus' will after the Resurrection.
    • Lazarus will die again. He has received a reprieve.
• Further: Lazarus' face had been wrapped in a separate cloth, as would Jesus' face (20:7). 

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned to put him to death.

• Once again, public reaction is divided. The miracle of the raising of Lazarus helped bring many people to faith, but others reported this to the Pharisees. This was not a neutral action -- notice the contrast between these people and those who believed (vv.45-46).
• The Pharisees in the Sanhedrin (v.47) would have been scribes.
• The Romans (v.48) had ruled Israel (part of the province of Syria) since 63 BC.
• The Jewish leaders are alarmed.
  • They are losing influence and control. Too many people like Jesus. Jerusalem isn't big enough for them and Jesus.
  • The Romans (their overlords) might come and remove their "place" (a word often denoting the Temple) and their nation (what little sovereignty the Jews still retained). This is, in fact, exactly what happened some 40 years later, though not because of Christ or the Christians; it was because of revolutionary action.
  • Either way, their power base is in danger -- from beneath as well as from above.
  • Caiaphas, serving as high priest (under the watchful eye of his powerful father-in-law Annas -- see Luke 3:2), suggests that it would be better for them if one man (Jesus) were to die rather than the entire nation being ruined (v.50).
    • Caiaphas was high priest "that year." What does this mean? That auspicious year (30 AD), when our Lord was crucified. Annual rotation -- a new high priest every year. Erratic succession. Pilate's predecessor, Gratus, frequently deposed high priests after only short terms in office. This seems to be the most likely possibility. The bones of Caiaphas were discovered in 1990, examined, and reinterred. His ornate ossuary (the bone box) is on display at the Israel Museum (Jerusalem), though these days it often goes on tour!
  • This was a sort of prophecy of Jesus' atoning death (v.51). Yet the reach of Jesus' death was to be broader than the Jewish nation alone. All God's people, even those outside the Holy Land, would benefit (v.52).
  • Following his lead, the authorities plotted Jesus' death.

54 Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.

• As a result, Jesus could no longer walk about openly, retreating instead to the village of Ephraim, a safe distance from Jerusalem. 
• From here he and his disciples could see the streams of pilgrims approaching the city.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

• The Passover was near (v.55). This is the third or fourth Passover mentioned in John's gospel.
• Expectations are running high, and many are eager for Jesus to make an appearance (v.56).
  • To do so is to court danger: both arrest (v.57) and execution.
  • The tension is mounting...

Questions for thought:

• You are a witness to Lazarus' resurrection, and a few days later happen to be at a wealthy friend's house. One of the chief priests, whom you immediately recognize, walks into the room. You humbly introduce yourself, and he wishes you God's peace and asks how things are. You begin relating the phenomenal miracle you have just seen. But the look on the priest's face is not a happy one; he does not seem open to considering the possibility that Jesus is a man from God. What do you do? (Do you finish telling the story, abbreviate it, abruptly break it off, or change the subject? What would be going through your head?)
• Ideally the Jewish leaders would not have conspired to bring about the death of Jesus. Yet his ministry was a threat to civil order and stability. Do you think compromises of principle are ever allowable, in the interest of the greater public good? Do you agree with the following statement: "The higher up the leader, the more often he will be required to sacrifice principle in order to keep the wheels turning"?
• If you are a "busy leader," as was Jesus, do you have room in your schedule, and in your heart, for others? Are you emotionally close to your own Marys, Marthas, and Lazaruses?
• Are my feelings suppressed, or do I experience -- and express -- the full range of human emotion?
• What does Jesus being the resurrection and the life mean to you?
• How are the "resurrections" of Jesus (John 20) and Lazarus (John 11) similar? different?

How would I have felt as a bystander if I had witnessed Lazarus emerge from the tomb? (Read 12:17 if you're stuck.)