JohnChapter 11

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¹At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany. This was the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²(Lazarus was the brother of this Mary. She was the one who would later pour perfume on the Lord and wipe his feet with her hair.) ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus. "Lord, the one you love is sick." ⁴When Jesus heard this, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory. It is so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." ⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷Then he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea." ⁸"Rabbi," they said, "the Jews just tried to stone you. And you're going back there?" ⁹Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he won't trip, because he sees by the light of this world. ¹⁰But if anyone walks at night, he will trip, because he has no light." ¹¹After he said this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to wake him up." ¹²His disciples said, "Lord, if he's sleeping, he will get better." ¹³They thought Jesus meant normal sleep. But he was talking about Lazarus's death. ¹⁴So Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵And for your sake I am glad I wasn't there, so that you may believe. But let's go to him." ¹⁶Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, spoke to the other disciples. "Let's go too," he said. "Then we can die with him."a ¹⁷When Jesus got there, he found out that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Bethany was close to Jerusalem. It was a little less than two miles away. ¹⁹Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary. They came to comfort them because their brother had died. ²⁰Martha heard that Jesus was coming, so she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask him for." ²³Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." ²⁴Martha answered, "I know he will rise again. He will rise when the dead are raised on the last day." ²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though he dies. ²⁶And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" ²⁷"Yes, Lord," she said. "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. You are the One who was to come into the world." ²⁸After Martha said this, she went back home. She called her sister Mary to come away from the others. "The Teacher is here," she said. "He is asking for you." ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Jesus had not come into the village yet. He was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹Some Jews were in the house comforting Mary. They saw her get up quickly and go out. So they followed her. They thought she was going to the tomb to cry there. ³²Mary came to the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she fell down at his feet. She said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." ³³Jesus saw her crying. He saw that the Jews who came with her were crying too. Then he was deeply moved in his spirit, and he was troubled. ³⁴"Where have you put him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they answered. ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶Then the Jews said, "See how much he loved him!" ³⁷But some of them said, "This man opened the eyes of the blind man. Couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying too?" ³⁸Once again Jesus was deeply moved. He came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone across the opening. ³⁹"Take away the stone," Jesus said. Martha, the dead man's sister, spoke up. "Lord, by now there will be a bad smell," she said. "He has been in there four days." ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?" ⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me. But I said this for the good of the people standing here. I want them to believe that you sent me." ⁴³After Jesus said this, he called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were tied up with strips of linen cloth. A cloth was wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." ⁴⁵Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did. So they believed in him. ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees. They told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we going to do?" they asked. "This man is doing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸If we let him keep doing this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come. They will take away both our place and our nation."b ⁴⁹One of them was named Caiaphas. He was high priest that year. He said to them, "You don't know anything at all! ⁵⁰You don't see that it's better for you if one man dies for the people. That is better than for the whole nation to perish." ⁵¹Caiaphas didn't say this on his own. He was high priest that year. So he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. ⁵²And Jesus would not die only for that nation. He would also die for God's children who were scattered. He would bring them together and make them one. ⁵³So from that day on, they made plans to kill Jesus. ⁵⁴Because of this, Jesus no longer moved around openly among the Jews. Instead, he went away to a town called Ephraim. It was near the wilderness. He stayed there with his disciples. ⁵⁵It was almost time for the Jewish Passover. Many people went up from the country to Jerusalem. They went to make themselves clean before the Passover. ⁵⁶They kept looking for Jesus. They stood in the temple courts and asked each other, "What do you think? Will he even come to the feast?" ⁵⁷But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders. Anyone who knew where Jesus was had to report it. Then they could arrest him.