John 11

Lazarus Gets Sick

1 There was a man named Lazarus who was sick, from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 This was the same Mary who would later anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.

3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”

4 When Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death, but it is for God’s glory, so the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

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

6 So when He heard Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two more days.

Jesus Moves on His Timing

7 After that, He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

8 The disciples said, “Rabbi, they were just trying to stone You there, and You going back,”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day, If someone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if he walks at night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.”

11 After saying this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.”

12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will recover.”

13 But Jesus was talking about his death, and they thought He meant actual sleep.

14 So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,

15 and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16 Thomas said to the other disciples, “Let us go too, so we can die with Him.”

Martha Meets Jesus

17 When Jesus arrived, He found Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away,

19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

20 When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 Martha said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 Even now I know whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never truly die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

Jesus Feels the Weight of It

28 After she said this, she went and called Mary her sister, saying quietly, “The Teacher is here and calling for you.”

29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.

30 Jesus had not come into the village yet but was still where Martha met Him.

31 The Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and follow her, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who came with her crying too, He was deeply moved in His spirit and troubled.

34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept.

36 So the Jews were saying, “See how much He loved him.”

37 But some said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have kept this man from dying?”

Lazarus Comes Back

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

39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha said, “Lord, by now there is a smell, because he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

42 I knew You always hear Me, but I said this for the sake of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”

43 After He said this, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with wrappings, and his face wrapped in cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Some Believe, Others Plot

45 Many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He did believed in Him.

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

47 So the chief priests and Pharisees called a council and said, “What are we doing, 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 take away both our place and our nation.”

49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all,

50 nor do you take into account that it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.”

51 Now he did not say this on his own, but being high priest, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,

52 and not for the nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God scattered abroad.

53 So from that day on, they planned to kill Him.

Jesus Steps Back for A Moment

54 So Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with His disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another in the temple, “What do you think, that He will not come to the feast at all?”

57 Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, they should report it, so they could arrest Him.