11John 11

The Death of Lazarus

1A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, became sick. Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived. (Select John 11:1

2This Mary was the one who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.)Select John 11:2

3The sisters sent Jesus a message: “Lord, your dear friend is sick.”Select John 11:3

4When Jesus heard it, he said, “The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory.”Select John 11:4

5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.Select John 11:5

6Yet when he received the news that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.Select John 11:6

7Then he said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”Select John 11:7

8“Teacher,” the disciples answered, “just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?”Select John 11:8

9Jesus said, “A day has twelve hours, doesn't it? So those who walk in broad daylight do not stumble, for they see the light of this world.Select John 11:9

10But if they walk during the night they stumble, because they have no light.”Select John 11:10

11Jesus said this and then added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up.”Select John 11:11

12The disciples answered, “If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well.”Select John 11:12

13Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep.Select John 11:13

14So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,Select John 11:14

15but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him.”Select John 11:15

16Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us all go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!”Select John 11:16

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before.Select John 11:17

18Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,Select John 11:18

19and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death.Select John 11:19

20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.Select John 11:20

21Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died!Select John 11:21

22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for.”Select John 11:22

23“Your brother will rise to life,” Jesus told her.Select John 11:23

24“I know,” she replied, “that he will rise to life on the last day.”Select John 11:24

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die;Select John 11:25

26and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?”Select John 11:26

27“Yes, Lord!” she answered. “I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”Select John 11:27

Jesus Weeps

28After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary privately. “The Teacher is here,” she told her, “and is asking for you.”Select John 11:28

29When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet him. (Select John 11:29

30Jesus had not yet arrived in the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.)Select John 11:30

31The people who were in the house with Mary comforting her followed her when they saw her get up and hurry out. They thought that she was going to the grave to weep there.Select John 11:31

32Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. “Lord,” she said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”Select John 11:32

33Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.Select John 11:33

34“Where have you buried him?” he asked them. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered.Select John 11:34

35Jesus wept.Select John 11:35

36“See how much he loved him!” the people said.Select John 11:36

37But some of them said, “He gave sight to the blind man, didn't he? Could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?”Select John 11:37

Lazarus Is Brought to Life

38Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance.Select John 11:38

39“Take the stone away!” Jesus ordered. Martha, the dead man's sister, answered, “There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!”Select John 11:39

40Jesus said to her, “Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?”Select John 11:40

41They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, “I thank you, Father, that you listen to me.Select John 11:41

42I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.”Select John 11:42

43After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”Select John 11:43

44He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave cloths, and with a cloth around his face. “Untie him,” Jesus told them, “and let him go.”Select John 11:44

The Plot against Jesus

45Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him.Select John 11:45

46But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.Select John 11:46

47So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, “What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing!Select John 11:47

48If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!”Select John 11:48

49One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, “What fools you are!Select John 11:49

50Don't you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?”Select John 11:50

51Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people,Select John 11:51

52and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.Select John 11:52

53From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus.Select John 11:53

54So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.Select John 11:54

55The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival.Select John 11:55

56They were looking for Jesus, and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?”Select John 11:56

57The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him.Select John 11:57