John 11

1 There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El`azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived.

2 (This Miryam, whose brother El`azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)

3 So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, "Lord, the man you love is sick."

4 On hearing it, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it."

5 Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El`azar;

6 so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days;

7 then, after this, he said to the talmidim, "Let's go back to Y'hudah."

8 The talmidim replied, "Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you -- and you want to go back there?"

9 Yeshua answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn't stumble; because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him."

11 Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, "Our friend El`azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up."

12 The talmidim said to him, "Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better."

13 Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El`azar's death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep.

14 So Yeshua told them in plain language, "El`azar has died.

15 And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn't there, so that you may come to trust. But let's go to him."

16 Then T'oma (the name means "twin") said to his fellow talmidim, "Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!"

17 On arrival, Yeshua found that El`azar had already been in the tomb for four days.

18 Now Beit-Anyah was about two miles from Yerushalayim,

19 and many of the Judeans had come to Marta and Miryam in order to comfort them at the loss of their brother.

20 So when Marta heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him; but Miryam continued sitting shiv`ah in the house.

21 Marta said to Yeshua, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you."

23 Yeshua said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Marta said, "I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day."

25 Yeshua said to her, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies;

26 and everyone living and trusting 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."

28 After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: "The Rabbi is here and is calling for you."

29 When she heard this, she jumped up and went to him.

30 Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met him;

31 so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, he was deeply moved and also troubled.

34 He said, "Where have you buried him?" They said, "Lord, come and see."

35 Yeshua cried;

36 so the Judeans there said, "See how he loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "He opened the blind man's eyes. Couldn't he have kept this one from dying?"

38 Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance.

39 Yeshua said, "Take the stone away!" Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, "By now his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!"

40 Yeshua said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?"

41 So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

42 I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me."

43 Having said this, he shouted, "El`azar! Come out!"

44 The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, "Unwrap him, and let him go!"

45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.

46 But some of them went off to the P'rushim and told them what he had done.

47 So the head cohanim and the P'rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? -- for this man is performing many miracles.

48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation."

49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, "You people don't know anything!

50 You don't see that it's better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won't be destroyed."

51 Now he didn't speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation,

52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.

53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death.

54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.

55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach.

56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, "What do you think? that he simply won't come to the festival?"

57 Moreover, the head cohanim and the P'rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua's whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.

John 11 Commentary

Chapter 11

The sickness of Lazarus. (1-6) Christ returns to Judea. (7-10) The death of Lazarus. (11-16) Christ arrives at Bethany. (17-32) He raises Lazarus. (33-46) The Pharisees consult against Jesus. (47-53) The Jews seek for him. (54-57)

Verses 1-6 It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves, to be sick; bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces of God's people. He came not to preserve his people from these afflictions, but to save them from their sins, and from the wrath to come; however, it behoves us to apply to Him in behalf of our friends and relatives when sick and afflicted. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dealings of Providence, that they are all for the glory of God: sickness, loss, disappointment, are so; and if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. The families are greatly favoured in which love and peace abound; but those are most happy whom Jesus loves, and by whom he is beloved. Alas, that this should seldom be the case with every person, even in small families. God has gracious intentions, even when he seems to delay. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, is delayed, it does but stay for the right time.

Verses 7-10 Christ never brings his people into any danger but he goes with them in it. We are apt to think ourselves zealous for the Lord, when really we are only zealous for our wealth, credit, ease, and safety; we have therefore need to try our principles. But our day shall be lengthened out, till our work is done, and our testimony finished. A man has comfort and satisfaction while in the way of his duty, as set forth by the word of God, and determined by the providence of God. Christ, wherever he went, walked in the day; and so shall we, if we follow his steps. If a man walks in the way of his heart, and according to the course of this world, if he consults his own carnal reasonings more than the will and glory of God, he falls into temptations and snares. He stumbles, because there is no light in him; for light in us is to our moral actions, that which light about us to our natural actions.

Verses 11-16 Since we are sure to rise again at the last, why should not the believing hope of that resurrection to eternal life, make it as easy for us to put off the body and die, as it is to put off our clothes and go to sleep? A true Christian, when he dies, does but sleep; he rests from the labours of the past day. Nay, herein death is better than sleep, that sleep is only a short rest, but death is the end of earthly cares and toils. The disciples thought that it was now needless for Christ to go to Lazarus, and expose himself and them. Thus we often hope that the good work we are called to do, will be done by some other hand, if there be peril in the doing of it. But when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, many were brought to believe on him; and there was much done to make perfect the faith of those that believed. Let us go to him; death cannot separate from the love of Christ, nor put us out of the reach of his call. Like Thomas, in difficult times Christians should encourage one another. The dying of the Lord Jesus should make us willing to die whenever God calls us.

Verses 17-32 Here was a house where the fear of God was, and on which his blessing rested; yet it was made a house of mourning. Grace will keep sorrow from the heart, but not from the house. When God, by his grace and providence, is coming towards us in ways of mercy and comfort, we should, like Martha, go forth by faith, hope, and prayer, to meet him. When Martha went to meet Jesus, Mary sat still in the house; this temper formerly had been an advantage to her, when it put her at Christ's feet to hear his word; but in the day of affliction, the same temper disposed her to melancholy. It is our wisdom to watch against the temptations, and to make use of the advantages of our natural tempers. When we know not what in particular to ask or expect, let us refer ourselves to God; let him do as seemeth him good. To enlarge Martha's expectations, our Lord declared himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. In every sense he is the Resurrection; the source, the substance, the first-fruits, the cause of it. The redeemed soul lives after death in happiness; and after the resurrection, both body and soul are kept from all evil for ever. When we have read or heard the word of Christ, about the great things of the other world, we should put it to ourselves, Do we believe this truth? The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such a deep impression upon us as they do, if we believed the things of eternity as we ought. When Christ our Master comes, he calls for us. He comes in his word and ordinances, and calls us to them, calls us by them, calls us to himself. Those who, in a day of peace, set themselves at Christ's feet to be taught by him, may with comfort, in a day of trouble, cast themselves at his feet, to find favour with him.

Verses 33-46 Christ's tender sympathy with these afflicted friends, appeared by the troubles of his spirit. In all the afflictions of believers he is afflicted. His concern for them was shown by his kind inquiry after the remains of his deceased friend. Being found in fashion as a man, he acts in the way and manner of the sons of men. It was shown by his tears. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Tears of compassion resemble those of Christ. But Christ never approved that sensibility of which many are proud, while they weep at mere tales of distress, but are hardened to real woe. He sets us an example to withdraw from scenes of giddy mirth, that we may comfort the afflicted. And we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. It is a good step toward raising a soul to spiritual life, when the stone is taken away, when prejudices are removed, and got over, and way is made for the word to enter the heart. If we take Christ's word, and rely on his power and faithfulness, we shall see the glory of God, and be happy in the sight. Our Lord Jesus has taught us, by his own example, to call God Father, in prayer, and to draw nigh to him as children to a father, with humble reverence, yet with holy boldness. He openly made this address to God, with uplifted eyes and loud voice, that they might be convinced the Father had sent him as his beloved Son into the world. He could have raised Lazarus by the silent exertion of his power and will, and the unseen working of the Spirit of life; but he did it by a loud call. This was a figure of the gospel call, by which dead souls are brought out of the grave of sin: and of the sound of the archangel's trumpet at the last day, with which all that sleep in the dust shall be awakened, and summoned before the great tribunal. The grave of sin and this world, is no place for those whom Christ has quickened; they must come forth. Lazarus was thoroughly revived, and returned not only to life, but to health. The sinner cannot quicken his own soul, but he is to use the means of grace; the believer cannot sanctify himself, but he is to lay aside every weight and hinderance. We cannot convert our relatives and friends, but we should instruct, warn, and invite them.

Verses 47-53 There can hardly be a more clear discovery of the madness that is in man's heart, and of its desperate enmity against God, than what is here recorded. Words of prophecy in the mouth, are not clear evidence of a principle of grace in the heart. The calamity we seek to escape by sin, we take the most effectual course to bring upon our own heads; as those do who think by opposing Christ's kingdom, to advance their own worldly interest. The fear of the wicked shall come upon them. The conversion of souls is the gathering of them to Christ as their ruler and refuge; and he died to effect this. By dying he purchased them to himself, and the gift of the Holy Ghost for them: his love in dying for believers should unite them closely together.

Verses 54-57 Before our gospel passover we must renew our repentance. Thus by a voluntary purification, and by religious exercises, many, more devout than their neighbours, spent some time before the passover at Jerusalem. When we expect to meet God, we must solemnly prepare. No devices of man can alter the purposes of God: and while hypocrites amuse themselves with forms and disputes, and worldly men pursue their own plans, Jesus still orders all things for his own glory and the salvation of his people.