John 11

1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha lived.

2 Mary was the woman who later put perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Mary's brother was Lazarus, the man who was now sick.

3 So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

4 When Jesus heard this, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God, to bring glory to the Son of God."

5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6 But when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.

7 Then Jesus said to his followers, "Let's go back to Judea."

8 The followers said, "But Teacher, the Jews there tried to stone you to death only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?"

9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daylight, he will not stumble, because he can see by this world's light.

10 But if anyone walks at night, he stumbles because there is no light to help him see."

11 After Jesus said this, he added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him."

12 The followers said, "But Lord, if he is only asleep, he will be all right."

13 Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead, but his followers thought he meant Lazarus was really sleeping.

14 So then Jesus said plainly, "Lazarus is dead.

15 And I am glad for your sakes I was not there so that you may believe. But let's go to him now."

16 Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other followers, "Let us also go so that we can die with him."

17 When Jesus arrived, he learned that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days.

18 Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem.

19 Many of the Jews had come there to comfort Martha and Mary about their brother.

20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed home.

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

22 But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask."

23 Jesus said, "Your brother will rise and live again."

24 Martha answered, "I know that he will rise and live again in the resurrectionn on the last day."

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will have life even if they die.

26 And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?"

27 Martha answered, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the One coming to the world."

28 After Martha said this, she went back and talked to her sister Mary alone. Martha said, "The Teacher is here and he is asking for you."

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

30 Jesus had not yet come into the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

31 The Jews were with Mary in the house, comforting her. When they saw her stand and leave quickly, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to cry there.

32 But Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she 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 Mary crying and the Jews who came with her also crying, he was upset and was deeply troubled.

34 He asked, "Where did you bury him?" "Come and see, Lord," they said.

35 Jesus cried.

36 So the Jews said, "See how much he loved him."

37 But some of them said, "If Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man, why couldn't he keep Lazarus from dying?"

38 Again feeling very upset, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a large stone covering the entrance.

39 Jesus said, "Move the stone away." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, "But, Lord, it has been four days since he died. There will be a bad smell."

40 Then Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

41 So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you heard me.

42 I know that you always hear me, but I said these things because of the people here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me."

43 After Jesus said this, he cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with pieces of cloth, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take the cloth off of him and let him go."

45 Many of the Jews, who had come to visit Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

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

47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish council. They asked, "What should we do? This man is doing many miracles.

48 If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our Temple and our nation."

49 One of the men there was Caiaphas, the high priest that year. He said, "You people know nothing!

50 You don't realize that it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."

51 Caiaphas did not think of this himself. As high priest that year, he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation

52 and for God's scattered children to bring them all together and make them one.

53 That day they started planning to kill Jesus.

54 So Jesus no longer traveled openly among the Jews. He left there and went to a place near the desert, to a town called Ephraim and stayed there with his followers.

55 It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. Many from the country went up to Jerusalem before the Passover to do the special things to make themselves pure.

56 The people looked for Jesus and stood in the Temple asking each other, "Is he coming to the Feast? What do you think?"

57 But the leading priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must tell them. Then they could arrest him.

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.