John 11

CHAPTER 11

The Death of Lazarus (11:1-16)

1 Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, who are mentioned in Luke 10:38-42. They lived in Bethany, which was less than two miles from Jerusalem.⁸⁴

2 Mary was the one who later anointed Jesus with expensive perfume (see Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8).

3 When Lazarus became sick (verse 1), his sisters sent messengers to Jesus, who was staying on the other side of the Jordan River, about sixteen miles away (John 10:40). The messengers told Jesus: “The one you love is sick.” Jesus knew Lazarus and his sisters well, and had great love for them (verse 5).

4 Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death—that is, Lazarus will survive in the end.” The purpose of Lazarus’ sickness was to bring glory to God and to God’s Son, Jesus (see John 9:3).

Even while Jesus was saying this, He knew that Lazarus had already died (verse 14). Lazarus had died just after the messengers had been sent.

5-6 Because He knew that Lazarus was already dead, Jesus did not go immediately. He waited for two days. He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, and whether He did it two days later or four days later didn’t make that much difference. He waited until it was the right time for Him to go.

7-8 Bethany was located near Jerusalem in the province of Judea, where the Jews had several times tried to kill Jesus (John 8:59; 10:31,39). His disciples knew it was very dangerous to return to Judea.

9 Jesus said, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?”⁸⁵ In New Testament times, no one had watches. Daylight was considered to be twelve hours long. (In winter months the “twelve hours” would be shorter.) Therefore, Jesus is saying here that there are only twelve hours of daylight in which a man can work and walk without stumbling. In those twelve hours he can easily see by this world’s light, that is, the sun. Therefore, a man must work while he has opportunity (see John 9:4 and comment).

A man’s life is like twelve hours of daylight. A man must finish his work before he dies. Even though there was danger in Judea, Jesus had work there that had to be done while He was still on earth—while there was still light. There were still “one or two hours of daylight” left in His life, and the Jews could not kill Him until His work was done.

10 At night it is difficult for a man to walk, because he has no light. This has a spiritual meaning. While Christ is with us, there is spiritual light. But when we walk without Christ, there is no light in us, in our souls. The man who does not have the light of Christ in his soul will surely stumble (see John 8:12; 12:35 and comments).

11 Jesus then told His disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep. He meant that Lazarus had died. of ten in the Bible, to fall asleep means “to die” (Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15).

For believers in Christ, death is like sleep. Christians never completely die. Soon they will awake again in heaven.

12-13 The disciples, who did not know Lazarus was dead, thought that Jesus only meant that Lazarus had fallen asleep in an ordinary way. In that case he would recover, they thought.

14-15 Jesus told His disciples plainly that Lazarus was actually dead. He knew this by supernatural means; no one had told Him. Then He said, “… for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” If Jesus had been there, He would have healed Lazarus before he died. That would have been a lesser miracle. But to raise a dead man—especially one who had been dead for four days (verse 17)—was a very great miracle. Such a miracle would increase and strengthen the faith of the disciples (see Luke 17:5).

16 Thomas, called Didymus,⁸⁶ one of the twelve disciples (Mark 3:18), urged his fellow disciples to accompany Jesus to Judea, that we might die with him. Thomas was ready to die for Jesus, and so were the others. But in the end, when Jesus was arrested, they all deserted Him and fled (Mark 14:50). The disciples’ faith was weak.

Jesus Comforts the Sisters (11:17-37)

17 Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus arrived at his house. It had taken the messengers one day to reach Jesus. Jesus had waited two days. Then it had taken Jesus one day to reach Bethany.

18-20 Many Jewish friends of the family had come to comfort Mary and Martha. However, as soon as she heard Jesus was coming, Martha left Mary and their Jewish friends and went out to meet Jesus.

21 Martha didn’t rebuke Jesus for being late. She only said that if He had been there before Lazarus died, He could have healed him. Perhaps Martha had not heard that Jesus was able to heal people even from a distance (see Matthew 8:5-13; Mark 7:2430).

22 Then Martha expressed her faith that God would give Jesus anything He asked for. Perhaps she was suggesting to Jesus that He could raise her brother from the dead. But later, when Jesus actually went to raise Lazarus, Martha didn’t think it would be possible (verse 39). Like the disciples, Martha had some faith. But when her faith was really tested, it failed.

23-24 Jesus then told Martha that Lazarus would rise again. Martha thought He meant that Lazarus would rise at the end of the world, at the last day, when there would be a resurrection of all bodies (see John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).

25 But Jesus was not talking only about the end of the world. He was bringing to Martha and Lazarus the power to rise from the dead even in this life.

I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus gives us a resurrection for our bodies, and eternal life for our souls. Jesus not only gives life; He is life. In him was life (John 1:4; 5:26). That life is eternal life, spiritual life. To receive such spiritual life one must first die, and then be resurrected, or reborn. Death to the old sinful life comes first; then resurrection; then life (see John 3:3; 12:24; Romans 6:3-5 and comments).

To show that He had the power to give new spiritual life, Jesus gave Lazarus new physical life. To show that He could raise men from spiritual death into spiritual life, Jesus raised Lazarus from physical death to physical life.⁸⁷

Then Jesus told Martha that everyone who believes in Him will live, even though he dies. The believer’s body dies, but his soul and spirit does not. Physical death is only a gateway to eternal life. The believer need have no fear of death. Death cannot harm our soul.

26 Whoever is spiritually alive and believes in Christ will never die (see John 3:15; 8:51 and comments). This is not just some idea or theory. This is a truth we need to believe and act on. Eternal life comes only through faith. “Do you believe this?” Jesus asked Martha.

27 Martha believed. Especially she believed in Christ; she believed that He was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. To believe less than this about Christ is not adequate; it will not save us.

28-32 Then Mary went out to meet Jesus. She repeated to Jesus the same words that Martha had said to Him earlier (verse 21).

33 When Jesus saw the sorrow of Mary and her Jewish friends, He Himself was deeply moved in spirit, that is, in His human spirit, in His heart. He was troubled. It is not certain why Jesus was moved and troubled. He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead; therefore, He had no reason to feel sorrow on His own account. Some believe that He was angry at the unbelief of the Jews who were with Mary. Others say He was troubled because He knew that after raising Lazarus, the Jewish leaders would quickly arrest Him and put Him to death. Perhaps, however, He was troubled simply by seeing the sorrow which Mary and Martha had had to endure for four days.

34-37 Jesus wept (verse 35). Jesus was a man like us and could experience sorrow. The Jews did not understand why He wept. They thought He wept because Lazarus had died and He couldn’t do anything about it. The Jews asked each other, “Why couldn’t Jesus have kept Lazarus from dying? What happened to His power? He healed the blind man (John 9:6-7). Why couldn’t He help Lazarus?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead (11:38-44)

38-39 When Martha saw that Jesus was about to raise Lazarus, her faith faltered. “Don’t you know that Lazarus has been dead for four days?” she said to Jesus.

40 Jesus gently rebuked Martha for her lack of faith. She believed that He was the Son of God (verse 27), and that God would give Him whatever He asked (verse 22). Jesus had told her that she would see the glory of God, as He had also told His disciples (verse 4). Let her faith not waver!

Notice that, in order for Martha to see God’s glory, faith was necessary. Those without faith would simply see a miracle—a man rising from the dead. Those with faith, on the other hand, would see the significance of the miracle—that is, the glory of God.

41 Jesus knew that God would answer His request and raise Lazarus. Therefore, He first thanked God for hearing His request. Even before He received the answer to His prayer, Jesus knew that He had obtained it (see 1 John 5:14-15).

42 Jesus thanked God out loud, so that the people standing around could hear. He wanted them to know that it was by God’s power that He was raising Lazarus. The people needed to know that Jesus did not work on His own (see John 5:19). He had been sent by God to do the works of God.

Ordinary wonderworkers always try to glorify themselves. Jesus, however, always gave the glory to God.

43-44 Then Jesus called to Lazarus, and he came out of the tomb. He was wrapped with strips of linen. It was the Jews’ custom to wrap the bodies of the dead before burial (John 19:40). Lazarus’ legs were wrapped separately; thus he was able to walk. It must have been an extraordinary sight! How could one not believe in Jesus after seeing such a miracle?

The Plot to Kill Jesus (11:45-57)

45 Among the Jews who had come to console Mary and Martha,⁸⁸ many believed in Christ because of Lazarus’ resurrection.

46 But others among them did not believe. Instead, they reported to Jesus’ enemies, the Pharisees, what Jesus had done.

47 The Pharisees and chiefJewish priests joined together and called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.⁸⁹ “What are we accomplishing?” they asked each other. Some of them had been trying to arrest Jesus, but had been unsuccessful (John 7:30; 10:39). Some even had tried to kill Him (John 8:59; 10:31). But Jesus was continuing to do miracles, and more and more people were believing in Him. “We must do something to stop Him,” they said.

When men’s hearts are hardened, even miracles will not change their minds.

48 The Jewish leaders especially feared that if many people began to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, they would try to make Him their king. Then the Romans⁹⁰ would consider this to be a revolt against their authority, and would surely take away the Jews’ place (their temple) and their nation. That is, the Romans would take complete control over the temple and all Jewish affairs, and the Jews would lose their religious freedom. The Jewish leaders would also lose their own position and authority.

49-50 Caiaphas was high priest that year.⁹¹ He said to the Sanhedrin, “It is better that Jesus die, than to have our whole nation perish. It is better to kill one innocent man than to lose our nation. If we do not destroy Jesus, the Romans will destroy us.”

That is why Caiaphas said that Jesus should die for the people (verse 50). By Jesus’ death, he thought, the Jews would be saved from the Romans.

Caiaphas was speaking from a worldly point of view. But his words also had a spiritual meaning, which Caiaphas did not intend. In a spiritual sense, Jesus did die for the people. He died to save the people spiritually, to give them eternal life. Thus Caiaphas, without realizing it, was actually prophesying that by Jesus’ death many people would be saved—a prophecy which was soon fulfilled, and is still being fulfilled!

51 Caiaphas did not speak these words on his own; he was really speaking God’s words. Because he was the high priest at that time, God spoke through him. But Caiaphas, of course, didn’t realize that he was making a prophecy for God.

52 John adds here that Jesus not only died for the Jewish nation (verse 51), but also for the scattered children of God, that is, the Gentiles. These were the other sheep that Jesus was going to bring into His flock (see John 10:16 and comment).

While Jesus was on earth, He did not preach much among the Gentiles. He concentrated on preaching to the Jews and on training His disciples. But after His death, His disciples went out and preached to the whole world (Acts 1:8). In this way, through His disciples, Jesus has now brought people from all over the world into the church. He died not just for the Jews, but for the whole world.

53 From then on, all the Jewish leaders plotted together to take Jesus’ life. The Sanhedrin made an official decision to put Jesus to death. They thought that by killing Jesus their nation would be saved. But how wrong they were! Instead, because they killed Jesus, their nation was utterly destroyed. Only forty years later, the Roman army destroyed not only the Jewish temple but also the entire city of Jerusalem and all its inhabitants. The Jews, in the end, lost both their place and their nation (verse 48). They lost not only their nation on earth; they also lost their salvation in heaven.

54 Jesus’ appointed time to die was to be during the Passover festival (verse 55). Before that time Jesus stayed away from the Jews. He spent that time with His disciples.

55-56 As the time of the Passover⁹² festival approached, many Jewish pilgrims went up to Jerusalem a few days early to purif y themselves, as was the custom. These pilgrims kept looking for Jesus.⁹³ They wondered if Jesus would come to the festival. They knew that the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus (verse 57). “Will He come anyway?” they asked.

57 The Jewish leaders had ordered the people to tell them if anyone found out where Jesus was. Anyone who knew but did not report it would be guilty of disobeying the leaders. Thus, if Jesus came to Jerusalem, He would not be able to remain hidden, because many people out of fear would surely report His whereabouts.

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