John 11: The raising of Lazarus & its effect

• v.1-16 The Death of Lazarus
• v.17-37 Jesus comforts the sisters of Lazarus
• v.38-44 Jesus raises Lazarus from the Dead
• v.45-57 The Plot to kill Jesus

v.1-16 The Death of Lazarus

v.1,2 The context for what follows

v.1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

v.2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)

[Note: This is about Lazarus who was ill. Mary, his sister had wept over Jesus’ feet

v.3-7 Jesus delays responding to the call

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

v.4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

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

v.6,7 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

[Note: They sent for Jesus’ help but Jesus explained it to his disciples. He loved these three at Bethany, so he purposely waited two days.]

v.8-13 The disciples are concerned so Jesus explains

v.8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

v.9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.

v.10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

v.11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

v.12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”

v.13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

[Note: The disciples worried about going there [Bethany was, after all, fairly close to Jerusalem where Jesus had recently been threatened.]  Jesus spoke about ministering in the light and that without light you stumble [i.e. you need Jesus’ clarity of revelation to serve God properly]. He explains, Lazarus had only fallen asleep but the disciples misunderstood for Jesus had been speaking about death.]

v.14-16 Jesus explains further

v.14,15 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

v.16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

[Note: He makes it clear to them and Thomas makes a profound statement (possibly cynically).]

v.17-37 Jesus comforts the sisters of Lazarus

v.17-20 Martha goes out to meet Jesus

v.17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

v.18,19 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.

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

[Note: Lazarus had been buried four days and many Jesus from Jerusalem had come to comfort the family. When Jesus gets near, Martha went out to meet him.]

v.21-27 She speaks of Lazarus’s resurrection and faith flows

v.21,22 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

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

v.24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

v.25,26  Jesus said to her,

“I am the resurrection and the life.

The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

v.27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

[Note: She speaks faith to Jesus after gently chiding him, and he reassures her Lazarus will rise. She sees that in the End Times context, but Jesus declares that he is the bringer of life after death – now! (implied). She makes a profound statement of faith.]

v.28,29 Martha calls Mary

v.28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”

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

[Note: Martha went and called Mary so Mary goes to him.]

v.30,31 The Jews follow her

v.30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

v.31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

[Note: They were still outside the village and so the Jews followed her to where Jesus was.]

v.32,33 Mary is in anguish

v.32 When Mary reached the place 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.”

v.33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

[Note: Mary greets Jesus in anguish and Jesus is stirred by that anguish,]

v.34-37 The Jews overhear Jesus’ request

v.34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

v.35 Jesus wept.

v.36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

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

[Note: He asks where the tomb is and then he also wept. The Jews see it but some criticize.]

v.38-44 Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead

v.38-40 Jesus goes to the tomb but Martha queries his instruction

v.38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

v.39 “Take away the stone,” he said.  “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.”

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

[Note: Jesus goes to the tomb and instructs the stone to be removed but Martha queries that but Jesus replies, if you believe you will see God’s glory.]

v.41-44 Lazarus is raised

v.41,42 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

v.43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

v.44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

[Note: The stone is removed and Jesus prays and then he calls Lazarus out and when Lazarus walks out he instructs them to unbind the grave clothes.]

v.45-57 The Plot to Kill Jesus

v.45-48 This miracle stirs the opposition in Jerusalem

v.45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

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

v.47,48 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

[Note: The Jews from Jerusalem saw what happened and so some went back and told the Pharisees and the authorities were perplexed.]

v.49-53 The high priest prophesies and they plot Jesus’ death

v.49,50 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

v.51,52 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

v.53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

[Note: Caiaphas prophesies and spoke of Jesus’ sacrificial death, so they plot Jesus’ death.]

v.54-57 Jesus is careful to stay out of sight for a while

v.54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

v.55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.

v.56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?”

v.57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

[Note: Jesus knowing this, moved further away, while many started gathering for Passover. They expected Jesus to come and the authorities had given the order to arrest him.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: