The death of Lazarus
1 Now there was a certain ill person named Lazarus from Bethany, the same village as Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary was the one who rubbed the Master’s feet with perfumed oil and wiped them with her hair; the ill one Lazarus was her brother.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus: “Master, your good friend is very ill!” 4 But when Jesus heard this, he said, ”This illness will not end in death but in honor to God, so that the Human will be honored through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 But when he heard he was ill, he actually stayed where he was for two more days. 7 Only then did he say to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 “The Judeans intend to execute you now, yet you want to go back there!” exclaimed the disciples.
9 “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight?” Jesus asked. “If anyone walks around in the daytime they don’t stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But if they walk around during the night they stumble, because there is no light in them.” 11 Then he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.”
12 “Master,” replied his disciples, “If he has fallen asleep he will recover.”
13 Now Jesus was actually talking about Lazarus’ death, but they had taken him literally. 14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus died. 15 But I am happy for you, that you might believe since I wasn’t there. But let’s get going to him.”
16 Then Thomas, nicknamed The Twin, said to the other disciples, “Let’s all go too, so we can die with him!”
Jesus comforts Lazarus’ sisters
17 Upon his arrival in Bethany, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away, 19 and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 But when Martha heard that Jesus was arriving she went out to meet him, while Mary remained in the house.
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I perceive that whatever you ask of God you will receive from God.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will arise.”
24 “I understand,” replied Martha, “that he will rise in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever puts their trust in me will live again even if they die. 26 And everyone who lives and puts their trust in me will definitely not ever die. Do you believe this?”26
27 She replied, “Yes, Master, I have believed that you are Christ, the God-Man, who is coming into the world.” 28 And with that, she went away and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 (Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still at the spot where Martha met up with him.) 31 Then the Judeans, who were in the house consoling her, saw her get up quickly and leave, so they followed her because they presumed she was going to the tomb to mourn.
32 When Mary arrived at the place where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet and said, “Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!” 33 At the sight of her sobbing, along with the Judeans, Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and very distraught. 34 And he asked, “Where have you all placed him?”
“Come and see, Master” they replied.
35 And Jesus wept. 36 So the Judeans said, “See how fond he was of him!”
37 But some scoffed, “Couldn’t this one who opened up the eyes of the blind have been able to keep this person from dying?”
Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead
38 Then Jesus, still very distraught, came to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone laid upon it. 39 Then he said, “Take away the stone!”
Martha, the deceased’s sister, objected, “Master! By this time he smells awful, because it is the fourth day.”
40 But Jesus said, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the majesty of God?” 41 Then they took the stone away. But Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I am grateful that you hear me. 42 I always knew you did, but I said this for the sake of the crowd around me, so they could believe that you commissioned me.”
43 Having said these things, he shouted, “Lazarus! Come here! Come out!” 44 And the one who had died came out. His feet and hands had been wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and his face had had a cloth wrapped around it. Then Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him go!” 45 Then many of the Judeans who came to Mary saw what Jesus did and put their trust in him.
The Sanhedrin plots to kill Jesus
46 But some went off to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus was doing. 47 So the high priests and Pharisees convened an official meeting and said, “What are we going to do about this person performing many miracles? 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will put their trust in him, and then the Romans will come and do away with our place and our nation.”
49 Now one of them in particular, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said to them, “You understand nothing! 50 And you haven’t figured out that one person should die for the people instead of letting the whole nation be destroyed.”
51 Now he didn’t realize it, but as high priest that year, he had predicted that Jesus was about to die for the sake of the nation— 52 and not just the nation, but also to gather the scattered children of God into one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to kill him. 54 As a result, Jesus could no longer walk openly among the Judeans. He went away from there into the area near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and remained there with his disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Judeans was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the countryside so they could purify themselves beforehand. 56 Then they looked for Jesus, and as they stood together in the temple compound they said to each other, “Do you think there’s any chance he’ll come to the festival?” 57 (The high priests and Pharisees had issued orders that if anyone knew where he was, they were to report it so he could be arrested.)
- 26 There will be some who never experience physical death. Dying and living again is contrasted with never dying. It is inaccurate to render the phrase as “whoever lives by believing”; the Greek reads, “living and believing”.