John 11:1-44 - Lazarus Lives

John 11:1) Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” ²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Background:  The story of Jesus’ raising Lazarus is the final “sign” (a happening that points beyond itself to a deeper and durable reality) in John’s Gospel. It is the story, not so much of one man’s illness death and resuscitation, as it is the story of the hope of all of Jesus’ beloved. That hope is that those who believe in Jesus will “come forth” from death to new life. John intends that we understand this “coming forth” in both a literal sense (eternal life after death) and in a spiritual sense (new life now as a result of faith). The point is that Jesus has power to make things new, even when there is no human hope left. He is life. He is love. He is mystery. It is not necessary, nor is it theologically helpful, to ponder exactly what happened in a scientific sense, nor to explain how it happened. What is important to the heart of faith is to grasp that Jesus, in every way that matters, offers us what he offered Lazarus.

Mourning rituals in the ancient world.  In Jesus’ day, embalming was not practiced in Judea. For this reason, burial ordinarily occurred on the day of death.  Bodies were ritually washed, anointed with oil and spices, and wrapped in clean cloth. Many of the rituals of grief that precede funerals today, by necessity, followed those of Jesus’ day. The tombs were ordinarily outside the city limits to avoid the possibility of ritual contamination as a result of contact with a corpse. Tombs were sealed with stones to keep animals out. Women and men walked separately to the tomb in a burial procession. Traditional prayers and wailing followed. Afterwards, families returned home and begin a 30-day mourning period. Ordinarily, when they were not involved in domestic duties, women sat quietly on the floor at home throughout this period. Many Rabbis taught that the soul hovered near the body for three days after death. After that, there was no hope of resuscitation.

Death as the enemy.  Pious Jews in Jesus day understood death to be the greatest enemy of God. God was the God of creation, of life, of blessing. Satan was the one who sought to undermine life. Premature death was a horror, understood as the result of sin or of Satan winning in some spiritual battle. This would explain Jesus’ anger when approaching Lazarus’ tomb. It was the apparent victory of death and evil that angered him.

Word Study

Vs. 1 – Lazarus – apparently less well known than his sisters, Lazarus is introduced by reference to them.  His name means “God helps”.

Bethany – a small town just east of Jerusalem where Jesus often stayed when visiting Jerusalem.

Vs. 4 – for God’s glory – This does not mean that God caused suffering or death in order that God might look good by performing a miracle. This phrase means something like “In this circumstance we will see God’s activity, God’s power.”

Vs. 9 – light of this world – refers to the sun. John intends that we also think of Jesus.

Vs. 12 – fallen asleep – a common euphemism for death.

Vs. 15 – may believe – lit. come to have faith.

Vs. 19 – console – this refers to the traditional middle eastern wailing associated with mourning.

Vss. – 25-26 – life – Jesus is speaking both of physical life and spiritual life. The point is that he is the author of both. On both levels, even if we die, we live.

Vs. 30 – still at the place – Jesus is still close to the tomb.  This heightens the sense of caution with which he is approaching Jerusalem.

Vs. 33 – disturbed in spirit – expressions that ordinarily meant “angry” or “indignant”.  See comment above.

Deeply moved – lit. “shuddered”.

Vs. 41 – looked up – traditional stance for beginning prayer.

Questions for Personal Reflection.

1. Have you ever experienced a time when you felt like you had “come back to life”? What was going on? What happened that led to that new life?
2. Maybe you have had more experience with feeling “left in the tomb”. Has there ever been a time when you felt all out of hope and all out of faith? How did, or might, hope come in a situation like that?
3. In your moments of “coming to” who helped you take off the “grave clothes” of the past so that you could start over?
4. Have you ever had a time when you felt that Jesus wept with you?