Lazarus

Lazarus

Posted by Chad Langdon on Sunday, February 18, 2018

John 11:1-44

NLT

[11] (1) A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. (2) This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. (3) So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” (4) But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” (5) So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, (6) he stayed where he was for the next two days. (7) Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” (8) But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” (9) Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. (10) But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” (11) Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” (12) The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” (13) They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. (14) So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. (15) And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” (16) Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too-and die with Jesus.” (17) When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. (18) Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, (19) and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. (20) When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. (21) Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. (22) But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” (23) Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” (24) “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” (25) Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. (26) Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” (27) “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” (28) Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” (29) So Mary immediately went to him. (30) Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. (31) When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. (32) When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (33) When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. (34) “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” (35) Then Jesus wept. (36) The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” (37) But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” (38) Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. (39) “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” (40) Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” (41) So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. (42) You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” (43) Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” (44) And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

NRSV

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