John 11 - Jesus' Greatest Miracle!
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 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.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
This is one of the most dramatic and remarkable miracles that Jesus ever performed, which is why it is surprising it is not in any of the other three gospels. Bethany was a place Jesus visited more than once ,and also was the home of Simon the Leper.
Jesus stayed in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and the passage identifies Lazarus as the one Jesus loves. The sisters sent word to Jesus thinking that maybe Jesus could heal him. Jesus assures them that Lazarus' illness will not end in death but give to glory to God and to him. When Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed there for two more days. He was probably in Perea beyond the Jordan, which was probably 20 miles away, or a day of travel.
Why did Jesus stay for two more days? Perhaps because he knew trouble awaited him there, or he wanted to wait until he died. We know he did not do it just to make Mary and Martha "sweat it out". You would never do that to someone you loved.
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” 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. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” 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.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
The disciples were concerned because the last time Jesus was there, the Jews tried to stone him for inferring that He was equal to God. Jesus again uses the metaphor of walking in the darkness and walking in the light. Just like there were only a certain amount of hours one could walk during the day time before the night came, there were only a certain amount of hours he had left in the world. Jesus was the light of the world, but his light would soon be extinguished.
When Jesus said Lazarus had fallen asleep, he was referring to his death, though the disciples were still thinking in the natural realm. To wake him up meant to raise him from the dead. The disciples weren't getting it, as they thought Lazarus getting sleep might help him. Jesus was even more direct when he told them Lazarus was dead. Thomas says something puzzling, "Let us also go that we may die with him."
Some think it was a moment of loyalty and commitment on Thomas' part to follow Jesus there and be willing to die for the cause. Either way Thomas seems to be sincere, even if he might completely understand what he is saying.
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
The timing seems to indicate that if Jesus stayed where he was for 2 days and it took two days to travel to Bethany, that Jesus' delay would have caused some emotional reactions from Mary and Martha. It is hard to tell by their tone of voice what there reaction was.
Martha said, "Lord if you had been there my brother would not have died. But even now I know God will give you whatever you ask!" This seems to be a declaration of great faith. Although she had wished Jesus had been there, she had faith death was not the end of the story for her brother. Jesus assured her brother would rise again, but Martha assumed it would be at the last day. This assumes she was taught by the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection.
Then, Jesus said the famous words, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if they die." Jesus' "I am" statements all pointed to his divinity but perhaps this one does more than any of the others. After all who but God could raise someone from the dead. Jesus is saying that He is the Resurrection. Martha affirmed her belief that Jesus was the Messiah the Son of God!
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.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 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. 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.”
Mary was in deep grief over her brother's death, yet when Martha told her Jesus had come, she quickly went to him. Jesus was still en route to their house when Mary met him on the road. The others saw her exit quickly so they followed her too. They thought she was going to the tomb to see her brother. Mary said the same words to Jesus, "Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Since we were not there we don't know the body language, inflection, and tone of these words. But it seems like Mary's reaction was a little bit different than Martha's. While Martha thought more about Jesus' future resurrection, it seems Mary was upset that Jesus didn't come sooner, because she thought he could have raised Lazarus from the dead. But it also could have been a statement of deep faith in Jesus.
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. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.35 Jesus wept.36 Then 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?”
We see Jesus' humanity when he saw Mary and the others weeping, it says he was deeply moved in spirit. He was also troubled. Maybe he had some regret he hadn't gotten their earlier though he knew it was all in the Father's timing. Some think he is anger is directed at the evil one for his role in Lazarus' death.
Some people on the sidelines criticized Jesus wondering why he could open the eyes of the blind but could not keep his friend from dying.
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 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.”
When Jesus got to the tomb he asked for the gravestone to be rolled away. Martha, always the one concerned about details, didn't think it was a good idea. Lazarus had been in there four days and the smell would not be pleasant. Jesus reminded her that he just told her she would see God's glory if she believed his words.
Jesus looked up to heaven and thanked God for hearing his prayers. He didn't doubt this but he mentioned this so the others would see his relationship with the Father. When we pray publicly it is always a demonstration of our faith in God. Why else would be pray unless we believe God could intervene?
Jesus commanded "Lazarus to come out!" Miraculously Lazarus rose from the dead. He was wrapped in grave clothes proving he was really alive. Lazarus was not just in a state of unconsciousness. He was dead. He could not have survived four days in the tomb wrapped in grave clothes.
“The words spoken were brief, direct, and imperative and can be paraphrased, ‘Lazarus! This way out!’ as if Jesus were directing someone lost in a gloomy dungeon.” (Tenney)
“If this voice of Christ had been directed to all the dead, they had presently risen.” (Trapp)
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 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. 48 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.”
When word got back to the religious leaders they were not happy. The other miracles and signs were bad enough but this one put them over the edge. The latest miracle would bring everyone to believe in him. As always they feared mostly for themselves in that the Romans would take over the temple. They would lose their power.
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Caiaphas uttered something prophetic which did not come from his own knowledge. He basically said that Jesus dying would save their whole nation. Jesus would not just die for the Jews in Jerusalem but all over the world. Thus the Jews would be unified again. He did not know the type of unification Jesus was ushering him. It was not nationalist in nature, but creating a new body of believers, the body of Christ, which Jews and Gentiles alike would be a part of.
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. 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. 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?” 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.
Jesus knew this was the straw that broke the camel's back, so he went into the wilderness. When the Passover came and he did not come initially everyone was looking for him.
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