JOHN CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

The Raising of Lazarus
John 11:1-16

“A man told me he had been dating a woman for several years, and she was starting to wonder if they would ever marry. He told me he did not know if he could marry her because, as he said to me, ‘I don't think she makes me happy.’ I asked him why not, which was a mistake. He went on and on explaining all the reasons why she did not make him happy.

“Finally I interrupted and asked, ‘What kind of wife would make you happy?’ The more he described what he was looking for in a wife, the more convinced I became that what he really needed was not a wife. He needed a goldfish, the pretty kind with the long tail that floats around, or maybe a Golden Retriever—but even a dog will make demands on you emotionally. A goldfish, though, just sits there and looks pretty and does not ask you to communicate. It does not ask you how your day was or expect you to listen to how its day was. The last thing he needed was a wife, because his whole understanding of why the world existed was to meet his needs.[fn]

How many people in our world today have this same priority? John continues to show us how the Pharisees could look at a miracle as incredible as a dead man being raised from the grave and deny it had come from God simply because it interfered with their own personal wants and desires. Let us see how foolish people can be in order to hold on to their own pre-determined ideas and ignore what is best for them.

John 11:1-16 NLT:
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.”

This chapter covers the sickness, death, and resurrection of Jesus’ friend and the reaction of the Jewish leaders to yet another miracle, perhaps the most impressive of all of Jesus’ miracles, raising someone who had died back to life, a sign of the promise He had made for all who believe. This Jesus who had shown himself to be the Light of the world by giving sight to the blind man now showed himself as the One who could overcome death.

Jesus had apparently established a close relationship to a family in Bethany, which was not too far from Jerusalem. When Lazarus became sick, his sisters sent an urgent message to Jesus. For whatever reason we cannot know, Jesus did not respond for several days.

The discussion that Jesus had with His disciples after receiving the news raises a very big question. Why did Jesus wait two more days before going to Bethany? Jesus’ words, This sickness will not end in death, in verse 4 indicates that the purpose of Lazarus’ sickness was not for him to die but for Christ to receive glory and for people to come to faith and/or have their faith strengthened by the miracle Jesus would perform of raising Lazarus from the dead.

The disciples, however, express concern for Jesus’ safety when He says He is going to return to Judea. Do you recall what happened back in John chapter 10:39 after Jesus told the Jewish leaders the parable of the Good Shepherd and that He was God? “The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.”  Jesus’ disciples were probably pleased when Jesus decided to delay His departure. But Jesus was willing to lay down His life for His friends:
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13 NAS).

Jesus then calmed their fears by reminding them that He and they were living according to God’s schedule, and that nothing could harm them until it was their time. As you may recall from some of the previous passages studied, this is an important emphasis in the Gospel of John.[fn] Now the disciples were not always quick to catch onto things and this event was no exception. They thought that if Lazarus was sleeping he was getting better and perhaps there was no reason for them to return to the danger of Judea. Then Jesus told them specifically that Lazarus was dead. Death for the believer is compared to sleep.

Jesus was not glad that His friend died, but that He had not been there when it happened. Now He would be able to display the unbelievable power He possessed to raise the dead. What a strengthening of faith that would be to His disciples, and how could anyone resist recognizing Him as the Son of God when He performed such a great miracle?

Thomas (verse 16), also called Didymus, would later be the disciple that doubted Jesus‘ resurrection from the dead. 

John 20:24-28 NAS:
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus , was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut , and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

Although Thomas seemed to lack faith in this passage, he certainly demonstrated His courage and devotion to Jesus by accompanying Him on a mission that he thought meant certain death.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been in the grave for several days. Jesus spoke to Lazarus’ sisters describing Himself as “the Resurrection and the Life,” a truth they acknowledged. Jesus was urging them to believe His word no matter how discouraging the circumstances might appear. Jesus, deeply moved at the pain of the two sisters, called for Lazarus’ tomb to be opened. When this was done He called to Lazarus—and the dead man, restored to life, came out of his grave. This even more notable miracle stunned the religious leaders, and surprisingly hardened them even more in their determination to kill Jesus. 

This familiar story is one of the most moving of Gospel tales about Jesus, for it not only shows the life-giving power of Jesus, but also the depth of affection and trust that existed between Him and His friends.[fn]

We sometimes think of the disciples as “supersaints,” but such was not the case. They often fell short of what was expected of a believer, and Jesus was constantly trying to help them strengthen their faith. He knew the day was coming when He would no longer be with them and they would be responsible for carrying the message to the world. It was necessary for them to have a strong faith in order to reflect the message they would have to carry..

If I were one of Jesus’ disciples at this time, I would certainly have to wonder why He did not perform a saving miracle to prevent Lazarus from dying in the first place. However, if we study our Bibles carefully we see that God’s love is not the kind of love that makes everything perfectly wonderful for us in this life. The scriptures reveal to us that God loves us but that is not the kind of love that will shelter us from problems and pain. Remember, God loved His Son and yet He allowed Him to suffer the pain that accompanied death by crucifixion. Love and suffering are both part of our relationship with Jesus. Love and suffering make us one with Jesus.

Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying but He chose not to. There was an opportunity here to glorify God. Sometimes it is necessary to endure trials and pain in order to glorify God. Raising Lazarus from the grave, would be a much greater miracle, and do more to strengthen faith, than any ordinary healing could. God’s delays are often meant either for His glory or our blessing, or both.

Jesus’ message to the sisters did not say that their brother would not die. It promised only that death would not be the ultimate result, for the ultimate result would be the glory of God. Note that once again, Jesus called Himself “the Son of God.” He wanted them to accept and believe this promise.[fn]

When we find ourselves facing disease, disappointment, having to wait, and even death, our only encouragement is the Word of God. We must live by faith and not by what we experience going on all around us. Their situation seemed hopeless, yet the sisters knew that Jesus was the Master of every situation. The promise in Psalm 50:15 finds a parallel here: “And call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”[fn]

What about Jesus’ delay? He was not waiting for Lazarus to die, for he was already dead. Jesus lived on a divine timetable according to John 11:9: “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. And He was waiting for the Father to tell Him when to go to Bethany. The fact that the Lazarus had been dead four days gave greater authenticity to the miracle and greater opportunity for people to believe, including His own disciples (see John 11:15).[fn]

In interpreting verses nine and ten: “Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him,’"
we have to remember that Jesus called Himself “the Light of the world (John 1:4-7; 3:19; 8:12; 9:5).” He was referring to living in physical light or darkness. When one lives according to the will of God they are safe. Living outside the will of God places one in the territory of darkness and places the person in real danger. Jesus knew that as long as He submitted Himself to God’s will there would be no danger. As long as He sticks to God’s plan, no harm would come to Him until the appointed time God had set for His sacrificial death on the cross. He is teaching His disciples that the Jews should accept Him for who He was while He was still in the world to provide light for them. When He was gone they would have missed the opportunity that He was giving them for salvation, stumbling and falling as if they were in darkness.

We can learn here something as well from Thomas, who was a doubting man, but we must also recognize that he was a devoted man. He was willing to go with Jesus into danger and risk his own life. We may not admire his faith, but we can certainly applaud his loyalty and courage.[fn]

John 11:17-22 NAS:
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.”

Jesus probably left Bethabara the day, or the day after, Lazarus died. He came to Bethany three days after; and it appears that Lazarus had been buried about four days. He had been put in the grave the day or day after he died. Though it was the Jewish custom to embalm their dead, yet we find, from John 11:39, that he had not been embalmed; and God wisely ordered this, that the miracle might appear the more striking.[fn]

Verses 17–27 focus on a conversation between Jesus and Martha. Evidently Jesus was met on the outskirts of Bethany and was informed that Lazarus had died four days previously. The nearness of Bethany to Jerusalem is mentioned here to account for the presence of so many Jews who had come to comfort Lazarus’ sisters, each of which had a strong faith in Jesus’ power (verses 22 and 32.).[fn]

John 11:23-29 NAS:
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.”

“Your brother will rise again” was an easy statement for Martha to misunderstand. Understandably she assumed Jesus was referring to the resurrection of the dead at the last day, but Jesus had something else in mind. There cannot be a more meaningful and important passage in the Bible than the one that appears in John 11:25-26 NAS:

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

This is absolutely essential for salvation and Jesus wanted to make certain that these two sisters that He loved so much got it straight. He wanted them both to be in Heaven with Him one day, and He also wants you and me to be in Heaven with Him one day. So let us ask you, do you have it straight? Do you understand exactly what it is that guarantees your salvation and eternal life in Heaven? Well let us ask you in Jesus’ words: Jesus Christ alone is the only way to salvation and eternal life. If you believe in your heart that Jesus died to pay the penalty for yours sins so that you may have eternal life with Him in Heaven, than you have it straight and you are guaranteed a place in glory. Everyone who believes in His substitutionary death for their sins will never experience death but pass immediately from this life into Heaven. Do you believe this?

Martha’s response is the foundation on which the book of John is built.

John 20:31 NAS:

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

John 11:28-29 NAS:
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.

Martha then went to tell Mary that Jesus was asking to see her. It would appear that not only did Jesus want to comfort her but He also wanted to make certain that Mary understood the way to salvation as well.

John 11:30-37 NAS:
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, 34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"

Jewish burying places were on the outer perimeter of their cities and villages. This is where Jesus seems to have met Martha and was not far from where Lazarus was buried.
It was apparently customary for the closest relatives to go to the grave site frequently during these three days of mourning and weep for the deceased. Their friends and neighbors would go with them for support and they would all mourn at the grave site.

When Jesus saw Mary weeping over her brother He was deeply moved and could not help but join the others in their weeping. A very close friend of Jesus was dead and His tender heart felt the kind of grief which prompted His tears. This was an emotional reaction from the only perfect human being to ever live. We should therefore never be ashamed to shed tears over genuine sadness. We see Jesus weeping again in Luke 19:41, and this time over the condition of the city of Jerusalem.

But then the Jewish leaders returned to their standard behavior. They likely considered Jesus weeping a sign of weakness and could well have begun to taunt Him as they often did. Can’t you just hear them. “If you are really the Son of God why didn’t you prevent your friend from dying in the first place. Let us hear no more about the healing of the blind man as a miracle. If He can’t prevent someone from dying, maybe He tricked us regarding the healing of the blind man. If he had been really been able to do that, He would not have permitted his friend to die. He is nothing more than an impostor.”

These doubters were about to get the shock of their lives. Those who doubt the truth about Jesus in the Gospel will all get the shock of their lives the day they die.

A certain pastor observed a little girl standing outside the preschool Sunday school classroom between Sunday school and worship, waiting for her parents to come and pick her up for "big church." The pastor noticed that she clutched a big storybook under her arm with the title "Jonah and the Whale."

Feeling mischievous, he knelt beside the girl and asked, "What's that you have in your hand?"

"This is my storybook about Jonah and the whale," she answered.

"Tell me something," he continued, "do you believe that story about Jonah and the whale?"

The girl said, "Why, of course I believe it!"

The pastor inquired further, "You really believe a man can be swallowed up by a big whale, stay inside him all that time, and come out okay?"

She declared, "Yes! This story is in the Bible, and we talked about it in Sunday school today."

Then the pastor asked, "Can you prove to me this story is true?"

She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, when I get to heaven, I'll ask Jonah."
Finally the pastor asked, "What if Jonah's not in heaven?"

The girl put her hands on her hips and sternly declared, "Then YOU can ask him!"[fn]

This little girl had the kind of faith it takes to be saved. She believed everything that was in the Bible, everything that came from the mouth of God. That is the kind of faith Jesus is trying to establish in His disciples, in Martha and Mary, and all that witness the miracle of raising Lazarus. Now here is what happened:

John 11:38-44 NAS:
38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"
41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."
43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth."
44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

This is not a complicated theological passage. What do you think is by far the most important statement in this passage? Jesus said to Martha, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" Anything is possible for God. There is nothing that He cannot do (Matthew 19:26). Hebrews 11:6 (NAS) tells us: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Faith means everything in our relationship with God and Christ. When we have true faith and are obedient we will see the wonders of God everyday, including miracles. God wanted these people to have that kind of faith so He demonstrated the most remarkable miracle possible. He brought Lazarus back to life after being dead for four days. Do you know of anyone else who can raise the dead? Here is a miracle of miracles that was documented by many eye witnesses. Jesus was the Savior and He demonstrated that ability by giving new life to a dead body. We hope you have such faith, and if not, we pray God will lead you to it.

John 11:45-46 NAS:
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Many of the people who saw this came to faith in Christ. But guess what? Some people refuse to believe the truth even when it collides with them like a freight train. And sure enough there were some people like that in this crowd who immediately ran to tell the Jewish leaders what had happened. This should confirm what Luke wrote in Luke 16:30-31 NLT:

30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”

And what did the Pharisees set out to do? What are they always trying to do to Jesus?

John 11:47-53 NLT:
47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.
48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
49 Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!
50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”
51 He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation.
52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.
53 So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

The Jewish leaders were by this time pulling their hair out. Jesus kept performing these miracles and making fools of them. What could they do to end the threat He posed to them? They were afraid that the great majority of the people would soon believe He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. That would mean they would support Him to be the ruler of Israel and they would be out in the cold. The Romans would view this as outright rebellion and surely send all their military might to crush Israel. Then the Pharisees and Sadducees would lose their positions of authority along with their magnificent Temple. That exact situation did occur when the Jews revolted against Rome in 66 A.D.

In John 11:45 and 12:9–11 and 17, we see that Lazarus caused quite a stir in the area. When people saw him, many believed in Christ. In fact, Lazarus was a walking miracle. The great crowd that gathered on Palm Sunday came not only because of Jesus, but also because of Lazarus. In John 12:11 we are told that Lazarus was causing people to trust Christ.

It was Caiaphas, the chief priest, who came up with the master plan, and without his knowing it, he declared a prophecy of what Jesus would become to the nation of Israel. They would make Jesus out to be a revolutionary leader and a trouble maker, and suggest to Rome that if He were executed, all the problems would come to an end. He was suggesting that Jesus die so that the nation of Israel would not be destroyed. They were going to use Jesus death as a substitute for all the people being killed. Are you getting the connection? John’s comment (verse 51) shows that he understands the statement as having implications far beyond Caiaphas’s limited understanding, for the principle was to have universal consequences. John sees the unifying purpose of the death of Christ in gathering together the children of God, a term here used for all who would come to believe in Jesus (verse 52).[fn] That is exactly why Jesus came. Only He came to die for their sins not so that they could just go on living. He came so that they could have eternal life in Heaven. And He also came not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world (verse 52).

It is really hard to believe that the Jewish leaders actually thought they were saving the people by offering Jesus to die in their place. But we cannot know for sure. It is also hard to believe that they could not see that Jesus was the Messiah from all the evidence that had been presented to them. But greed and selfishness can do strange things to the mind, and those are often the ingredients Satan mixes in for those who want to place themselves above their brothers and sisters.

It was from this time forward, however, that the council resolved that Jesus should die. Jesus, therefore, thought it would be best to relocate to the city of Ephraim, which was close to the desert about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem; and there He remained with His disciples. The crowd was gathering in Jerusalem for the Passover feast, and the pilgrims were wondering if Jesus would attend the feast even though He was in danger. If the Sanhedrin, which was the governing body in Israel, would have had a “Ten Most Wanted List,” Jesus would probably have been public enemy number one. The council wanted Jesus out of the way and they wanted Him out of the way fast.

John 11 made clear that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. At the same time it also made clear the utter depravity of the human heart. The rich man in Hades had argued, “If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent” (Luke 16:30). Lazarus came back from the dead, and the officials wanted to kill the One who performed the miracle. Miracles certainly reveal the power of God, but of themselves they also reveal the sinfulness of the human heart in denying the obvious source of those miracles.

John 11:55-57 NAS:
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
56 So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?"
57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

John shifts our attention to the pilgrims who began to find their way to Jerusalem. For the most part they were friendly to Jesus, in contrast to the authorities, and exchanged opinions with one another as to whether their hero would dare to brave the opposition of the council by coming to the feast. There must have been many informers if the rulers had any hold at all upon the people (verse 57).[fn] He had attended the national festivals during which time He publicly taught in the temple area. Would He continue this pattern of ministry? Large crowds gathering in the city kept looking for Him.[fn]

So Jesus withdrew and waited for the Passover, when He would go up to Jerusalem again and, as the Good Shepherd, would die for the sheep. Then Jesus would be restored on the third day, to an endless life.

What is the meaning of the resurrection of Lazarus for us? The same as it was for the disciples and other witnesses in Bethany. This event is a demonstration of Jesus’ ability to make His resurrection power available to His people—now.

It is one thing to believe that Jesus has the power to raise us up on the last day. He does and He will. But it’s something else to realize that Jesus’ power is unlimited now; that Jesus can bring new life to the deadened areas of our own personalities; that because of Jesus’ power, we can risk taking actions that we might otherwise never have the courage to take. We need never draw back from anything God asks, for the unlimited power of new life is ours in Him.[fn]

 

 

 

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