11 The Death of Lazarus
1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had
two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on
the Lord's head and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sisters sent a message
to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.
4 When Jesus heard this, he said, "His sickness won't end in death.
It will bring glory to God and his Son."
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. 6 But he stayed where he
was for two more days. 7 Then he said to his disciples, "Now we'll go back
to Judea."
8 "Teacher," they said, "the people there want to stone you
to death! Why do you want to go back?"
9 Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours in each day? If you walk
during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won't stumble. 10 But
if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because there isn't any light
inside you." 11 Then he told them, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and
I am going there to wake him up."
12 They replied, "Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better." 13
Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was only talking
about sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead! 15 I am glad that
I wasn't there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me.
Let's go to him." 16 Thomas, whose nickname was "Twin," said to
the other disciples, "Come on. Let's go so we can die with him."
Jesus Brings Lazarus to Life
17 When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the
tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was only about three kilometres from Jerusalem,
19 and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because
their brother had died.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but
Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died. 22 Yet even now I know that God will do
anything you ask."
23 Jesus told her, "Your brother will live again!"
24 Martha answered, "I know that he will be raised to life on the last
day,(x) when all the dead are raised."
25 Jesus then said, "I am the one who raises the dead to life!
Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. 26 And everyone who
lives because of faith in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27 "Yes Lord!" she replied. "I believe you are Christ, the
Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world."
28 After Martha said his, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, "The
Teacher is here and he wants to see you." 29 As soon as Mary heard this,
she got up and went out to Jesus. 30 He was still outside the village where
Martha had gone to meet him. 31 Many people had come to comfort mary, and when
they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going to the tomb to
cry. So they followed her.
32 Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at
his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died."
33 When Jesus saw that Mary and the people that were with her were crying,
he was terribly upset 34 and asked, "Where have you put his body?"
They replied, "Lord, come and you will see."
35 Jesus started crying, 36 and the people said, "See how much he
loved Lazarus."
37 Some of them said, "He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn't he
have kept Lazarus from dying?"
38 Jesus was terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with
the stone rolled across the entrance. 39 Then he told the people to roll the
stone away. But Martha said "Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead for
four days, and there will be a bad smell."
40 Jesus said, "Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see
the glory of God?"
41 After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up towards heaven
and prayed, "Father , I thank you for answering my prayer. 42 I know that
you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that people would believe you
sent me."
43 When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with
strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.
Jesus told the people, "Untie him and let him go."
(x) the last day: When God will judge all people.
The Plot to Kill Jesus
(Matthew 26. 1-5; Mark 14. 1, 2; Luke 22. 1, 2)
45 Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw the things that Jesus
did, and they put their faith in him. 46 Others went to the Pharisees and told
what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the
council together and said, "What should we do? This man is working a lot of
miracles.(y) 48 If we don't stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him.
Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation."(z)
49 One of the council members Caiaphas, who was also high priest that year.
He spoke up and said, "You people don't have any sense at all! 50 Don't you
know it is better for one person to die for the people than for the whole nation
to be destroyed?" 51 Caiaphas did not say this on his own. As the high
priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. 52 Yet
Jesus would not die just for the Jewish nation. He would die to bring together
all of God's scattered people. 53 From that day on, the council started making
plans to put Jesus to death.
54 Because of this plot against him, Jesus stopped around in public. He
went to the town of Ephraim, which was near the desert, and he stayed there with
his disciples.
55 It was almost time for Passover. Many of the Jewish people who lived out
in the country had come to Jerusalem to get themselves ready(a) for the
festival. 56 They Looked around for Jesus. Then when they were in the temple,
they asked each other, "You don't think he will come here for Passover, do
you?"
57 The chief priests and the Pharisees told the people to let them know if
any of them saw Jesus. This is how they hoped to arrest him.
(y) miracles: See the note at 2. 11. (z) destroy our temple and our nation:
The Jewish leaders were afraid that Jesus would lead his followers to rebel
against Rome and that the Roman army would then destroy their nation. (a) get
themselves ready: The Jewish people had to do certain things to prepare
themselves to worship God.
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