Every Woman's Bible Journaling Edition, Filament Enabled - Book - Page 39
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remarked to one another, “but everything he said
about this man has come true.” 42And many who
were there believed in Jesus.
The Raising of Lazarus
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2This 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. 3So 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. 15And
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.”
11
JOHN 11
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.
11:2 This incident is recorded in chapter 12. 11:8 Greek Jewish people; also in 11:19, 31, 33, 36, 45, 54. 11:16 Greek Thomas,
who was called Didymus. 11:18 Greek was about 15 stadia [about 2.8 kilometers]. 11:25 Some manuscripts do not include
and the life. 11:33 Or he was angry in his spirit.
11:1-44 When invited to heal Lazarus, Jesus purposely delayed
going. After he finally arrived, Martha and Mary expressed their
trust in Jesus’ healing power and their regret that he had arrived
too late. Martha, the “thinker,” entered into a theological discussion with Jesus, and Mary, the “feeler,” merely knelt at his feet and
wept. Like these sisters, we each connect with God in ways that
are unique to our personalities, and we have the freedom and can
feel empowered to love God with our minds and our hearts. Just as
Jesus met each sister where she was, he meets us where we are.
11:1 Of the sisters, Martha was probably older: She represented
the family here and acted as the host when Jesus had visited
them earlier (Luke 10:38-42). In the next chapter, Mary showed
herself to be incredibly perceptive, anointing Jesus with
perfume shortly before he would die (John 12:1-8). The sisters
lived in Bethany, a small village east of Jerusalem, and Jesus
would have traveled through Bethany on his way to Jerusalem.
The women lived with their brother, Lazarus, whose name is a
shortened form of the name Eleazar (“God helps”). This was a
common name among Jewish men in the first century.
11:20-27 Martha recognized Jesus’ power and understood that
he could still intervene in some way, but she misunderstood his
words about her brother rising again. Jesus was asking Martha
if she believed that life itself is linked to him. Even though she
didn’t quite grasp the full implications, she acknowledged that
Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
11:28-32 Now that Martha had brought her to Jesus, Mary echoed
her sister’s earlier words (11:21). She fell at Jesus’ feet, not in worship but in desperate grief.The Greek word used to describe Mary’s
“weeping” (11:33) indicates loud wailing and crying; in this culture,
mourning was expressed publicly with strong displays of emotion.
11:33-36 In response to Mary’s grief, Jesus was pained and “a
deep anger welled up within him.” Anger might strike us as a
strange way to respond to someone’s grief, but it’s important to
understand that Jesus wasn’t angry with Mary or Martha. Jesus
was angry about and troubled by the power of death. Before he
moved to resurrect Lazarus, Jesus himself stopped to grieve.
