I Am The Resurrection and the Life: The Raising of Lazarus. This chapter may be seen either as culminating what has gone before, as the seventh of the major signs which reveal Who Jesus is, or as beginning the Passion narrative into which it leads. Indeed it is probably intended to be both. Certain... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha, and it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.' Lazarus lived in Bethany, about two miles outside Jerusalem. He was ‘brother to M... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The sisters therefore sent to him saying, “Lord, he whom you love is sick”.' It is apparent that Lazarus was very ill, and his sisters therefore turned to the only One Whom they felt could help them. They sent Him a message, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill'. These words emphasise the close friendsh... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But when Jesus heard it he said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby”.' Jesus' reply was that the sickness would not finally be terminal, at least from His point of view. “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God might b... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.' It is now emphasised that Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The author wishes it to be known that what followed was not to be seen as an indication that Jesus did not care, but rather that He cared deeply. Notice how he also balances out Mar... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When therefore he heard that he was sick he abode at that time two days in the place where he was.' On hearing the news of Lazarus' illness, which would take some time to reach Him, Jesus remained where He was for a further two days. We are probably not to see this as a deliberate act to enhance t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then after this he says to his disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” The disciples say to him, “Rabbi, the Judaisers were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ' Once His business was completed He informed His disciples that they would now go to Judea. His disciples were... [ Continue Reading ]
‘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. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him”.' Here He was basically saying that there is a time when it is right to a... [ Continue Reading ]
‘These things he spoke, and after this he says to them, “Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I am going so that I might awake him from sleep”.' ‘These things he spoke, and after this---' is possibly intended to indicate that a period of some hours elapsed between the two statements. Alternatel... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The disciples therefore said to him, “Lord, if he is fallen asleep he will recover.” Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him”.' John goes on to describe how confused the di... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus (the twin), said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go that we may die with him”.' The disciples were aware of the dangers threatening Jesus in Judea, and we learn that Thomas was full of foreboding, as indeed they all were, and now said to his fellow dis... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So when Jesus came he found that he had already been four days in the tomb.' The time of four days is emphasised so as to demonstrate that Lazarus really was dead and his body probably beginning to decompose. Many Jews later believed that the spirit was retained within the body for three days afte... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off (fifteen stadia), and many of the Judaisers had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.' Because Bethany was so close to Jerusalem they knew many people there and many had come to comfort Mary and Martha. The fact that they ar... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But Mary still sat in the house.' The mentions we have of the pair are totally consistent. Martha, active, busy and practical, Mary, dreamy, quiet and contemplative (compare Luke 10:38). Here the mention of Jesus caused Mart... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Martha therefore said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here my brother had not died. And even now I know that whatever you will ask God he will give it to you.” It is noteworthy that Martha still retained hope. She had sublime confidence in Jesus. ‘Lord, if you had been here my brother would not h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Jesus says to her, “Your brother will rise again”.' He tells her that death may seem to be the final catastrophe, but that for those who are His it is not the end. Can she not be satisfied with this? He wanted her to sort out in her own mind what she was asking.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Martha says to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day”. Her reply was carefully worded. She knew what she was asking and dare not press it too far, but she would not just be satisfied with words of comfort, however glorious their content. ‘I know that he will rise... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he may die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ' In her mind Martha was thinking of the last day. But Jesus now brings the idea of the resurrection much c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘'She says to him, “Yes, Lord. I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, even he who comes into the world”.' Martha's faith is up to His challenge. ‘Yes, Lord'. The use of Lord here, something rarely found in John's Gospel outside chapter 11, must bear its full significance. He is ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Master has come and calls for you”.' Having made her plea she moved away leaving it in His hands. It would not have seemed seemly for her as a woman to remain with Jesus. And so her practical thoughts tu... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And she, when she heard it, quickly got up and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha met him. The Judaisers then, who were with her in the house and were comforting her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, followed her, sup... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Mary, therefore, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”., Unlike practical Martha she flung herself at His feet. How typical of Mary. She was always to be found at Jesus' feet (Luke 10:39; John 1... [ Continue Reading ]
‘When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Judaisers also weeping who came with her, he groaned in spirit and was troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?”.' Mary was weeping, and ‘the Judaisers' who were with her also wept. They shared in her anguish. With all their importance they had... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They say to him, “Come and see”. Jesus wept. The Judaisers therefore said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the one who was blind have caused that this man also should not die?” ' At their offer to show Him the tomb He wept. The word for ‘we... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, comes to the tomb.' Jesus was still ‘deeply angry and troubled'. Note how it is emphasised a second time. This is a reminder that He was facing up to something that none of us or of those present could conceive. He saw the incredible power of death broug... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus says, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, says to him, “Lord, by this time he will smell dreadfully, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus says to her, “Did I not say that if you believed you would see the glory of God... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I knew that you always hear me, but I have said it because of the people who are standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me”.' There was a sense in which Jesus had no need to pray. He had p... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he had thus spoken he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth”. He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus says to them, “Loose him and let him go”.' What a huge amount can be conveyed in a few words. Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REACTION (JOHN 11:45). ‘Many therefore of the Judaisers who came to Mary and watched what he did, believed on him, but some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus had done.' Reaction to what He had done was divided. Many of ‘the Judaisers', the leading people of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The chief priests therefore, and the Pharisees, gathered a council and said, “What are we going to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him thus alone all men will believe on him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation”.' Meanwhile the Pharisees who receive... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being High Priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you take account of the fact that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole people perish not”. Now he did not say this of himself, but being High... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So from that day onwards they took counsel that they might put him to death'. The continual semi-official attempts to arrest him have not yet become the official policy of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing body, but His death was now determined by a large section of that body who would constantl... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Judaisers, but went from there into the country near to the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there He stayed for a while with the disciples.' Aware of the situation Jesus withdrew with His disciples to a town probably about fifteen miles out... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover, to purify themselves.' Crowds were now beginning to gather in Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover. They wished to go through the seven day period of purifying there to ensure that they... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They therefore sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the Temple. “What do you think? That he will not come up to the Feast?” ' They gathered that a large proportion of the leading religious authorities, including all the top officials at the Temple, were planning Jesus' arre... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment that if any man knew where he was he should show it, so that they might take him.' Meanwhile the plotters had issued an edict that anyone who knew where Jesus was should reveal it so that He could be arrested. They knew that the earlier... [ Continue Reading ]