John 11:1-16

The death of Lazarus -- John 11:1-16: Jesus had three special friends in Bethany. They were Mary, Martha and Lazarus. This Mary was the same person who poured perfume on the Lord's head and wiped his feet with her hair. These people loved Jesus and He loved them. Lazarus became very sick. His sisters sent word to Jesus to tell Him that His good friend Lazarus was very sick. Sickness and death are a part of this earthly life. Sickness and death come both to the young and to the old. When Jesus received word concerning Lazarus from the sisters He said that his sickness would not end in death but that God and His Son would be glorified thereby. We must remember that these were people that Jesus loved dearly. Jesus stayed where He was for two more days and then He said to His disciple, "Now we will go back to Judea." The disciples were concerned about Him so they said, "the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?" Jesus explained that He had only a short time to do the work of God and that He had to walk in the day. The disciples misunderstood Jesus when He said, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up." They thought if he was sleeping that he would get better. Jesus said he was dead and they would see the power of God and this would strengthen their faith in Him. Thomas was willing to go with Jesus and even to die with Him if necessary. He said, "Come on. Let's go, so we can die with him."