Episode 266: The raising of Lazarus

John 11-12

Lazarus dies (and Jesus is glad he did)

11 ¹ A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with Mary and her sister Martha.

³ Martha and Mary sent a message to Jesus saying, “The man you love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus received the message he said,

He won't die.

He is sick so that the Son of God can be glorified.

⁵ Jesus loved Martha, her sister Mary, and Lazarus.

⁶ When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he waited two days.

⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Let's go to Judea again.”

⁸ His disciples said, “The last time we were there, the Jews tried to stone you to death. And you want to go there again?”

⁹ Jesus said,

Aren't there twelve hours in a day? If you walk in the day, you won't stumble.

¹⁰ But if you walk at night, you will.

¹¹ Jesus said this after he said, "Lazarus is sleeping so I can go wake him up."

¹² The disciples said, “Well, if he's sleeping, he'll be okay.”

¹³ But Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead, not sleeping.

¹⁴ Then Jesus said,

Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad, because now you'll believe. But let's go to him.

Lazarus rises from the dead

¹⁷ By the time Jesus (finally) arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days.

²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know he'll rise in the resurrection on the last day.”

^25-26 Jesus said, “I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ Martha said, “Yes, Lord, I believe you're the Christ, the Son of God.”

²⁸ Martha said to Mary in secret, “The Master is here. He wants to see you.”

³² Mary went to Jesus, fell down at his feet, and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.”

³⁴ Jesus said, "Where is he?" Mary said, "Come and see."

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁹ Jesus came to the grave and said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha said, “He's been dead for four days. He stinks.”

⁴¹ They took away the stone, and Jesus said,

Father, thanks for listening to me

⁴² I know you always hear me, but I'd like these people who are watching to believe that you've sent me.

⁴³ Then Jesus cried out, “Lazarus, come out.”

⁴⁴ And the dead man came out with a napkin on his face.

The plot to kill Jesus

⁴⁵ After seeing these things, many Jews believed in Jesus.

⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ The chief priests and Pharisees met at a council, and said,

This man does many miracles. What should we do?

⁴⁸ If we leave him alone, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will take our land away from us.

⁴⁹ The high priest, Caiaphas, said, “It's better for one man to die for the people, than for the nation to perish.”

⁵² From then on, they planned to kill Jesus.

⁵⁴ To avoid the Jews, Jesus and his disciples went to a city called Ephraim.

⁵⁵ Since passover was coming, the Jews asked each other, "Do you think Jesus will come to the feast?"

Jesus gets his head anointed (the poor get nothing)

12 ^1-2 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany and ate supper with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

³ Mary took a pound of very expensive ointment, and anointed Jesus's feet with it. Then she wiped his feet with her hair.

⁴ Judas Iscariot said, "Why wasn't this ointment sold for 300 pence, with the money given to the poor?"

⁵ Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She's doing this for my burial. You'll always have poor people with you, but you won't always have me.”

Some teachings of Jesus

²⁴ Jesus said,

²⁴ A seed must die to produce fruit.

²⁵ If you love your life, you'll lose it.

If you hate your life, you'll keep it and live forever.

²⁸ Then Jesus said, "Father, glorify your name."

And a voice came from heaven and said, “I have glorified it. And I'll glorify it again.”

²⁹ People who were nearby heard the voice and said, “That was thunder.”

But others said, “An angel spoke to him.”

³⁰ Jesus said,

The voice was for you, not me.

³¹ Now it's time for the prince of this world to be thrown out.

³² I'll be lifted up from the earth, and everyone will be drawn to me.

The people said, “Who is the Son of man?”

³⁵ Jesus answered,

Walk while it's still light. When it gets dark, you won't know where you're going.

³⁶ Believe in the light. Be children of light.

³⁷ Then Jesus left them. The people didn't believe in him, even though they saw him do many miracles.

³⁸ They didn't believe because, as Isaiah said, God blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they wouldn't be able to see with their eyes, or understand with their hearts, and be converted.

⁴⁴ Jesus cried out, saying,

Those who believe in me don’t believe in me.

They believe in the one who sent me.

⁴⁵ If you see me, you see him.

⁴⁷ But if you don't believe in me, I won't judge you for it.

I came to save the world, not to judge it.

⁴⁸ If you reject me, there's someone who will judge you.

And you'll be judged on the last day.