John 11

◄ John 11 ►

1At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feeta with her hair.)
3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
4When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,
7and then He said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8“Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried to stone You, and You are going back there?”
9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.
10But if anyone walks at night, he will stumble, because he has no light.”
11After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.”
13They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus.
14So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16Then Thomas called Didymusb said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
17When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two milesc away,
19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.
20So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Mary stayed at home.
21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.”
23“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.
24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
26And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27“Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
28After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”
29And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.
30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him.
31When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spiritd and troubled.
34“Where have you put him?” He asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”

38Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39“Take away the stone,” Jesus said.
“Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.”
40Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”
43After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth.e
“Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him.
46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrinf and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
48If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

49But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!
50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51Caiaphas did not say this on his own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation,
52and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one.
53So from that day on they plotted to kill Him.
54As a result, Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but He withdrew to a town called Ephraim in an area near the wilderness. And He stayed there with the disciples.
55Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.
56They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple courts,g “What do you think? Will He come to the feast at all?”
57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where He was must report it, so that they could arrest Him.

Hello everyone, I am kiki. Chinese name of our second phase of the program is “读经大讲堂”. The English name is “Bible study”.
We will adopt a relaxed also enjoyable learning mode to take you into a new learning world. Each time I will make a personal summary and analysis from the perspective of a learner, and then Sister Ingrid will help me conduct in-depth learning and problem discussions with everybody.
I hope that such an interesting and interactive process can bring new knowledge experience to you all. The following is my interview with my sister on related issues. Today is the twentieth lecture on the Gospel of John .
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!

My summary of John twentieth time study:

Well, everybody! Firstly, is still my today’s personal study summary.
In John 11, there’s a story about Jesus and a man named Lazarus, who lived in a village called Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus got really sick, so his sisters sent a message to Jesus, asking for help. But instead of rushing to Lazarus, Jesus stayed where He was for two more days. He knew this situation would show God’s power.
When Jesus finally decided to go to Bethany, His disciples were worried because some people in Judea had recently tried to harm Him. But Jesus insisted, saying that Lazarus had “fallen asleep” and He was going to wake him up. The disciples didn’t understand at first, but Jesus explained that Lazarus was actually dead.
When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Martha met Jesus and expressed her sadness, saying that if Jesus had been there earlier, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. But Jesus told her that Lazarus would rise again, and He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Martha believed in Jesus, and she went to get her sister, Mary. When Mary came to Jesus, she was also very sad, and seeing her grief, Jesus was deeply moved. He even cried, showing how much He cared for Lazarus.
Jesus then went to the tomb and asked for the stone to be moved. Despite the concerns about the smell after four days, Jesus prayed and then called out loudly, “Lazarus, come out!” Miraculously, Lazarus walked out of the tomb, alive and well.
Many people who saw this miracle believed in Jesus, but others went to tell the Pharisees, who started plotting to kill Jesus because they were afraid of losing their power.
Now let Ingrid sister make a go further summary.

Sister’s comment from my studying summary:

In this story an unbelievable thing happens, because Jesus is raising a death who was already four days in the grave. The Jewish believe was, that the soul stays for a moment near the body after death, but after 4 days it went without any doubts to the Hades.

The religion of the Jews said, when the Messiah will come, he will identify himself by healing people with lepra, casting out a mute demon and raising a death to live again.

With this miracle, Jesus did the last miracle to identify himself as Messiah and there was no doubt anymore.

There were now a lot of people who believed, but for the religious leaders, it was clear, that they have to kill him now for not to lose their influence and power over the people.

But the most important thing in this story is, that it is a symbol for the Gospel. Lazarus is the symbol of our old man, our old being without Christ who has to die. Then, when we spiritually already are broken and lie in the grave, Christ comes to arise us again for a life with him .

The Gospel means good news. The bad news is, that we all have to die, but the good news is, that Jesus has suffered death for us and calls us to live again in him.

Question list part: base on John 11th items:

Okay. Base on above bible study content, now let me ask sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.

Sister, Why did Jesus delay going to see Lazarus even though He knew Lazarus was very sick?

His plan was to raise him up from the death. He knew, that the father will help him to do this, for to identify himself as Messiah

What did Jesus mean when He said Lazarus was “asleep,” and why did He didn’t say he is already died?

The bible says several times, that the people who died believing are just sleeping. The death is those who refused Jesus or not believed in God before he came. But we who believe, will only sleep even we are death

How did Martha and Mary respond differently when they heard that Jesus was coming to Bethany,

Martha was a bit angry with Jesus, that he did not come in time. Mary said exactly the same thing, but she still adored Jesus.

What does Jesus mean when He says, “I am the resurrection and the life”?

He says, who believes in me will live even if he dies
When we believe in Jesus will we arise from death like Jesus arose.

Why did Jesus’ weep when He saw Mary and the others grieving for Lazarus?

He saw how painful death is. We as human beings are designed for to live forever in the garden Eden and therefore are we not prepared for to meet such pain.

What was the significance of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the tomb for four days?

First of all, he wanted to give Martha and Mary their brother back, but he would like to identify himself as Messiahs to the people.

How did the miracle of raising Lazarus impact the belief of those who witnessed it?

It was tremendous for all who saw it.

Why did some people go to the Pharisees after witnessing the miracle, and what was the Pharisees’ reaction?

It is not written why, but it seems that they were friends of the traditional religion and wanted to warn the pharisees about what happened

How did the Pharisees’ fear of losing power influence their decision to plot against Jesus?

The only thing they wanted from now on was to catch him and crucify him.

What can we learn from Jesus’ actions and words in this chapter about His identity and mission?

We can learn, that Jesus was God and human in one person and that he has the power to arise from the death.

After Jesus died and arose, he is called in the bible “the firstborn of the death” So we will follow him to life when our hour has come.