The Death of Lazarus
There was a man named Lazarus who had become very sick. He lived in the village of Bethany with his two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who would later pour expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and dry them with her hair. The sisters sent a message to Jesus saying, "Lord, your dear friend is sick." When Jesus received this news, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. Instead, it will bring glory to God and show the glory of God's Son." Jesus deeply loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. Then he told his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea." The disciples were alarmed. "Teacher," they said, "the religious leaders there just tried to kill you by throwing stones. Are you really going back?" Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of light in each day, aren't there? A person who walks during the day won't trip and fall because he can see by the light of the world. But someone who walks at night will stumble because there's no light to guide him." After saying this, Jesus continued, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up." The disciples said, "Lord, if he's just sleeping, then he'll get better on his own." They thought Jesus was talking about ordinary sleep, but Jesus was actually speaking about Lazarus's death. So Jesus spoke to them directly: "Lazarus is dead. For your sake, I'm actually glad I wasn't there when it happened, because now you will be able to believe. Come, let's go to him." Then Thomas, who was also called the Twin, said to the other disciples, "Let's go too, so we can die alongside him."
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
When Jesus arrived in Bethany, he discovered that Lazarus had already been dead and buried in his tomb for four days. Bethany was close to Jerusalem, less than two miles away, so many Jewish people from the city had come to comfort Martha and Mary after losing their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she hurried out to meet him, but Mary remained inside the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I still know that God will give you anything you ask for." Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again when everyone is raised from the dead on the last day." Then Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never truly die. Do you believe this?" "Yes, Lord," Martha replied. "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was promised to come into the world." After saying this, Martha went back to the house and quietly called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she whispered, "and he's asking for you." As soon as Mary heard this, she jumped up and rushed out to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still waiting at the spot where Martha had met him. The Jewish mourners who had been comforting Mary inside the house saw her get up and leave so suddenly. They followed her, thinking she was going to Lazarus's tomb to cry there. When Mary reached Jesus and saw him, she collapsed at his feet and said through her tears, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her crying, and saw all the people with her crying too, he felt a deep anguish in his spirit and was deeply troubled. "Where have you buried him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. The people watching said, "Look how much he loved Lazarus!" But some of them wondered aloud, "This man opened the eyes of a blind person. Couldn't he have prevented Lazarus from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
Jesus felt that same deep grief stirring within him again as he approached the tomb. The burial place was a cave, and a large stone had been rolled in front of the opening to seal it shut. "Roll the stone away," Jesus commanded. Martha, the sister of the man who had died, spoke up immediately. "Lord, there will be a terrible smell by now. My brother has been dead for four whole days." Jesus looked at her and replied, "Didn't I tell you that if you trust me, you will see God's glory displayed?" So the people there rolled the heavy stone away from the entrance. Jesus then raised his eyes toward heaven and prayed aloud, "Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I know you always listen to me, but I'm saying this out loud so that all these people standing around us will believe that you really did send me." When Jesus finished praying, he shouted with a powerful voice that echoed off the stone walls, "Lazarus, come out!" And the man who had been lying dead in that tomb walked out. His hands and feet were still tightly wrapped in the long strips of burial cloth, and his face was covered with a burial cloth as well. Jesus looked at the stunned crowd and said simply, "Untie him and set him free."
The Plot to Kill Jesus
Many of the Jewish people who had come to visit Mary witnessed what Jesus had done, and they put their faith in him. However, some of them went straight to the Pharisees and reported everything Jesus had accomplished. The chief priests and Pharisees immediately called together the Sanhedrin, their ruling council. They said to one another, "What should we do about this? This man keeps performing miraculous signs. If we allow him to continue like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy both our temple and our entire nation." One member of the council, Caiaphas, who served as high priest that year, spoke up sharply: "You don't understand anything! Don't you realize it's better for one man to die for the people than for our whole nation to be destroyed?" Caiaphas didn't say these words on his own initiative. Because he was the high priest that year, he was actually speaking a prophecy that Jesus would die for the nation. But Jesus wouldn't die only for the Jewish nation—he would also die for all of God's scattered children throughout the world, to bring them together as one people. From that day forward, the religious leaders made definite plans to kill Jesus. Because of this threat, Jesus stopped traveling openly among the Jewish people. Instead, he withdrew to a town called Ephraim, located near the wilderness, and stayed there with his disciples. The time for the Jewish Passover festival was approaching, and many people from the countryside traveled up to Jerusalem to perform the purification ceremonies required before Passover. These visitors kept searching for Jesus and asking each other as they gathered in the temple courtyards, "What do you think? Do you suppose he'll come to the festival?" Meanwhile, the chief priests and Pharisees had issued strict orders: anyone who discovered where Jesus was staying must report his location immediately, so they could arrest him.