[chapter edited, because of length]
1Lazarus of Bethany was sick, of the household of Mary and
her sister Martha.
2(Mary who had anointed Jesus' feet with fragrant oil and
wiped them with her hair)
John 12:1-8.
3And the sisters sent a message requesting Jesus to come and
heal their brother.
4When Jesus got the message. He said;
This sickness is not unto death, but for God's glory, so the Son of God may be
glorified through it.
5Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus.
6So, when He heard this, He stayed two more days where He was.
7After this Jesus said, Let us go to
Judea again
8The disciples said, the Jews seek to stone You, why do You
wish to go there?
9And Jesus answered, There are twelve
hours of daylight, if anyone walks in the daylight, he does not stumble.
10But those who walk in the night stumbles because there is
no light in them.
11Now our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake
him up.
12His disciples said, if he sleeps he will get well.
13But Jesus spoke of his death.
14He then said to them plainly, Lazarus
is dead.
15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that
you may believe.
16Then Thomas said, Let us also go, that we may die with Him.
17When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days
18For Bethany was about two miles away from Jerusalem.
19And many of the Jews were there to comfort Martha and Mary.
20As Jesus came into the town, Martha met Him.
21And said to Him; Lord, if You had been here, my brother
would not have died.
22But I know that whatever You will ask of God, God will give
it to You.
23Jesus replied; Your brother shall rise
again.
24Martha said, I know he will rise again in the resurrection
at the last day.
25Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and
the Life! Whoever believes in Me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.
26And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do
you believe this?
27She said; Yes, Lord, I believed that You are the Christ,
the Son of God.
28Then she went away and secretly told Mary, The Teacher is
calling for you.
29As soon as Mary heard, she came quickly,
30to the place where Jesus was.
31Now when the Jews saw her quickly leave, they followed her,
thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep.
32Coming to Jesus, Mary fell down 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 weeping, He also groaned in the spirit and troubled Himself.
34Jesus then asked; where have you laid
him?
35And He also wept.
36Taking notice of this the Jews said; See how He loved him!
37However some of them said; couldn't this Man who have
opened the eyes of the blind prevented this mans death?
38Now the tomb was but a cave, with a stone rolled against
its mouth.
39And Jesus said; Roll away the stone
. However Martha said; Lord, he has been dead four days, by now the body is
decomposing.
40But Jesus said to her, Did I not tell
you, if you would believe you would see the glory of God?
41Then they rolled away the stone and Jesus raised His eyes
unto heaven and said; Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42I know that You always hear Me, but for the peoples sake
I said this, so that they may believe that You sent Me.
43He then cried out with a loud voice, saying;
Lazarus, come forth.
44And Lazarus came forth, bound with grave clothes and Jesus
said to them; Untie him!. |
This account of Lazarus being raise from the dead is rich in meaning and symbolism, and
just a summary with a few bullet points is far from being exhaustive.
- Both the sisters sent a message to where Jesus was, but when Jesus got the message He
stayed two more days where He was. This two day period is thought to possibly represent
two thousand years of the church age.
- Both sisters said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died".
Martha approached Jesus with a theological request / statement and got back a theological
answer. Whereby, Mary fell at His feet and wept and Jesus shared in Her emotion and also wept.
Jesus / the Holy Spirit will meet us right where we are. Jesus did not give Mary a lesson in
theology, nor did He force emotions on Martha.
- When Jesus got there, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days, to leave no room for doubt
that this was a miracle of God. God is not willing to share the glory of His healing miracles
with any man.
- Most likely, if the men had not rolled away the stone, the raising of Lazarus
would not have taken place. Rolling away the stone tells us that when man does what he can,
God will then do what only He can do.
- Jesus when He called Lazarus forth, first He lifted up His eyes to heaven, (this is where the
power is). We always need to remember it is not our power but His power.
- The raising of Lazarus from the dead is only mentioned in the Gospel of John,
the Gospel of Luke does refer to Mary and Martha
Luke 10:38-42, However, the name 'Lazarus' is never mentioned.
- FYI - The name "Lazarus" means, "God has helped". Lazarus
lived in Bethany and the name Bethany means "house of the afflicted one".
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