1
There was a man who was sick; his name was Lazarus. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2
Mary was the woman who had anointed the Lord’s feet with ointment and wiped them with her hair.

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And Lazarus, who was sick, was her brother. So the two women sent word to Jesus: “Lord, the one whom You love is sick.”

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When Jesus heard this, He said: “This sickness will not lead to death, but will reveal the glory of God, so that through it the Son of God may be glorified.”

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Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

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Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed two more days where He was;

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then after that He said to His disciples: “Let us go back again to Judea.”

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The disciples said to Him: “Rabbi, just recently the Jews tried to stone You; are You still going back there?”

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Jesus answered: “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

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But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

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After saying this, He said to them: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him from sleep.”

12
Then the disciples said to Him: “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

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But Jesus meant sleep in the sense of death, while they thought He was speaking of ordinary sleep.

14
So Jesus said plainly: “Lazarus is dead;

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but I am glad I was not there, for it is better for you, so that you may learn to believe. Let us go to him now.”

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Then Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

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When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

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Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.

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Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary there to comfort them concerning their brother’s death.

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When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary stayed in the house.

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Then Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

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But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.”

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

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Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

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Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live,

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and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

27
She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who is coming into the world.”

28
After she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, whispering to her, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

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When Mary heard this, she rose quickly and went to Jesus.

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Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him.

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When the Jews who were with her in the house, comforting her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

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When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

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When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

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He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

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Jesus wept.

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So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

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But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have also kept this man from dying?”

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Then Jesus, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

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Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by now there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

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Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

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So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

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I know that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around Me, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

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And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with grave cloths, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

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Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and who had seen what Jesus had done believed in Him.

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

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Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the Council together, and they said, “What are we to do? For this man is performing many signs.

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If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

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But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,

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nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die for the people than that the whole nation should perish.”

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He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

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and not for the nation only, but also to gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

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So from that day on they planned to kill Him.

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Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but departed from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there He stayed with His disciples.

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Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many people from that country went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.

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They were looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple, they said to one another, “What do you think? Will He come to the feast at all?”

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Meanwhile the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, so that they might seize Him.

📖 John 11 – The Raising of Lazarus: Miracle and the Meaning of Faith

🧾 Summary of John 11

John 11 records one of the most remarkable miracles in Jesus’ life: He raised Lazarus from death after four days in the tomb. This event not only showed His divine power over death, but also affirmed that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. This event also led to the final decision of the religious leaders to kill Him.

1. Jesus Hears About Lazarus (verses 1–16)

Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was gravely ill in Bethany.
Mary was the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with oil.
They sent word to Jesus, hoping He would come and heal Lazarus.
Yet Jesus delayed two days and said:

“This sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God.” (verse 4)

After Lazarus died, Jesus invited the disciples to return to Judea even though there was danger to their safety.

2. Jesus Meets Martha and Mary (verses 17–37)

When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been buried for four days.
Martha said: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Jesus answered:

“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me will live, even though he has died.” (verse 25)

Mary also came and wept with the others.
Jesus was deeply moved and wept – the only verse that explicitly shows His emotion:

“Jesus wept.” (verse 35)

3. Jesus Raises Lazarus (verses 38–44)

Jesus stood before the tomb, which was closed with a stone, and commanded that the stone be taken away.
Martha objected because it had already been four days and Lazarus’s body would surely have decayed.
Jesus said:

“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (verse 40)

Jesus prayed to the Father, then cried out:

“Lazarus, come out!”
And Lazarus came out, with the burial cloth still wrapped around his body.

4. The Effect of the Miracle: Faith and Conspiracy (verses 45–57)

Many people believed in Jesus after witnessing the miracle.
But some reported it to the Pharisees.
The Sanhedrin gathered and planned to kill Jesus, fearing they would lose power and draw trouble from the Romans.
Caiaphas, the high priest at that time, unknowingly prophesied:

“It is better that one man should die for the whole nation.” (verse 50)

From that time on, they were determined to kill Jesus, and Jesus withdrew to the region of Ephraim with His disciples.

📘 Main Teaching of John 11

Faith does not always mean an immediate miracle, but believing even in the midst of death and delay.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life, not only giving life, but being the source of that life itself.
Jesus’ emotions (He wept) show that God cares and shares in human suffering.
Miracles glorify God, and reveal who Jesus truly is.
Hardness of heart causes some people to plan evil, even while witnessing the truth firsthand.

✨ Spiritual Meaning of John 11

When everything seems dead and impossible, Jesus comes as living hope.
Sometimes God delays help not because He does not care, but because He is arranging His glory.
The raising of Lazarus is a picture of our spiritual resurrection—Jesus calls us out of the “grave of sin” into eternal life.
True faith believes even when logic and reality say it is impossible.