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John 11

11
Lazarus Dies
1A man named Lazarus was sick. He was in Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 2Mary would later pour perfume on the Lord and wipe his feet with her hair. Lazarus, who was sick in bed, was her brother. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus. “Lord,” they told him, “the one you love is sick.”
4When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son can receive glory because of it.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6but even after he learned that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. 7Then he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8“Rabbi,” they objected, “the Jews there were just trying to kill you with stones. And now you want to go back?”
9Jesus answered, “Aren’t there 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks during the day doesn’t trip and fall, because they can see by this world’s light. 10It’s the person who walks at night who trips and falls, because they don’t have any light.”
11After he’d said that, Jesus told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m going there to wake him up.”
12His disciples responded, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, that means he’ll get better.” 13Jesus had meant that Lazarus was dead, but his disciples thought he’d meant that Lazarus had actually fallen asleep.
14So then he came right out and told them, “Lazarus is dead. 15For your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there, because now you’ll believe. Let’s go to him.”
16Then Thomas, who was also called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples, “Let’s go along, so we can die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17When Jesus arrived, he found out that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come out to comfort Martha and Mary on the loss of their brother. 20When 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 I know that even now God will give you anything you ask for.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again when people are raised from the dead on the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even if they die. 26And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who has come into the world.”
28After she said this, she went back home and called her sister Mary aside to speak with her. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and he’s asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went out to meet him. 30Jesus hadn’t yet entered the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who’d been comforting Mary in the house noticed that she’d gotten up quickly and gone out, they followed her. They thought she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and she saw him, she knelt down in front of him. “Lord,” she said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw her crying, and he also saw the Jews who’d come along with her crying, it made him angry and distressed that death caused so much sorrow. 34“Where have you put him?” he asked.
They answered, “Lord, come and see.”
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how much he loved him!”
37But some of them said, “He opened the eyes of the blind man. Couldn’t he have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus came to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone in front of the entrance, and once again he was distressed. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there will be a bad smell, because Lazarus has been in that tomb for four days.”
40Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42I know that you always hear me, but I’m saying this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they’ll believe that you’ve sent me.”
43Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44And the dead man came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of linen and there was a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
The Plan to Kill Jesus
45Many of the Jews who’d come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin, the council of elders.
They asked, “What are we supposed to do with this man? He’s performing many signs. 48If we let him keep doing that, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.”
49Then one of them named Caiaphas spoke up. He was the high priest that year. He said, “You don’t know anything at all! 50You don’t realize that it’s better for you if one man dies for the people than if the whole nation is destroyed.”
51He didn’t say this on his own. Rather, as the high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation— 52and not only for that nation, but for God’s children scattered everywhere. Jesus’ death would bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on, the Jewish rulers planned to kill Jesus.
54As a result, Jesus no longer moved around openly among the people of Judea. Instead, he went away to an area near the desert, to a village called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast, many people went up from the countryside to Jerusalem for the special washing that would make them pure before the feast. 56They kept looking for Jesus. As they stood in the temple courtyard, they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the feast at all?” 57The chief priests and Pharisees had ordered that anyone who found out where Jesus was staying had to report it so they could arrest him.

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