John 11 Lazarus

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
John 11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and 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 is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.


a. John 11:16 Thomas (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean twin.
b. John 11:18 Or about 3 kilometers

Now I had no idea that Thomas [doubting] was said to be a twin of Jesus..... but this is form the enduringword.com site.

Thomas, who is called the Twin: Church tradition says that Thomas was called the Twin because he looked like Jesus, putting him at special risk. If any among the disciples of Jesus were potential targets of persecution it would be the one who looked like Jesus.​
All Jews in those days had two names – one a Hebrew name by which a man was known in his own circle, the other a Greek name by which he was known in a wider circle. Thomas is the Hebrew and Didymus the Greek for a twin.” (Barclay)​
Let us also go, that we may die with Him: Thomas was willing to go with Jesus even if it meant dying with Him. He made this commitment without much understanding of a promise of resurrection.​
“Thomas utters a cry of loyal despair.” (Tasker)​
He is the pessimist among the disciples, and now take the gloomy, and, as it is proved, the correct view of the result of this return to Judaea, but his affectionate loyalty forbids the thought of allowing Jesus to go alone.” (Dods)​

And this is what the same commentary says about being stinky in the grave.

He had already been in the tomb four days: Jesus waited four days because He knew the Jewish superstition of that day that said a soul stayed near the grave for three days, hoping to return to the body. Therefore, it was accepted that after four days there was absolutely no hope of resuscitation.​
Martha was the more practical of the sisters [IMHO]. I think she's the one who was busy cleaning and cooking while her sister was lounging around hanging on every word of Jesus. According to this chapter... she wasn't one to hold her tongue when she was dissatisfied with someone's actions.

Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You: Martha was not confident that Jesus would raise her brother. Instead, she said that she would still trust Jesus despite this disappointment. This was a remarkable demonstration of faith, one that should be taken as an example.​
Do you believe this? Jesus challenged Martha not to debate or intellectual assent, but to belief. She must believe Jesus was who He said He was and that He could do what He said He could do.​
She went her way and secretly called Mary her sister: We aren’t told exactly why Martha did this secretly. It’s fair to guess that she did it to help Mary have a few uninterrupted moments with Jesus before the crowd of other mourners surrounded them.​
My brother would not have died: This is one of the places in the Bible where we wish we could hear the tone of voice and see the expressions on the face. This could have been a noble statement of faith, saying that if Jesus was there they have no doubt at all that He would have healed Lazarus. On the other hand, it could also be seen as a criticism of what seemed to be the tardiness of Jesus.
His face was wrapped with a cloth: Lazarus was not resurrected, but resuscitated. He arose bound in grave-clothes, for he would need them again; Jesus left His grave-clothes behind in His tomb, never again having need of them.
Everyone was at the funeral..... they were talking about how Lazarus did business.... loved his sisters.... was a good man.... it's shame... a real shame..... and then Jesus showed up.

Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus. He had been a guest in their home. They knew He could have saved their brother if He could make it in time. But Jesus didn't arrive.... until four days later..... when Lazarus was already stinky with rot.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the healing in the last few chapters. The guy who had been laying around for 38 years..... I figure he was put there to draw attention to the difference between doing a circumcision and murder on the Sabbath. I also imagine the potter [clay made from mud] placing the missing parts.... maybe the man who had been blind since birth.... never had eyes to see... and when Jesus molded the clay... he was plopping working eyes in the guys head..... wouldn't that have been something. Yeah.... I admit... these are wild ideas.... but Jesus is God and I try to think outside the box because God can't be controlled by a box.

Lazarus speaks to a different type of healing. Lazarus got sick and died.

Jesus dealt with someone else who had "died". The little girl had passed... Jesus ran the mourners off. She had only been "dead" for a few hours.... Jesus said she was sleeping and He woke her up. But this one was different.... Lazarus had been in the grave for so long he was rotting.....

No big deal for God.... so He was stinky..... Jesus is the Son of God.... He could heal even the stinkiest.

I wonder.... did Lazarus continue to stink for the rest of his life? Did he have any scars from the rot?

Healing a blind man is one thing.... waking a sleeping baby is one thing.... but raising a stinking corps to life.... that got the attention of the most powerful of the non-believers. Caiaphas.... the chief priest.... now had a target..... He claimed Rome wouldn't like it if Jesus could just go around bringing the dead back to life.

If the word got out that Jesus could bring the dead back to life.... well Jesus couldn't just take a solitary walk anymore.... humans would come out of the woodwork to get their uncle, mom, dad, brother, sister, cousin, friend, servant.... and probably even that special pet pig... back to life.

That was not why Jesus came..... Yes He was bringing the anti-dote to death.... but it hadn't been tested on a human body yet..... Jesus had to raise Himself before the mission to be accomplished. Lazarus was one man..... Jesus came to make that eternal life to every human.... forever..... eternal....

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