“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazurus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazurus was sick.

Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again.

His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? (why are you going back there after they tried to stone you) 

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in a day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbelth, because there is no light in him.

These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

Howbeit Jesus spoke of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye may believe; nevertheless, let us go unto him.

Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us go, that we may die with him.

Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

And many Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary was still in the house.

Then she said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died (would not have).

But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 

She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

And when she had said so, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come (here) and calleth for thee.

As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in his spirit, and was troubled, 

And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

JESUS WEPT. 

Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Jesus said unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.

And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done.”  John 11: 1-46

I know that is quite a bit of scripture, but there is another scripture where the Lord tells us that he will bring all things back to our remembrance, whatsoever he has taught us.

This is why a good knowledge of the Bible is so important. He will bring scriptures and stories back to your mind in time of need to help you know how to pray and give you comfort.

This is one of those stories that reveal the nature of Jesus, so perfectly and I have used it many times.

Even though he knew that he would resurrect Lazarus, he was so brokenhearted in seeing his daughter weep, that he himself wept.

We see so many things in this passage, the disciples, who still believed at this point that they would be brave in the face of death.

We see Jesus intentionally wait to awake Lazarus, because his resurrection was completely for the glory of God and to show that even death must bow to the Lord.

We see how those who opposed him swiftly run to accuse him and this would be setting in motion his arrest, crucifixion, and death.

We see graveclothes loosed. Symbolic also of the filthy spiritual rags of our sins and transgressions, our graveclothes that have held us bound and held captive, he commands that we be set free.

This is also a picture of the great resurrection, when he will call all those who sleep in him to awake on that beautiful holy morning, commanding even the grave clothes to release what they have no power to hold.

And we have comfort in that.

I do have to give a footnote to this, talk about deranged people.

We’ll be doing this passage soon, but just to finish up this subject, check this out:

John 12: 9-10:” Much (many) people of the Jews therefore knew that he (Jesus) was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 

But the chief priest consulted (conspired) they that might put Lazarus also to death:”

The guys would have fit in nicely with our politicians.

Lazarus dies, Jesus raises him from the dead, and these jokers have decided that they will kill him.

Now that’s all kinds of messed up.

Love & Peace until next time! NBJ 2024/ Rev. N Brown Johnson/ 2025