John 9:3

9:3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man ¹  nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that ²  the acts ³  of God may be revealed ⁴  through what happens to him. ⁵ 

John 11:4

11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, ⁶  but to God’s glory, ⁷  so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁸ 

John 11:40-44

11:40 Jesus responded, ⁹  “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” 11:41 So they took away ¹⁰  the stone. Jesus looked upward ¹¹  and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. ¹²  11:42 I knew that you always listen to me, ¹³  but I said this ¹⁴  for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 11:43 When ¹⁵  he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, ¹⁶  “Lazarus, come out!” 11:44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, ¹⁷  and a cloth wrapped around his face. ¹⁸  Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him ¹⁹  and let him go.”

¹ tn Grk “this one.”

² tn Grk “but so that.” There is an ellipsis that must be supplied: “but [he was born blind] so that” or “but [it happened to him] so that.”

³ tn Or “deeds”; Grk “works.”

⁴ tn Or “manifested,” “brought to light.”

⁵ tn Grk “in him.”

⁶ tn Grk “This sickness is not to death.”

⁷ tn Or “to God’s praise.”

⁸ sn So that the Son of God may be glorified through it. These statements are highly ironic: For Lazarus, the sickness did not end in his death, because he was restored to life. But for Jesus himself, the miraculous sign he performed led to his own death, because it confirmed the authorities in their plan to kill Jesus (11:47-53). In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ death is consistently portrayed as his ‘glorification’ through which he accomplishes his return to the Father.

⁹ tn Grk “Jesus said to her.”

¹⁰ tn Or “they removed.”

¹¹ tn Grk “lifted up his eyes above.”

¹² tn Or “that you have heard me.”

¹³ tn Grk “that you always hear me.”

¹⁴ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

¹⁵ tn Grk “And when.”

¹⁶ sn The purpose of the loud voice was probably to ensure that all in the crowd could hear (compare the purpose of the prayer of thanksgiving in vv. 41-42).

¹⁷ sn Many have wondered how Lazarus got out of the tomb if his hands and feet were still tied up with strips of cloth. The author does not tell, and with a miracle of this magnitude, this is not an important fact to know. If Lazarus’ decomposing body was brought back to life by the power of God, then it could certainly have been moved out of the tomb by that same power. Others have suggested that the legs were bound separately, which would remove the difficulty, but the account gives no indication of this. What may be of more significance for the author is the comparison which this picture naturally evokes with the resurrection of Jesus, where the graveclothes stayed in the tomb neatly folded (20:6-7). Jesus, unlike Lazarus, would never need graveclothes again.

¹⁸ tn Grk “and his face tied around with cloth.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “Loose him.”