John 11:11-16

11:11 After he said this, he added, ¹  “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. ²  But I am going there to awaken him.” 11:12 Then the disciples replied, ³  “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 11:13 (Now Jesus had been talking about ⁴  his death, but they ⁵  thought he had been talking about real sleep.) ⁶ 

11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 11:15 and I am glad ⁷  for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. ⁸  But let us go to him.” 11:16 So Thomas (called Didymus ⁹ ) ¹⁰  said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.” ¹¹ 

[11:11]  ¹ tn Grk “He said these things, and after this he said to them.”

[11:11]  ² tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for death when speaking of believers. This metaphorical usage by its very nature emphasizes the hope of resurrection: Believers will one day “wake up” out of death. Here the term refers to death, but “asleep” was used in the translation to emphasize the metaphorical, rhetorical usage of the term, especially in light of the disciples’ confusion over what Jesus actually meant (see v. 13).

[11:12]  ³ tn Grk “Then the disciples said to him.”

[11:13]  ⁵ tn Or “speaking about.”

[11:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “these.”

[11:13]  ⁷ tn Grk “the sleep of slumber”; this is a redundant expression to emphasize physical sleep as opposed to death.

[11:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “and I rejoice.”

[11:15]  ⁸ sn So that you may believe. Why does Jesus make this statement? It seems necessary to understand the disciples’ belief here in a developmental sense, because there are numerous references to the disciples’ faith previous to this in John’s Gospel, notably 2:11. Their concept of who Jesus really was is continually being expanded and challenged; they are undergoing spiritual growth; the climax is reached in the confession of Thomas in John 20:28.

[11:16]  ⁹ sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.

[11:16]  ¹⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[11:16]  ¹¹ sn One gets the impression from Thomas’ statement “Let us go too, so that we may die with him” that he was something of a pessimist resigned to his fate. And yet his dedicated loyalty to Jesus and his determination to accompany him at all costs was truly commendable. Nor is the contrast between this statement and the confession of Thomas in 20:28, which forms the climax of the entire Fourth Gospel, to be overlooked; certainly Thomas’ concept of who Jesus is has changed drastically between 11:16 and 20:28.