John 11:43-53

11:43 When ¹  he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, ²  “Lazarus, come out!” 11:44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, ³  and a cloth wrapped around his face. ⁴  Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him ⁵  and let him go.”

The Response of the Jewish Leaders

11:45 Then many of the people, ⁶  who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus ⁷  did, believed in him. 11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees ⁸  and reported to them ⁹  what Jesus had done. 11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees ¹⁰  called the council ¹¹  together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. 11:48 If we allow him to go on in this way, ¹²  everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary ¹³  and our nation.”

11:49 Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, ¹⁴  “You know nothing at all! 11:50 You do not realize ¹⁵  that it is more to your advantage to have one man ¹⁶  die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” ¹⁷  11:51 (Now he did not say this on his own, ¹⁸  but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, ¹⁹  11:52 and not for the Jewish nation ²⁰  only, ²¹  but to gather together ²²  into one the children of God who are scattered.) ²³  11:53 So from that day they planned together to kill him.

John 12:10-11

12:10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too, ²⁴  12:11 for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem ²⁵  were going away and believing in Jesus.

John 12:2

12:2 So they prepared a dinner for Jesus ²⁶  there. Martha ²⁷  was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table ²⁸  with him.

Colossians 4:3

4:3 At the same time pray ²⁹  for us too, that ³⁰  God may open a door for the message ³¹  so that we may proclaim ³²  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ³³ 

[11:43]  ¹ tn Grk “And when.”

[11:43]  ² 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).

[11:44]  ³ 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.

[11:44]  ⁴ tn Grk “and his face tied around with cloth.”

[11:44]  ⁵ tn Grk “Loose him.”

[11:45]  ⁶ tn Or “the Judeans”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the friends, acquaintances, and relatives of Lazarus or his sisters who had come to mourn, since the Jewish religious authorities are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the notes on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8 and “the Jewish people of the region” in v. 19, as well as the notes on the word “people” in vv. 31, 33 and the phrase “people who had come to mourn” in v. 36.

[11:45]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:46]  ⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[11:46]  ⁹ tn Grk “told them.”

[11:47]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive name for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26.

[11:47]  ¹¹ tn Or “Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews). The συνέδριον (sunedrion) which they gathered was probably an informal meeting rather than the official Sanhedrin. This is the only occurrence of the word συνέδριον in the Gospel of John, and the only anarthrous singular use in the NT. There are other plural anarthrous uses which have the general meaning “councils.” The fact that Caiaphas in 11:49 is referred to as “one of them” supports the unofficial nature of the meeting; in the official Sanhedrin he, being high priest that year, would have presided over the assembly. Thus it appears that an informal council was called to discuss what to do about Jesus and his activities.

[11:48]  ¹² tn Grk “If we let him do thus.”

[11:48]  ¹³ tn Or “holy place”; Grk “our place” (a reference to the temple in Jerusalem).

[11:49]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “said to them.” The indirect object αὐτοῖς (autois) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[11:50]  ¹⁵ tn Or “you are not considering.”

[11:50]  ¹⁶ tn Although it is possible to argue that ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") should be translated “person” here since it is not necessarily masculinity that is in view in Caiaphas’ statement, “man” was retained in the translation because in 11:47 “this man” (οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, outo" Jo anqrwpo") has as its referent a specific individual, Jesus, and it was felt this connection should be maintained.

[11:50]  ¹⁷ sn In his own mind Caiaphas was no doubt giving voice to a common-sense statement of political expediency. Yet he was unconsciously echoing a saying of Jesus himself (cf. Mark 10:45). Caiaphas was right; the death of Jesus would save the nation from destruction. Yet Caiaphas could not suspect that Jesus would die, not in place of the political nation Israel, but on behalf of the true people of God; and he would save them, not from physical destruction, but from eternal destruction (cf. 3:16-17). The understanding of Caiaphas’ words in a sense that Caiaphas could not possibly have imagined at the time he uttered them serves as a clear example of the way in which the author understood that words and actions could be invested retrospectively with a meaning not consciously intended or understood by those present at the time.

[11:51]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “say this from himself.”

[11:51]  ¹⁹ tn The word “Jewish” is not in the Greek text, but is clearly implied by the context (so also NIV; TEV “the Jewish people”).

[11:52]  ²⁰ tn See the note on the word “nation” in the previous verse.

[11:52]  ²¹ sn The author in his comment expands the prophecy to include the Gentiles (not for the Jewish nation only), a confirmation that the Fourth Gospel was directed, at least partly, to a Gentile audience. There are echoes of Pauline concepts here (particularly Eph 2:11-22) in the stress on the unity of Jew and Gentile.

[11:52]  ²² tn Grk “that he might gather together.”

[11:52]  ²³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:10]  ²⁴ sn According to John 11:53 the Jewish leadership had already planned to kill Jesus. This plot against Lazarus apparently never got beyond the planning stage, however, since no further mention is made of it by the author.

[12:11]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem who had heard about the resurrection of Lazarus and as a result were embracing Jesus as Messiah. See also the note on the phrase “Judeans” in v. 9.

[12:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity and to conform with contemporary English style.

[12:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “And Martha.” The connective καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation because it would produce a run-on sentence in English.

[12:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “reclining at the table.”

[4:3]  ²⁹ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:3]  ³⁰ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

[4:3]  ³¹ tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

[4:3]  ³² tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ³³ tn Or “in prison.”