Jesus had presented Himself as the Water of Life, the Bread of Life, and the Light of Life. Now He revealed Himself as the resurrection and the life. This was the seventh and last of Jesus' miraculous signs that John recorded, and it was the most powerful revelation of His true identity.376It shows Jesus' authority over humankind's greatest and last enemy, death.
"The claim of Jesus to be working in complete and conscious union with His Father led the Jews to attempt unsuccessfully to stone Him [10:31]. But it was His claim to bestow upon believers the gift of eternal life by raising them from spiritual death which led, according to the Johannine narrative, to His crucifixion [11:53]."377
"Physical death is the divine object lesson of what sin does in the spiritual realm. As physical death ends life and separates people, so spiritual death is the separation of people from God and the loss of life which is in God (John 1:4). Jesus has come so that people may live full lives (10:10)."378
In this pericope John stressed Jesus' deliberate purpose in allowing Lazarus to die and the reality of his death.
11:1-2 "Lazarus"probably is a variant of "Eleazar"meaning "God helps."379The Synoptic writers did not mention him, which is probably why John described him as Mary and Martha's brother. These sisters appear in John's Gospel for the first time here, but they appear in all the Synoptics that preceded the fourth Gospel (cf. Matt. 26:6-12; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 10:38-42).
The Bethany in view is the one about two miles east of Jerusalem (v. 18), not the one in Perea to which the writer referred earlier (1:28). John's further description of Mary in verse 2 alludes to the event he would narrate in 12:1-8. Perhaps he believed that his original readers would have heard of this incident already (cf. Matt. 26:6-12; Mark 14:3-9), or he may have just been tying his two references to Mary together.
11:3 The title "Lord"(Gr. kyrie) was respectful and did not necessarily imply belief in Jesus' deity. Obviously Jesus had had considerable contact with Lazarus and his two sisters, so much so that the women could appeal to Jesus' filial love (Gr. phileis) for their brother when they urged Him to come. They also believed that Jesus could help their brother by healing him (cf. v. 21; Ps. 50:15). They must have realized that Jesus was in danger anywhere near Jerusalem (v. 8).
11:4 Jesus meant that Lazarus would not die in the final sense, though this sickness did prove fatal. His immediate death would result in resurrection and the revelation of Jesus as God's Son (cf. 9:3). In this Gospel, God's "glory"is usually a reference to His self-revelation rather than the praise that comes to Him (cf. 1:14-18; 5:23; 12:28; 17:4).380Ironically this miracle displayed Jesus' identity as God's Son, but it also led to His death that was the ultimate manifestation of His identity and glory.
11:5-6 John dispelled any doubt about Jesus' true love (Gr. agape) for this family. His delay did not show disinterest but divine purpose (cf. 2:4; 7:3-10).
11:7-8 Jesus' decision to return to the Jerusalem area in Judea seemed foolhardy to the disciples who reminded Him that the Jews there had recently tried to stone Him (10:31, 39). They obviously did not yet appreciate the Father's protection of His Son until His appointed hour nor the inevitability of Jesus' death.
11:9-10 The Jews and the Romans commonly regarded the daylight hours as 12 and the nighttime hours as the other 12. Literally Jesus was referring to the daylight hours. Metaphorically the daylight hours represented the Father's will. Jesus was safe as long as He did the Father's will. For the disciples, as long as they continued to follow Jesus, the Light of the World, they would not stumble. Walking in the night pictures behaving without divine illumination or authorization. Living in the realm of darkness (i.e., evil) is dangerous (cf. 1 John 1:6).
"When there is darkness in the soul, then we will stumble indeed."381
11:11-13 Jesus explained further why He needed to go to Bethany. Sleep was a common Old Testament metaphor for death (e.g., so and so slept with his fathers; cf. Mark 5:39). However the idea that people would awake from this sleep, while revealed in the Old Testament (Dan. 12:2), was not the common perception of the outcome of death. Normally people thought of those who fell asleep in death as staying asleep. Thus the disciples' confusion is understandable as is John's clarification of Jesus' meaning. The New Testament writers commonly referred to death as sleep for the Christian because our resurrection to life is a prominent revelation and is sure (cf. Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 15:20, 51; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). That Jesus was not teaching soul sleep should be clear from Luke 16:19-31.382
11:14-15 Apparently Jesus was glad that He had not been present when Lazarus died because the disciples would learn a strong lesson from his resurrection that would increase their faith. The sign that Lazarus' death made possible would be the clearest demonstration of Jesus' identity so far and would convince many people that He was God's Son.
11:16 This is the first reference in the Gospels to Thomas saying something. John described this member of the Twelve (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13) further as the one called the twin. The name "Thomas"evidently comes from the Hebrew tomand the Aramaic tomaboth of which mean twin. "Didymus"is the Greek equivalent of "twin."We do not know for sure who Thomas' twin brother or sister may have been. Usually Peter was the spokesman for the Twelve, but here, as later, John presented Thomas as speaking out (cf. 14:5; 20:24-29; 21:2).
"We do not know whose twin he was, but there are times when all of usseem to be his twin when we consider our unbelief and depressed feelings!"383
Most Christians tend to think of Thomas as a doubter because of His unwillingness to believe in Jesus later (20:24-29). However here his devotion to Jesus and his courage stand out. He did not understand how safe the disciples would be going up to Bethany since they were with Jesus who was walking in obedience to His Father (vv. 9-10). He did not understand that the death that Jesus would die was a death that His disciples could not participate in with Him (cf. 1:29, 36). Nevertheless he spoke better than he knew. John probably recorded his exhortation because it was a call to disciples to take up their cross and follow Jesus (cf. 12:25; Mark 8:34; 2 Cor. 4:10).
The scene now shifts from the region near Bethany of Perea (1:28; 10:40) to the Bethany in Judea. Both towns became sites where people believed on Jesus.
11:17 There is some evidence that the later Jewish rabbis believed that the spirit of a person who had died lingered over the corpse for three days or until decomposition of the body had begun. They believed that the spirit then abandoned the body because any hope of resuscitation was gone. They apparently felt that there was still hope that the person might revive during the first three days after death. Other scholars question whether this is what the Jews believed as early as this event.384In either case the fact that Jesus raised Lazarus after he had been dead for four days would have left no question that Jesus had truly raised the dead. Customarily the Jews buried a corpse the same day the person died due to the warm climate and the relatively rapid rate of decay it caused (cf. Acts 5:5-6, 10).
It is impossible to reconstruct an exact timetable of events day by day, though most commentators offered their views all of which involve some speculation. We do not know exactly how long it took the messenger to reach Jesus or how long Lazarus lived after the messenger came and told Jesus that Lazarus was dying (v. 3). We do not know how long it took Jesus to reach Bethany of Judea from where He was either.
11:18-19 Bethany was about 15 stadia (approximately one and three-quarters miles) east of Jerusalem. John implied that many family friends came from Jerusalem to console Mary and Martha. Prolonged grieving often lasting several days was customary in the ancient Near East.385Therefore many people from Jerusalem either witnessed or heard about Jesus' miracle.
11:20 This picture of Martha as the activist and Mary as the more passive of the two sisters harmonizes with Luke's presentation of them (Luke 10:38-42).
11:21-22 Martha addressed Jesus respectfully but probably not reverentially as "Lord."Some readers of the story have interpreted verse 21 as containing a rebuke, but Martha's words there do not necessarily imply criticism. At least they convey Martha's grief and her confidence in Jesus' power to heal people. In view of verses 24 and 39, verse 22 probably does not mean that Martha believed that Jesus could raise Lazarus back to life. More likely Martha was reaffirming her confidence in Him that her loss had not shaken. Her words in both verses expressed what many others who had faith in Jesus believed.
11:23-24 Jesus' response was also typical of Him. His words had an obvious literal meaning, but they were truer than anyone present realized at the moment. Jesus offered Martha comfort based on the Old Testament assurance that God would resurrect believers (Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2; cf. John 5:28-29). Martha, as the Pharisees, believed this Old Testament revelation, though the Sadducees did not (cf. Acts 23:7-8). The "last day"refers to the end of the present age as the Jews viewed history, namely just before Messiah would inaugurate the new kingdom age (cf. 6:39-40, 44, 54; 12:48).
"When we find ourselves confronted by disease, disappointment, delay, and even death, our only encouragement is the Word of God."386
11:25 Jesus proceeded to make another of His "I am"claims. He meant that He would personally affect resurrection and provide eternal life (cf. 5:21, 25-29). He wanted Martha to think about the Person who would do the resurrecting rather than the event. Jesus raises people to life just as He satisfies people as bread and is, therefore, the essential element in resurrection. Without Him there is no resurrection or life. This was really a double claim. Jesus meant that He was the resurrection and He was the life. This is clear because He dealt with the two concepts of resurrection and life separately in the discussion that followed.
Whoever believes in Jesus will live spiritually and eternally even though he or she dies physically (cf. 5:21). Jesus imparts eternal life to those who believe in Him. He is the life in the sense that He is its source and benefactor. Whereas He will affect resurrection for those who believe and die physically, He bestows eternal life and it begins for the believer before he or she dies physically.
"When you are sick, you want a doctor and not a medical book or a formula. When you are being sued, you want a lawyer and not a law book. Likewise, when you face your last enemy, death, you want the Savior and not a doctrine written in a book. In Jesus Christ, every doctrine is made personal (1 Cor. 1:30)."387
11:26 Furthermore every living person who believes in Jesus will not experience eternal spiritual death. This is another promise of salvation but also of eternal security.
Jesus then asked Martha to affirm her faith in Him as the One who will raise the dead and who now gives eternal life. He was questioning her faith in Him, not her faith in doctrines. She had already expressed her faith in the doctrine of the resurrection (v. 24).
11:27 Martha confessed that she did indeed believe that Jesus was the resurrection and the life. Her answer focused on His person, not just on the teachings of Judaism (cf. 20:28, 30-31). That she truly understood and believed what Jesus revealed about Himself is clear from her reply. She correctly concluded that if Jesus was the One who would raise the dead and impart spiritual life He must be the Messiah. She clarified that what she meant by "Messiah"was not the popular idea of a revolutionary leader but the biblical revelation of a God-man whom God promised to send from heaven (cf. 1:9, 49; 6:14). This saving faith rested on facts about Jesus that were true but went on to place personal trust in Him to fulfill His claims.
Martha's confession of faith is a high point in the fourth Gospel, as Peter's was in the first Gospel (cf. Matt. 16:16). This is the clearest expression of saving faith thus far in this book. Doubtless John recorded it because it advances his major purpose of convincing his readers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so they might obtain eternal life by believing in Him (20:31).
11:28 Martha's reaction is another good model. Having come to faith in Jesus herself she proceeded to bring others to Him knowing that He could help them too (cf. 1:40-45; 4:28-29). As Andrew had done (1:41-42), Martha brought her sibling to the Savior. She described Jesus to her sister as they both had known Him best. She did it secretly to enable Mary to meet with Jesus privately. Jesus had expressed interest in Mary coming to Him, and Martha became the agent who brought her to Him. Rabbis did not normally initiate contact with women, but Jesus was no ordinary rabbi.
11:29 Mary responded to Jesus' invitation to come to Him. This does not mean she became a believer in Him then. Nevertheless it seems clear that she did trust in Him at some time, as Martha did (cf. Matt. 26:6-12; Mark 14:3-9).
The emphasis in this pericope is on Jesus' compassion in the face of sin's consequences.
11:30-32 Mary's physical response to Jesus was more emotional that Martha's had been, perhaps reflecting her temperament. Again we find Mary at Jesus' feet (cf. Luke 10:39). Her words were identical to Martha's (v. 21). She met Jesus in a public place whereas Martha had talked with Him privately. This probably accounts in part for Jesus' different responses to the two women.
"Mary is found three times in the Gospel record, and each time she is at the feet of Jesus (Luke 10:39; John 11:32; 12:3). She sat at His feet and listened to His word; she fell at His feet and poured out her sorrow; and she came to His feet to given Him her praise and worship. Mary's only recorded words in the Gospels are given in John 11:32, and they echo what Martha had already said (John 11:21)."388
11:33 The phrase "deeply moved"translates the Greek word enebrimesato. It invariably describes an angry, outraged, and indignant attitude (cf. v. 38; Matt. 9:30; Mark 1:43; 14:5). These emotions mingled in Jesus' spirit as He contemplated the situation before Him. John also described Jesus as "troubled"(Gr. etaraxen). This is another strong verb that describes emotional turmoil (cf. 5:7; 12:27; 13:21; 14:1, 27). Jesus was angry, but at what? The context provides some help in identifying the cause of His anger.
Evidently as Jesus viewed the misery that death inflicts on humans and the loved ones of those who die He thought of its cause, sin. Many of the Jews present had come from Jerusalem where Jesus had encountered stubborn unbelief. The sin of unbelief resulted in spiritual death, the source of eternal grief and mourning. Probably Jesus felt angry because He was face to face with the consequences of sin and particularly unbelief.
Other explanations for Jesus' anger are that Jesus resented being forced to do a miracle.389However, Jesus had waited to go to Bethany so He could perform a miracle (v. 11). Another idea is that Jesus believed the Jews' mourning was hypocritical, but there is nothing in the text that indicates that the mourners were insincere. Others believe that John meant that Jesus was profoundly moved by these events, particularly the attitude of the mourners who failed to understand His person.390
11:34-35 Jesus wept (Gr. dakryo, lit. shed tears; cf. Isa. 53:3). His quiet shedding of tears differed from the loud wailing (Gr. klaiontas) of Mary and the mourners (v. 33). His weeping doubtless expressed outwardly the sorrow that contemplation of sin and its consequences produced in His heart. Jesus' tears are proof of His compassion for fallen humanity (cf. Luke 19:41). He could not have been weeping over the loss of His friend Lazarus since He was about to restore him to life. Likewise it is unlikely that He was just weeping compassionately with Martha and Mary since He was about to turn their grief into rejoicing. Nevertheless empathy undoubtedly played some part in Jesus' weeping.
Martha had just testified to Jesus' deity (v. 27), and now Jesus' tears witnessed to His humanity.
11:36-37 The Jewish onlookers interpreted Jesus' angry tears in two ways. They took them as evidence of Jesus' great love for Lazarus. They did reflect that, but not as the Jews thought. Jesus was not weeping because death had separated Him from His friend. The Jews also concluded that Jesus' tears reflected the grief He felt over His apparent inability to prevent Lazarus from dying. This deduction revealed unbelief as well as ignorance of Jesus' person. Jesus' healing of the man born blind had occurred several months earlier, but it had obviously made a strong impression on the people living in Jerusalem.
Jesus proceeded to vindicate His claim that He was the One who would raise the dead and provide life (v. 25).
11:38 Jesus again felt the same angry emotion as He approached Lazarus' tomb (cf. v. 33). Tombs cut into the limestone hillsides of that area were common. Today many similar caves are visible to tourists. Normally a large round stone sealed the entrance against animals and curious individuals.
11:39 Even though Martha had confessed her belief that Jesus would raise the dead she did not understand that Jesus planned to raise her brother immediately. Jesus had given her no reason to hope that He would. The Jews customarily wrapped the bodies of their dead in cloth and added spices to counteract the odors that decomposition produced. They did not embalm them as thoroughly as the Egyptians did.391
Interestingly Martha did not appeal to Jesus on the basis of the ritual uncleanness that contact with a dead body would create for the Jews. Perhaps she had learned that ritual uncleanness was not something that bothered Jesus. Her concern was a practical one in harmony with her personality as the Gospel writers presented it.
11:40-41a Jesus' reply summarized what He had said to Martha earlier (vv. 23-26). He viewed raising someone to life as an act that glorified God by revealing His Son. Martha's willingness to allow the removal of the stone testified to her confidence in Jesus. When the stone was away from the tomb's entrance, every eye must have been on Jesus to see what He would do.
11:41b-42 Jesus addressed God in prayer characteristically as His Father. He spoke as though the raising of Lazarus was something that the Father had already decreed, which was true (cf. v. 11). His prayer was not a request for Lazarus' resurrection. Such a prayer would have glorified the Father. It was rather a prayer of thanksgiving for what the Father would shortly do. It had the effect of focusing attention on the Son as God's agent in performing the miracle. Jesus' prayer had the effect also of drawing the onlookers into His intimate relationship with the Father and proving that He really did do nothing independently of the Father (cf. 5:19-47).
Jesus' public prayer here is a good reminder that all leaders in public prayer should take those present into account when they pray. We should do so not by "playing to the gallery"(cf. Matt. 6:5) but by voicing prayers that are appropriate in view of who is present.
11:43-44 The dead heard the voice of the Son of God and lived, as Jesus had predicted (5:25, 28-29). If Jesus had not specified Lazarus by name, every dead person might have arisen at His command. Jesus probably cried out loudly to make clear that this resurrection was not an act of magic. Wizards typically muttered their incantations and spells quietly (cf. Isa. 8:19).392
The Jews did not wrap their dead so tightly in their grave clothes that Lazarus would have had difficulty doing what John wrote that he did.
The corpse was customarily laid on a sheet of linen, wide enough to envelop the body completely and more than twice the length of the corpse. The body was so placed on the sheet that the feet were at one end, and then the sheet was drawn over the head and back down to the feet. The feet were bound at the ankles, and the arms were tied to the body with linen strips. The face was bound with another cloth . . . Jesus' body was apparently prepared for burial in the same way (cf. 19:40; 20:5, 7). A person so bound could hop and shuffle, but scarcely walk."393
While there are similarities between Lazarus and Jesus' resurrections, we must also remember their significant differences. Lazarus came to life only to die again later as a mortal whereas Jesus arose never to die again, as immortal. Lazarus arose with the same physical body that went into his tomb, but Jesus arose with a spiritual body that could pass through solid objects (1 Cor. 15). Thus Lazarus' resurrection was only a pale anticipation of the resurrection of Jesus that was to come. Nevertheless it was the greatest of Jesus' signs.
"If Jesus Christ can do nothing about death, then whatever else He can do amounts to nothing [cf. 1 Cor. 15:19]."394
This miracle illustrated Jesus' ability to empower people with new life (cf. 14:6). He had previously raised the widow of Nain's son (Luke 7:15) and Jairus' daughter (Matt. f9:25; Mark 5:42; Luke 8:55) back to life, but Lazarus had been dead four days. There could now be no doubt about Jesus' ability to raise the dead. Physically He will do this for everyone at the resurrections yet future. He will raise Christians at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:16), Old Testament and Tribulation saints at the Second Coming (Dan. 12:2; Rev. 20:4, 6), and unbelievers at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:5). Spiritually Jesus gives life to all who believe on Him the moment they trust in Him (5:24).
"Just as the preincarnate Word gave physical life and light to humankind in creation (1:2), so Jesus as the Word Incarnate gives spiritual life and light to people who believe in Him."395
There are many questions that John's account of this miracle leaves unanswered that tantalize our imaginations, such as what Lazarus reported to his friends. These things the evangelist deliberately avoided to focus the reader's attention on Jesus.
