Jesus Raises Lazarus

Lazarus of Bethany was sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus because he loved their family. When Jesus heard, he said this sickness would serve God’s glory and bring glory to God’s Son. Yet he stayed where he was for two more days before setting out for Judea.

The disciples were worried, because people in Judea had recently tried to stone Jesus. But Jesus said it was time to go. He told them Lazarus was asleep, meaning something they did not understand at first. So Jesus said it plainly: Lazarus had died. Then he said he was glad he had not been there, so that they might believe, and they went with him.

By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many people had come to comfort Martha and Mary. Martha went out to meet Jesus and said that if he had been there, her brother would not have died. Jesus told her that her brother would rise again, and Martha answered that she knew he would rise at the last day. Then she confessed that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son.

Martha called Mary, and Mary hurried to Jesus. The people with her followed, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep. When Mary reached Jesus, she fell at his feet and said the same words as Martha. Seeing Mary weeping and the others weeping too, Jesus was deeply moved and troubled. He asked where Lazarus had been laid, and when they showed him, Jesus wept.

At the tomb, which was a cave with a stone across it, Jesus told them to take the stone away. Martha warned that there would be a bad smell, because Lazarus had been dead four days. Jesus reminded her that she would see God’s glory if she believed. After the stone was removed, Jesus thanked the Father so that the crowd would believe he had been sent.

Then he called in a loud voice for Lazarus to come out. The dead man came out still wrapped in burial cloths, and Jesus told the people to free him and let him go.