John 11:3-7;17;20-27;33b-45 

The sisters of Lazarus sent a message to Jesus,^*‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus^* was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus^* had already been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.^* Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,^* the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ 

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ 

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

BACKGROUNDER

The distortion of the image of God in humanity brings with it a death sentence – literally. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) In the events of John 11, Jesus confronts death, the fate of all mortals. 

Lazarus was a friend of Jesus, and his death touches Jesus deeply. But Jesus waits until past the time that the Jews considered someone definitively dead. Jesus also knows that returning to Judea would be his own death sentence. They will be near Jerusalem, where his enemies, the Roman and Jewish authorities are most powerful. This rescue mission will lead straight to the cross. 

Martha, Lazarus’s sister, meets Jesus on the way, and expresses her faith that God will answer his prayer, even though it seems to be too late. When Jesus tells her that Lazarus will rise again, she affirms her faith in the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. But Jesus tells her that he himself is “the resurrection and the life” and that he will give life to all who believe in him, even though they die. Pause for a moment to consider what Jesus just said: somehow, he has power over the worst outcome of the distortion of the image of God: even death has no power when he comes. 

The raising of Lazarus is a temporary rescue mission. Even after Jesus calls him out of the tomb, after being dead for four days, Lazarus will die again. But this rescue mission shows us how Jesus is about to complete his victory over death. 

Each one of us will die, and so will everyone we love. Death is the final curtain which awaits all of Adam and Eve’s children. But Jesus gives us hope that even death will not have the last word.