Raising Lazarus

¹There was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in Bethany, the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ²(This was the same Mary who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Lazarus, the sick man, was her brother.) ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus: "Lord, the one you love is sick." ⁴When Jesus heard this, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. Rather, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." ⁵Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷After that, he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea." ⁸His disciples said to him, "Rabbi, just recently the Jews were trying to stone you, and you're going back there?" ⁹Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, they don't stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But if anyone walks at night, they stumble, because they have no light." ¹¹After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up." ¹²The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he's sleeping, he will recover." ¹³Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴So Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead." ¹⁵"And for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." ¹⁶Then Thomas, called Didymus, said to the other disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with him." ¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. ¹⁹Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." ²³Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." ²⁴Martha said to him, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." ²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die, will live. ²⁶And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" ²⁷She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." ²⁸After saying this, she went and called her sister Mary aside, saying quietly, "The Master is here and is asking for you." ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her, assuming she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he groaned in his spirit and was troubled. ³⁴He asked, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶The Jews said, "See how he loved him!" ³⁷But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have kept this man from dying?" ³⁸Then Jesus, groaning again within himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" ⁴¹So they took away the stone. Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the sake of the people standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." ⁴³After saying this, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him and let him go."