1: A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2: This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord's feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
3: So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Master, the one you love so very much is sick."
4: When Jesus got the message, he said, "This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God's glory by glorifying God's Son."
5: Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
6: but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days.
7: After the two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea."
8: They said, "Rabbi, you can't do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you're going back?"
9: Jesus replied, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun.
10: Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can't see where he's going."
11: He said these things, and then announced, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'm going to wake him up."
12: The disciples said, "Master, if he's gone to sleep, he'll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine."
13: Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14: Then Jesus became explicit: "Lazarus died.
15: And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn't there. You're about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let's go to him."
16: That's when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, "Come along. We might as well die with him."
17: When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead.
18: Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away,
19: and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother.
20: Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
21: Martha said, "Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
22: Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you."
23: Jesus said, "Your brother will be raised up."
24: Martha replied, "I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time."
25: "You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live.
26: And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"
27: "Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world."
28: After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, "The Teacher is here and is asking for you."
29: The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him.
30: Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31: When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there.
32: Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, "Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33: When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him.
34: He said, "Where did you put him?Master, come and see," they said.
35: Now Jesus wept.
36: The Jews said, "Look how deeply he loved him."
37: Others among them said, "Well, if he loved him so much, why didn't he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man."
38: Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it.
39: Jesus said, "Remove the stone." The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, "Master, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead four days!"
40: Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41: Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone." They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father, I'm grateful that you have listened to me.
42: I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."
43: Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"
44: And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."
45: That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him.
46: But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus.
47: The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. "What do we do now?" they asked. "This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs.
48: If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have."
49: Then one of them--it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year--spoke up, "Don't you know anything?
50: Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?"
51: He didn't say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation,
52: and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.
53: From that day on, they plotted to kill him.
54: So Jesus no longer went out in public among the Jews. He withdrew into the country bordering the desert to a town called Ephraim and secluded himself there with his disciples.
55: The Jewish Passover was coming up. Crowds of people were making their way from the country up to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the Feast.
56: They were curious about Jesus. There was a lot of talk of him among those standing around in the Temple: "What do you think? Do you think he'll show up at the Feast or not?"
57: Meanwhile, the high priests and Pharisees gave out the word that anyone getting wind of him should inform them. They were all set to arrest him.