“So He departed again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and He remained there. Many came to Him and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many believed in Him there.”, John 10:40-42 HCSB
“Now a man was sick, Lazarus, from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent a message to Him: “Lord, the one You love is sick.” When Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after that, He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” “Rabbi,” the disciples told Him, “just now the Jews tried to stone You, and You’re going there again? ” “Aren’t there 12 hours in a day? ” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. If anyone walks during the
night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.” He said this, and then He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on My way to wake him up.” Then the disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought He was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.””, John 11:1-15 HCSB
“Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go so that we may die with Him.””, John 11:16 HCSB
- Seems as though Lazarus was really loved by his sisters, Jesus, and Jesus’ disciples. He must have been a righteous man?
“When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.”, John 11:17 HCSB
- That’s a long time to be dead! Where was Lazarus’ soul during these four days?
“Bethany was near Jerusalem (about two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.”, John 11:18-19 HCSB
- Lazarus must have been a popular man. The Jews knew that Mary was a prostitute yet many of them came from Jerusalem and comforted her and Martha about Lazarus.
“As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die — ever. Do you believe this? ” “Yes, Lord,” she told Him, “I believe You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.””, John 11:20-27 HCSB
- What does it mean that Jesus is the resurrection and the life?