John 11:23–57

²³Jesus said, “Your brother will rise and live again.”

²⁴Martha answered, “I know that he will rise and live again in the resurrection ⁿ on the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will have life even if they die. ²⁶And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?”

²⁷Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the One coming to the world.”

Jesus Cries

²⁸After Martha said this, she went back and talked to her sister Mary alone. Martha said, “The Teacher is here and he is asking for you.” ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. ³⁰Jesus had not yet come into the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews were with Mary in the house, comforting her. When they saw her stand and leave quickly, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to cry there.

³²But Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw Mary crying and the Jews who came with her also crying, he was upset and was deeply troubled. ³⁴He asked, “Where did you bury him?”

“Come and see, Lord,” they said.

³⁵Jesus cried.

³⁶So the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.”

³⁷But some of them said, “If Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man, why couldn’t he keep Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus

³⁸Again feeling very upset, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a large stone covering the entrance. ³⁹Jesus said, “Move the stone away.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “But, Lord, it has been four days since he died. There will be a bad smell.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. ⁴²I know that you always hear me, but I said these things because of the people here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me.” ⁴³After Jesus said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with pieces of cloth, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take the cloth off of him and let him go.”

The Plan to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵Many of the people, who had come to visit Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him. ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the council. They asked, “What should we do? This man is doing many miracles. ⁴⁸If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our Temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹One of the men there was Caiaphas, the high priest that year. He said, “You people know nothing! ⁵⁰You don’t realize that it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

⁵¹Caiaphas did not think of this himself. As high priest that year, he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for their nation ⁵²and for God’s scattered children to bring them all together and make them one.

⁵³That day they started planning to kill Jesus. ⁵⁴So Jesus no longer traveled openly among the people. He left there and went to a place near the desert, to a town called Ephraim and stayed there with his followers.

⁵⁵It was almost time for the Passover Feast. Many from the country went up to Jerusalem before the Passover to do the special things to make themselves pure. ⁵⁶The people looked for Jesus and stood in the Temple asking each other, “Is he coming to the Feast? What do you think?” ⁵⁷But the leading priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must tell them. Then they could arrest him.