Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. 3 So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” 4 When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” 12 So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” 13 But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. 14 So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. 15 And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29 As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 31 So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” 35 And Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” 37 But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”
38 So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” 45 Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
John places this event near the end of Jesus’ public ministry, and everything in the passage shows that it is meant to reveal who Jesus is. Lazarus is seriously ill. His sisters send word to Jesus, not with a demand, but with a simple appeal: “Master, the one you love is ill” (v. 3). The passage makes clear from the start that Jesus truly loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (v. 5). That matters, because what Jesus does next can seem strange. He does not leave at once. He remains where he is for two more days (v. 6).
Jesus explains the meaning of this delay before anyone else can understand it. “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (v. 4). Lazarus will in fact die, but death will not have the final word. The miracle will reveal the glory of God, and it will also set in motion the events that lead to Jesus’ own death. In this way, the raising of Lazarus is not only a mighty sign of life. It also becomes one of the immediate events that leads to Jesus’ death on the Cross.
When Jesus decides to return to Judea, the disciples are alarmed because people there had recently tried to stone him (v. 8). Jesus answers with the image of walking in the day rather than in the night (vv. 9-10). His life and mission are not governed by fear or by human pressure. He walks in the light of the Father’s will, and his “hour” will come only when the Father permits it. Then Jesus tells them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him” (v. 11). As often happens in John’s Gospel, the disciples misunderstand. They think he means ordinary sleep, and so Jesus speaks plainly: “Lazarus has died” (v. 14).
Jesus then adds something striking: “I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe” (v. 15). He is not glad that Lazarus died. He is speaking about what this event will do for the faith of his disciples. A healing would have been wonderful, but the raising of a man already dead for four days would reveal something greater. It would show that Jesus does not only heal sickness. He has authority over death itself.
When Jesus arrives, Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days (v. 17). John gives that detail so no one will think this was an apparent death or a mistake. Lazarus is truly dead. Martha goes out to meet Jesus and says with sorrow and faith together, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). Yet she also says, “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (v. 22). She believes in Jesus, but her faith is still moving toward something deeper.
Jesus tells her, “Your brother will rise” (v. 23). Martha answers with the common Jewish belief in the resurrection on the last day: “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day” (v. 24). Her answer is sound, but Jesus leads her beyond a general belief in a future event to faith in himself. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (vv. 25-26). This is one of the clearest statements in the Gospel. Jesus does not merely teach about resurrection. He places it in himself. He is the source of life now, and he is the one through whom the dead will rise.
Then Jesus asks Martha a direct question: “Do you believe this?” (v. 26). That question is the heart of the passage. Martha answers with a beautiful confession: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (v. 27). Her words gather together truths already revealed in the Gospel, even if she does not yet grasp everything Jesus has just said. Still, her confession is real, and it becomes a model for the reader.
Mary then comes to Jesus, and she says the same words Martha had said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 32). Around her are mourners who accept death as final. Jesus sees her weeping and the others weeping, and John tells us that he “became perturbed and deeply troubled” (v. 33). The language is strong. Jesus is not distant from human sorrow. He is not untouched by the power of death over the people he loves. Then comes the shortest verse in many English Bibles: “And Jesus wept” (v. 35).
These tears matter. Jesus knows he is about to raise Lazarus, yet he still weeps. His tears are not despair. They show his real love for Lazarus and for this family. They also show that the Son of God truly entered our human condition. He does not stand outside grief and speak coldly about it. He enters into the sorrow that death causes. Some who see him say, “See how he loved him” (v. 36). That is true. The passage wants us to see both his divine power and his true humanity. In Jesus, these do not conflict with one another. The one divine Person of the Son truly shares our human love and sorrow, and at the same time acts with divine authority over death.
At the tomb, Jesus commands that the stone be removed (v. 39). Martha hesitates because Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a stench. Her words show how final death seems from a human point of view. Jesus answers, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” (v. 40). Once again, he calls for faith. Then he prays aloud to the Father, not because he needs to be heard, but “because of the crowd here…that they may believe that you sent me” (v. 42). Even his prayer is part of the sign. It shows that what he is about to do comes from his union with the Father and reveals that he is the one sent by the Father.
Then Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come out!” (v. 43). The dead man came out still wrapped in burial cloths, as was the Jewish custom for the dead (v. 44). Jesus then says, “Untie him and let him go” (v. 44). The miracle is described very simply because the emphasis is on the authority of Jesus’ word. He speaks, and death yields. Earlier in the Gospel Jesus said that the hour is coming when those in the tombs will hear his voice (Jn. 5:28-29). Here that promise is dramatically shown in advance. Lazarus comes out because Jesus calls him.
This sign helps explain why the passage fits Lent so well. Lent is a season in which the Church calls us to face the truth about sin, death, and our need for God. This Gospel shows that Christ does not merely comfort us from a distance. He comes to the place of death. He calls for faith. He reveals the glory of God. And he shows that he alone can bring life where human beings can do nothing more. The raising of Lazarus also points forward to Jesus’ own death and resurrection. The miracle brings some to faith, but it also hardens others and leads more directly to the decision to kill him. So this passage belongs naturally in Lent because it turns our eyes toward both the tomb of Lazarus and the Cross of Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ, you wept at the tomb of your friend and showed the tenderness of your human heart. You also revealed that you are the resurrection and the life. Strengthen our faith when sorrow, loss, and death weigh heavily upon us. In this season of Lent, lead us to trust you more deeply, to hear your voice more clearly, and to follow you with greater hope. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Notes on John 11:1–45.
- Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri, eds. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, 183–184.
- Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: St. John. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005, 407–410.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, 969–970, pars. 146–153.
- Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018, 1155–1157.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, and Donald Senior, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully revised ed. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022, 1420–1422.
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