Lazarus Dies at Bethany

11 Now a man was sick—Lazarus from Bethany,^(A) the village of Mary and her sister Martha.^{(B) 2} Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,^(C) and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. ³ So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God,^(D) so that the Son of God^(E) may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea^(F) again.”

⁸ “Rabbi,”^(G) the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you,^(H) and you’re going there again?”

⁹ “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.^{(I) 10} But if anyone walks during the night,^(J) he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”

¹¹ He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,^(K) but I’m on my way to wake him up.”

¹² Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

¹³ Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. ¹⁵ I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas^(L) (called “Twin”^[a]) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”

The Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb^(M) four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem^(N) (less than two miles^[b] away). ¹⁹ Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

²⁰ As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. ²² Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³ “Your brother will rise^(O) again,” Jesus told her.

²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”^(P)

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am^(Q) the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me,^(R) even if he dies, will live.^{(S) 26} Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.^(T) Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah,^(U) the Son^(V) of God, who comes into the world.”^(W)

Jesus Shares the Sorrow of Death

²⁸ Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹ As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.^{(X) 30} Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb^(Y) to cry there.

³² As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet^(Z) and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!”

³³ When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved^[c] in his spirit^(AA) and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you put him?” he asked.

“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”

³⁵ Jesus wept.^(AB)

³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved^(AC) him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes^(AD) also have kept this man from dying?”

The Seventh Sign: Raising Lazarus from the Dead

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.^{(AE) 39} “Remove the stone,” Jesus said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”

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

⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank^(AH) you that you heard me.^{(AI) 42} I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent^(AJ) me.” ⁴³ After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.^{(AK) 46} But some of them went to the Pharisees^(AL) and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin^(AM) and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans^(AN) will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹ One of them, Caiaphas,^(AO) who was high priest^(AP) that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You’re not considering that it is to your^[d] advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”^{(AQ) 51} He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die^(AR) for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children^(AS) of God. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to kill him.^(AT)

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer walked openly^(AU) among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,^(AV) to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Jewish Passover^(AW) was near, and many went up to Jerusalem^(AX) from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple,^(AY) “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival,^(AZ) will he?” ⁵⁷ The chief priests^(BA) and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees approached,^(A) and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.^{(B) 2} He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You^[a] know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times.^{[b] 4} An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of^[c] Jonah.”^(C) Then he left them and went away.

⁵ The disciples reached the other shore,^[d] and they had forgotten to take bread. ⁶ Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven^[e] of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”^(D)

⁷ They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸ Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith,^(E) why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? ⁹ Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected?^{(F) 11} Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?”^{(G) 12} Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.^(H)

Peter’s Confession of the Messiah

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi,^[f](I) he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”^[g]

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”^(J)

¹⁵ “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”^(K)

¹⁷ Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,^[h](L) because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.^{(M) 18} And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,^(N) and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,^(O) and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound^[i] in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed^[j] in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one that he was^[k] the Messiah.^(P)

His Death and Resurrection Predicted

²¹ From^(Q) then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.^{(R) 22} Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Oh no,^[l] Lord! This will never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns^[m] but human concerns.”^(S)

Take Up Your Cross

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.^{(T) 25} For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.^{(U) 26} For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?^{(V) 27} For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father,^(W) and then he will reward each according to what he has done. ²⁸ Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”^(X)