Read the Gospels in 40 Days

Lazarus Dies

11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) ³ So the sisters sent word^[a] to him, saying, “Lord, behold, the one whom you love is sick.” ⁴ And when he^[b] heard it,^[c] Jesus said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, in order 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 sick, then he remained in the place where^[d] he was two days.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were seeking just now to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus replied, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks around in the daylight, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks around in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. ¹¹ He said these things, and after this he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I can awaken him.” ¹² So the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” ¹³ (Now Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was speaking about real sleep.^[e]) ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sake^[f] that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Then Thomas (the one who is called Didymus)^[g] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go also, so that we may die with him.”

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ So when he^[h] arrived, Jesus found he had already been four days in the tomb. ¹⁸ (Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia.^{[i] 19} So many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their^[j] brother.) ²⁰ Now Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. ²¹ So Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even^[k] now I know that whatever you ask God, God will grant you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die forever.^[l] Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

Jesus Weeps

²⁸ And when she^[m] had said this, she went and called her sister Mary privately, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ So that one, when she heard it,^[n] got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ (Now Jesus has not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha went to meet him.) ³¹ So the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they^[o] saw Mary—that she stood up quickly and went out—followed her, because they^[p] thought that she was going to the tomb in order to weep there.

³² Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and^[q] saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within himself. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews were saying, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Was not this man who opened the eyes of the blind able to do something^[r] so that this man also would not have died?”

Lazarus Is Raised

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved within himself again, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying on it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, “Lord, he is stinking already, because it has been four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his^[s] eyes above and said, “Father, I give thanks to you that you hear me. ⁴² And I know that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it,^[t] so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ And when he^[u] had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The one who had died came out, his^[v] feet and his^[w] hands bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped with a facecloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

The Jewish Leaders Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Then many of the Jews who had come with Mary and saw the things which he did believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs! ⁴⁸ If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place^[x] and our^[y] nation.”

⁴⁹ But a certain one of them, Caiaphas (who was high priest in that year), said to them, “You do not know anything at all! ⁵⁰ Nor do you consider that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and the whole nation not perish.” ⁵¹ (Now he did not say this from himself, but being high priest in that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also that the children of God who are scattered would be gathered into one.) ⁵³ So from that day they resolved that they should kill him. ⁵⁴ So Jesus was no longer walking openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the surrounding country before the Passover, so that they could purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they were looking for Jesus, and were speaking with one another while^[z] standing in the temple courts,^[aa] “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?” ⁵⁷ (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, they should report it,^[ab] in order that they could arrest him.)

Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany

12 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they made him a dinner there, and Martha was serving, but Lazarus was one of the ones reclining at table with him. ³ Then Mary took a pound^[ac] of ointment of very valuable genuine nard and^[ad] anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was going to betray him) said, ⁵ “Why^[ae] was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶ (Now he said this not because he was concerned^[af] about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.)^{[ag] 7} So Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my preparation for burial. ⁸ For you have the poor with you always, but you do not always have me.”

The Decision to Kill Lazarus

⁹ Now a large crowd^[ah] of Jews found out that he was there, and they came, not only because of Jesus, but so that they could see Lazarus also, whom he raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests decided that they would kill Lazarus also, ¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jews were going and believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹² On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they^[ai] heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³ took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, and began crying out,

¹⁴ So Jesus found a young donkey and^[ak] sat on it, just as it is written,

¹⁶ (His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and they did these things to him.) ¹⁷ So the crowd who was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify. ¹⁸ Because of this also the crowd went to meet him, for they had heard that he had performed this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing! Behold, the world has gone after him.”

Greeks Seeking Jesus

²⁰ Now some Greeks were among those who had gone up in order to worship at the feast. ²¹ So these approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and began asking him saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³ And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man will be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and^[am] dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵ The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world preserves it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Jesus Predicts His Death

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour’? But for this reason I have come to this hour! ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have both glorified it,^[an] and I will glorify it^[ao] again.” ²⁹ Now the crowd that stood there and heard it^[ap] said it had thundered.^[aq] Others were saying, “An angel has spoken to him!” ³⁰ Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not happened for my sake, but for your sake. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world! Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out! ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ (Now he said this to indicate by what sort of death he was going to die.)

³⁴ Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever!^[ar] And how do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “Yet a little time the light is with you! Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness does not overtake you! And the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light.” Jesus said these things, and then he went away and^[as] was hidden from them.

The People Still Refuse to Believe

³⁷ But as many signs as he had performed before them, they did not believe in him, ³⁸ in order that the word of the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled, who said,

³⁹ For this reason they were not able to believe, because again Isaiah said,

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him.

⁴² Yet despite that, even many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it,^[ax] so that they would not be expelled from the synagogue. ⁴³ For they loved the praise of men more than praise from God.

Jesus’ Final Public Appeal

⁴⁴ But Jesus cried out and said, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me, ⁴⁵ and the one who sees me sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as a light into the world, in order that everyone who believes in me will not remain in the darkness. ⁴⁷ And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,^[ay] I will not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has one who judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me^[az] what I should say and what I should speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So the things that I say, just as the Father said to me, thus I say.”