Read the Gospels in 40 Days
Jesus Raises Lazarus
11 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the same Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.
3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick!”
4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not going to result in death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the place where he was two more days.
7 Then afterwards he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, recently the Jews were trying to stone you. And you are going back there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks around during the day, he does not stumble because he sees this world’s light. 10 But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles because there is no light on him.”
11 He said this and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 Then the disciples said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”
13 Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought he was merely talking about ordinary sleep. 14 So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (called the Twin[a]) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too, so that we may die with him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.
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 from God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26 And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.[b] Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe[c] that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
28 After she said this, Martha went back to call her sister Mary. She whispered, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet gone into the village, but was still where Martha met him. 31 The Jews who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw that she got up quickly and left. So they followed her, supposing[d] 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, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.
34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been 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.
Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”
The Plot
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. They asked, “What are we going to do, because this man is doing many miraculous signs? 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 You do not even consider that it is better for us[e] that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not only for that nation, but also in order to gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 So from that day on they plotted to kill him. 54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked about openly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew into a region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim. And he stayed there with his disciples.
55 The Jewish Passover was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple area, “What do you think? He certainly won’t come to the Festival, will he?” 57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should report it so that they could arrest Jesus.
Mary Anoints Jesus
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, who had died, the one Jesus raised from the dead. 2 They gave a dinner for him there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
3 Then Mary took about twelve ounces[f] of very expensive perfume (pure nard) and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray him, said, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii[g] and given to the poor?” 6 He did not say this because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. He held the money box and used to steal what was put into it.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She intended to keep this for the day of my burial. 8 Indeed, the poor you always have with you, but you are not always going to have me.”
9 A large crowd of the Jews learned that he was there. They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too, 11 because it was on account of him that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.
The King Comes to Jerusalem
12 The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 Taking palm branches, they went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”[h]
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:
15 Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look! Your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.[i]
16 At first, his disciples did not understand these things. But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they did these things for him.
17 The crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept telling what they had seen. 18 This is another reason a crowd met him: They heard he had done this miraculous sign.
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You are accomplishing nothing. Look! The world has gone after him.”
Death and Glory
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew came with Philip and told Jesus.
23 Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this world will hold on to it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, this is the reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again.”
29 The crowd standing there heard it and said it thundered. Others said an angel talked to him. 30 Jesus answered, “This voice was not for my sake but for yours.
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 He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.
34 The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Scriptures that the Christ will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
35 Then Jesus told them, “The light will be with you just a little while longer. Keep on walking while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.”
Jesus spoke these words, and then went away and was hidden from them.
37 Even though Jesus had done so many miraculous signs in their presence, they still did not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said:
Lord, who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?[j]
39 For this reason they could not believe, because Isaiah also said:
40 He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
so that they would not see with their eyes,
or understand with their heart,
or turn—and I would heal them.[k]
41 Isaiah said these things when[l] he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
42 Nevertheless, even many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing him, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. 43 For they loved praise from people more than praise from God.
44 Then Jesus called out, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me only, but in him who sent me. 45 And the one who sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words but does not hold on to them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words does have a judge. The word which I spoke is what will judge him on the Last Day, 49 because I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command regarding what I am to say and what I am to speak. 50 And I know that his command is eternal life. So the things I speak are exactly what the Father told me to speak.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.