John 11

Introduction

John 11 is the pivot of the Gospel. The raising of Lazarus is the seventh and greatest of Jesus' signs, a deliberate escalation of all that came before — from water to wine, from sight restored to life given back from the grave. It is also the sign that seals Jesus' own death: the Sanhedrin convenes directly afterward and decides he must die. John's structural irony is precise: the sign that gives life to one man becomes the occasion for the decision to end Jesus' own life.

The chapter is also one of the most emotionally rich in the Gospel. We see Jesus deliberately delaying while a friend dies, facing the disciples' fear of returning to Judea, conducting two remarkably different conversations with the two sisters, and then weeping at the tomb. The scene culminates in the loudest command in the Gospel — "Lazarus, come out!" — and the man who had been dead for four days walks out bound in burial cloths. Everything in this chapter — the love, the grief, the power, the plot — points forward to what is about to happen in Jerusalem.

The Death of Lazarus (vv. 1–16)

Notes

The sisters' message to Jesus in v. 3 uses the verb φιλεῖς — "the one you love (as a friend)." In v. 5, the narrator says Jesus loved (ἠγάπα) Martha, her sister, and Lazarus — using ἀγαπάω. John uses both verbs for Jesus' love without apparent theological distinction in this passage; both describe genuine, deep affection. The sisters' appeal is entirely relational: they do not ask Jesus to come or to heal; they simply tell him the situation and trust his response.

The two-day delay in v. 6 is jarring. John explicitly says Jesus loved them — and therefore delayed. The logic seems backward. But the "therefore" (οὖν) is intentional: the delay is an expression of love, not indifference. Jesus knows what he will do; the delay serves the greater revelation, and the greater revelation serves the disciples' faith and the Father's glory. Four days in the tomb (v. 17) was significant: Jewish tradition held that the soul lingered near the body for three days, after which decomposition made resurrection impossible. By waiting until the fourth day, Jesus ensures there is no ambiguity about what has happened.

Jesus' euphemism — "fallen asleep" (κεκοίμηται) — is the origin of the Christian use of "sleep" for death (and of the word "cemetery," from Greek κοιμητήριον, "sleeping place"). The disciples misunderstand, as happens repeatedly in John when Jesus speaks on multiple levels. He clarifies: Lazarus has died (ἀπέθανεν).

Thomas's remark in v. 16 — "let us also go, that we may die with him" — is the darkest kind of loyalty: he has no confidence they will survive, but he will go anyway. His courage is real, if grim. John introduces him here with a note that will matter later: he is called "the Twin" (Δίδυμος), the Greek translation of the Aramaic Thomas. He will appear again at the resurrection, the disciple who must touch to believe.

Martha's Confession (vv. 17–27)

Notes

Martha's opening — "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" — is grief that knows enough to be grief. She does not accuse; she simply states the fact of his absence and its consequence. Her second sentence is remarkable: "even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." She holds the loss and a residual hope in the same breath, without quite naming what she hopes for.

Jesus responds with a statement that could be heard as conventional comfort — "your brother will rise again" — and Martha hears it that way: resurrection at the last day. This is standard Pharisaic theology, the belief in bodily resurrection at the end of the age (cf. Daniel 12:2). She knows the doctrine; she does not yet know that the resurrection is standing in front of her.

The fifth "I AM" predicate: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή — "I am the resurrection and the life." This is not a claim to control resurrection or to be its agent; it is a claim to be its source and substance. The resurrection is not a future event that Jesus can deliver; it is a present reality that he is. The promise that follows works on two levels: physical death is not the final word for those who believe; and the life Jesus gives is of a quality that transcends physical death altogether.

Martha's confession in v. 27 is one of the great faith statements of the Gospel, placed here rather than at Caesarea Philippi as in the Synoptics. She confesses three things: Christ (Messiah), Son of God, and the one coming into the world — the full Johannine Christological package. This confession is explicitly invited by Jesus' question ("Do you believe this?") and comes before the miracle, not after. It is faith preceding sight.

Jesus Weeps (vv. 28–37)

Notes

Mary's words are identical to Martha's: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." The same grief, the same sentence — but Mary delivers it prostrate at Jesus' feet, surrounded by the mourning crowd. The emotional register is different. What Martha said in private conversation, Mary says through tears in public.

The Greek of v. 33 is one of the most debated verses in the Gospel: ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι καὶ ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν. The verb ἐμβριμάομαι is rare and strong — its root meaning involves a horse snorting. It typically connotes deep agitation, indignation, or stern emotion rather than simple sadness. Some commentators see righteous anger at death itself, or at the unbelief around him; others see it as the intense inward groaning of grief. The BSB's "deeply moved" is one option; "indignant in spirit" (BSB footnote) captures the force better. He is not quietly sad; something in him surges violently.

The second verb, ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν — "he troubled himself" — describes deep interior disturbance. This is the same root used of Jesus' soul being troubled in John 12:27 and John 13:21. The perfect humanity of Jesus is on full display here: the one who just declared himself to be the resurrection and the life is moved to agitation and tears by human death.

"Jesus wept" — ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. At two words in Greek and three in English, it is the shortest verse in the Bible. The verb δακρύω denotes quiet weeping — tears running — different from the loud wailing (κλαίω) of the mourners. It is the weeping of someone present in the grief, not performing it. This is the God who weeps at the tomb of a friend.

The Raising of Lazarus (vv. 38–44)

Notes

Martha's protest — "Lord, by now he stinks" (ἤδη ὄζει) — is one of the most startlingly human lines in the Gospel. The word ὄζει is blunt: he smells. She is not being faithless; she is being realistic in the most ordinary, physical way. Four days means decomposition has begun. This is not a coma. This is not the near-death of Jairus's daughter. The stench is the point: what happens next happens in the face of the irreversible.

Jesus' prayer in vv. 41–42 is unusual — a public, spoken prayer, addressed not to ask for what he needs but to make the divine source of what is about to happen audible to those standing around. He is not praying to inform the Father; he says explicitly that the Father always hears him. The prayer is pedagogical, directed outward: "so that they may believe that you sent me." The miracle will be undeniable; Jesus ensures that its meaning is tied to his relationship with the Father, not merely to his own mysterious power.

The command Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω — "Lazarus, come out!" — is notable in its specificity. Augustine observed that Jesus called Lazarus by name: had he said simply "come out," every dead person in the vicinity would have emerged. The single, named call will one day become the universal summons of John 5:28-29: "all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out." This is the dress rehearsal.

The man comes out still bound — hands and feet wrapped, face covered — and Jesus instructs them: "Unbind him and let him go." The community participates in completing the restoration. Jesus gives the life; others help remove what remains of death's wrappings.

The Plot to Kill Jesus (vv. 45–57)

Notes

The Sanhedrin's deliberation in vv. 47–48 is pragmatic and political: the signs are too numerous to deny, and popular belief in Jesus threatens to bring Roman intervention. "Our place and our nation" ὁ τόπος, likely referring to the temple) and τὸ ἔθνος, the nation) — represent everything the leaders are trying to preserve. Their fear is not irrational; Roman response to messianic movements was typically violent. What they cannot see is that the one they are eliminating is the only hope for what they are trying to preserve.

Caiaphas's statement — "it is better that one man should die for the people than that the whole nation should perish" — is one of John's richest ironies. As high priest, Caiaphas speaks better than he knows. John explicitly calls it prophecy (ἐπροφήτευσεν): the high priest's office carries prophetic authority, and God speaks through him despite his murderous intent. The content of his prophecy is the exact theological truth of the atonement — one dying for the many — though Caiaphas means it as political calculation. And the scope, John notes, is wider than Caiaphas imagined: not only for the nation, but to gather into one the scattered children of God — the "other sheep" of John 10:16.

The Passover crowd's nervous question — "will he come to the feast at all?" — creates the suspense that will carry into chapter 12. The whole city is watching.