John 11 - The King James Study Bible

11:1–44. The raising of Lazarus from the dead is the last and greatest miracle during the active ministry of Jesus. The locale is the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, in Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

11:2. Mary: Compare this with 12:3.

11:4. Glorified: Compare this with 9:3.

11:5. Jesus loved (Gr. agapaō): In verse 3 the sisters (and the Jews in v. 36) suggest that He loves Lazarus. The stronger word (agapaō) indicates Jesus loves them more than anyone knew.

11:6. Why does Jesus linger two days? He is “beyond the Jordan” where John baptized (10:40) and not in Judea (v. 7). The journey to Bethany would require about one day. (It was approximately 18 miles minimum.) A summary of the four days helps answer the above question:

On the first day, the messenger travels from Bethany east across the Jordan to find Jesus. The next two days Jesus lingers (v. 6). On the fourth day Jesus travels west across the Jordan to Bethany. Since Lazarus had already lain in the grave four days when Jesus arrived (vv. 17,39), he must have already been in his grave when the messenger reached Jesus at the end of the first day. (Jews normally buried a person on the day of the death.) Thus, Jesus did not tarry two days waiting for Lazarus to die.

Some Jews apparently believed that the soul hovered near a body for three days hoping to reinhabit the body. By the fourth day they believed the soul abandoned hope and left. Perhaps Jesus tarried two days so that the resurrection would take place after the fourth day—and convince even those who felt His earlier resurrection miracles could be explained by this theory about the soul. (The others had taken place shortly after death, or in the case of the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7, and Jairus’s daughter in Matthew 9, apparently on the very day of death.)

11:11. Death is often compared to sleep (cf. Matt. 9:24; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; 1 Thess. 4:13–17), but this euphemism applies only to believers.

11:16. Die with him refers to with Jesus, not Lazarus. The Jews in Judea had tried to kill Jesus on His previous visits (7:1,19,25; 8:37,40,59; 10:31,39). Didymus means “Twin.” Perhaps Thomas was a twin brother of Matthew since they appear together in lists of the apostles. See Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15.

11:18,19. Jews from Jerusalem are present on this occasion. Some were enemies of Jesus. This explains why Martha called Mary “secretly” (v. 28). Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem.

11:25. I am the resurrection is one of Jesus’ greatest “I am” statements, signifying His power to give eternal life.

11:35. Jesus wept: The verb wept is used only here in the New Testament, meaning a shedding of tears, a deep grief (cf. Heb. 5:7). Although Jesus was God, He was also Man. John recognizes and records this expression of a very human emotion. He affirms the full humanity of Christ as well as His deity. John is not a Docetist, one who believes Jesus was merely a phantom.

11:45–48. The Pharisees had tried to kill Jesus on several occasions, always by the orthodox Jewish method of stoning. The Sadducees were willing to accomplish it through their political union with the Roman power. Thus prophecy was fulfilled (Ps. 22:1–18). Of course the Sadducees were particularly agitated by Lazarus’s resurrection, since they did not believe in the resurrection. However, their main concern with Jesus was that He might cause a messianic uprising (v. 48). Unlike the Pharisees, their interests were political, not theological: blasphemy or healing on the Sabbath did not particularly disturb them.

11:49–52. Caiaphas (high priest, A.D. 18–36) prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and would also reach the Gentiles (cf. 10:16).