John 11

₁A man with the name of Lazarus was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. ₂Mary was the woman who had poured perfume on the Lord's feet and dried his feet with her hair. But now her brother Lazarus was sick. ₃The 2 sisters sent someone to tell Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Jesus loved Lazarus very much. ₄When they told Jesus that Lazarus was sick, He said: ‘Lazarus will not die from this sickness. God will use this sickness to show that He is God. Then people will see that I, the Son of God, am also God.’

₅Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ₆When they told Jesus that Lazarus was sick, He stayed for 2 days at the place where He was. ₇Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘We must go back to Judea now.’

₈His disciples said: ‘Rabbi, the Jews in Judea want to kill You with stones. Why do You want to go back there now?’ ₉Jesus said: ‘There are 12 hours in a day. If you walk in the day you will not fall because you see the light of the sun, the light of this world. ₁₀But if you walk in the night, then you will fall because there is no light.’

₁₁Then Jesus said: ‘Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. I am going to wake him up.’ ₁₂The disciples said to Him: ‘Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.’ ₁₃(But when Jesus said Lazarus was sleeping, He meant that Lazarus was dead. The disciples thought Jesus was speaking of sleep like we all sleep at night). ₁₄Then Jesus told them: ‘Lazarus is dead. ₁₅I am glad I was not there when Lazarus died. What I am going to do will help you believe. Let us go to him now.’

₁₆Thomas was one of the disciples. His other name was the Twin. He said to the other disciples: ‘Come, let us go with Jesus so that we can die with Him.’

₁₇When Jesus came into the town of Bethany, they told Him that Lazarus was dead and that his body had been in the tomb for 4 days. ₁₈The town of Bethany was near Jerusalem, about 15 stadioi from Jerusalem. ₁₉A lot of Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them because their brother Lazarus had died. ₂₀When they told Martha that Jesus was coming, she went to Him to welcome Him, but Mary stayed in the house. ₂₁Martha said to Jesus: ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died ₂₂but I know that God will do everything that You ask Him, even if You ask Him now.’

₂₃Jesus said to her: ‘Your brother will live again.’ ₂₄Martha said to Jesus: ‘I know he will rise and live again on the last day when God will make all the dead people live again.’

₂₅Jesus said to her: ‘I am the One who gives resurrection and eternal_life to people. People who believe in Me and die will live. ₂₆Everyone who lives and believes in Me will not stay dead. Do you believe what I am telling you?’ ₂₇Martha said to Him: ‘Yes, Lord, I believe You are the Christ, the Son of God. I believe You are the One that God has sent to the world.’

₂₈After Martha said this, she went back home. She called her sister Mary and talked to her alone and said: ‘The Teacher is here and He wants to see you.’

₂₉When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. ₃₀Jesus was standing outside the town where Martha had talked to Him. ₃₁There were some Jews with Mary in the house to comfort her. When they saw Mary going out of the house so quickly, they thought she was going to the tomb of Lazarus to cry and they went with her. ₃₂Mary went to the place where Jesus was standing and she knelt before Him. She said to Him: ‘Lord, if You had been here when my brother was sick, then my brother would not have died.’

₃₃When Jesus saw Mary and the other Jews crying, He also started to cry. Jesus was very sad and upset. ₃₄He asked: ‘Where did you bury Lazarus?’

They said to Him: ‘Lord, come, and we will show You.’

₃₅Jesus cried. ₃₆The Jews said: ‘Look, Jesus is crying. He loved Lazarus very much.’

₃₇Some Jews said: ‘Jesus healed the blind man. Why didn't He heal Lazarus?’

₃₈When Jesus came to the tomb, He became very sad again. The tomb was a cave and there was a stone in front of the door. ₃₉Jesus told them to roll away the stone. Martha, Lazarus' sister, said to Jesus: ‘No, Lord, we can not do that. Lazarus has been dead for 4 days and it will smell bad.’ ₄₀Jesus said to her: ‘I told you to believe, and then you will see how God shows that He is God.’

₄₁The Jews rolled away the stone. Jesus looked up to heaven and He said: ‘Father, thank You that You listen to my prayer. ₄₂I know that You always listen to my prayers but I am saying this so that the people here with Me can believe that You have sent Me to the world.’

₄₃When Jesus had finished praying, He shouted_loudly and said: ‘Lazarus, come out of the tomb.’

₄₄Lazarus, the man who had been dead, came out of the tomb. There were pieces_of_cloth around his hands and around his feet. There was also a piece of cloth around his face. Jesus said to them: ‘Take off all the cloths and let him go.’

₄₅A lot of Jews who had come to Mary saw how Jesus made Lazarus live again and they believed in Jesus. ₄₆But some of the Jews went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ₄₇The chief_priests and Pharisees came together and talked. They said: ‘What can we do? Jesus is doing more and more miracles. ₄₈If we don't do something to stop Him, all the people will believe in Him. Then the Romans will destroy our temple and our nation.’

₄₉Caiaphas was the high-priest that year. He said: ‘You do not understand the problem. ₅₀You must know: It is better for one Man to die for all the people than for all the people of the nation to be destroyed.’

₅₁The words that Caiaphas said did not come from himself. He was the high-priest that year and God gave him the words to say what would happen. Caiaphas said that Jesus would die so that the Jewish nation could live. ₅₂But Jesus did not die only so that the Jewish nation could live. He died for all the children of God, to bring together God's children in many lands of the world. ₅₃From that day the Jewish_leaders made plans to kill Jesus. ₅₄In the province of Judea all the Jews knew where Jesus was. So He did not stay there. He went to the town of Ephraim near the desert. He stayed there with his disciples.

₅₅It was time for the Jewish Passover and a lot of people went to Jerusalem. They went before the Passover started, to wash and make themselves ready for the feast. ₅₆The people started to look for Jesus. In the temple they asked each other: ‘What do you think? Will Jesus come to the Passover or will He not?’

₅₇The chief_priests and Pharisees told all the people: ‘If you know where Jesus is, you must tell us. We want to arrest Him.’