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Author: Stephen Weller
797 words, 4 minutes read time

Introduction to the Death of Lazarus

Scripture: John 11:1-8

With the previous lesson we covered a short section about Jesus and his relationship to children. In that section he uses these children as a metaphor of the humility necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. With this lesson we begin a longer section about the death of Lazarus.

^{Jn 11:1} “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”’

In these three verses we are given the location and people we will meet in this study. The first person identified is Lazarus, who is not feeling well, who has two sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus, Mary and Martha live in the village of Bethany. Looking ahead to verse 18, we are told that Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem. In John 1:28, Bethany is described as being located across the Jordan; a different Bethany than the one in our narrative. Mary and Martha realize that the illness of Lazarus is serious and send a request to Jesus to inform him.

Reference about Mary anointing the Lord is to John 12:3 ESV: “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” This is an event that happen on the last Saturday that Jesus is alive, which will be covered in section 166.

^{Jn 11:4} “But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

The message reaches Jesus and by his comment he must have already known that Lazarus was sick because he speaks about the illness. He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” That statement should alert us that something unusual is going to happen to Lazarus as a result of his illness.

Jesus says the illness will not lead to death, but in verse 13 we are told of his death. Jesus said the illness was for the glory of God, which suggest that something unusual was going to happen and that something is going to involve Jesus in some special way to his glory. We further learn that this unusual event is going to include Jesus (who is to be glorified), Lazarus (who is sick and is going to die even though Jesus said he wouldn’t), and his two sisters, Mary and Martha; three people that Jesus loved.

^{Lk 11:6} “So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”’

In previous lessons we were with Jesus as he left Galilee and headed toward Perea to a location east of the Jordan River and north of the Dead Sea. That would have placed Jesus about 21 miles directly east of Jerusalem; probably a two day walk.

After hearing that Lazarus was ill, he remains in the place where he was. Hearing that Lazarus was ill, Jesus could have spoken a word of healing and sent the messenger back with a greeting for those he loved, but he didn’t. He did nothing to help Lazarus and it appears that he died at about the time Jesus received the message. (This will be explained in a future lesson.) After two days, Jesus informed his disciples that they were going to Judea again; information that did not sit well with them.

^{Jn 11:8} “The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”’

In John 8:59 ESV: “they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”; and in John 10:31 ESV: “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.” Again, the disciples are trying to understand Jesus; why would he want to risk his life and go back, and what about danger to them?

Conclusion

Having established the locations and names and relationships of people involved, we are ready to travel to Bethany and see how Jesus plans to bring glory to himself.