![]() ![]() All three of them were disciples of Jesus, and loved to serve Him. John says that Jesus loved all three members of the household (verse 5). They loved Him and provided an atmosphere that brought a sense of serenity to their best Friend. Their home was always open to the Lord Jesus. Lazarus, and Mary and Martha, provided a home for Jesus when He ministered in the Jerusalem area. When introducing the great miracle described in chapter 11, John identifies the man who died by giving his name, the place where he lived, and his connection with others who are named in the account (verses 1-2). The Bible teaches that victory over the fear of death can be found through faith in Jesus Christ. They shrink from death because they are not sure what they will encounter in the process. Many people today live in fear of death, because for them death is the end of their pleasures in life. Unless the return of Jesus to the earth occurs very soon, every human being will eventually face death. Sickness tends to draw our affections away from the world to center them on things above. Illness is permitted in our lives because it often leads to spiritual growth. Sickness is not necessarily a sign that God is displeased with us. The Illness and Death of Lazarus (John 11:1-16) This event occurred just before the time of our Lord’s crucifixion in Jerusalem. ![]() The raising of Lazarus from the tomb, after he had been dead four days, was the greatest of Jesus’ miracles recorded by John. Burial in Bible times was usually done without embalming, and it often occurred the same day as the death. Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick and likely died before the message about his illness ever reached Jesus. We never discussed it or made any preparation for it.” One wife sadly said, following her husband’s death, “You would have thought that we never expected to die. If they have not occurred yet, they will in the future. And barring the soon return of Christ, sickness and death will eventually come to every home. In the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John, we learn that sickness and death had come to the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus at Bethany. The Pharisees Plotted to Kill Jesus (John 11:45-57) Lazarus Brought Out of the Grave (John 11:38-44) The Conversation with Martha and Mary (John 11:17-37) John clearly saw the Lazarus event as the last great deed Jesus performed as proof of his divinity before his arrest and crucifixion. ![]() However, Luke’s account of this event is much briefer than John’s Lazarus story, and it happens much earlier in Jesus’ life. In Luke 7:14-15, Jesus raises the dead son of a widow, with the wording of Luke (‘And he that was dead sat up’) being echoed by John’s ‘And he that was dead came forth’. Whatever the truth of it, there are examples elsewhere in the Gospels of Jesus raising the dead. It’s possible (as the authors of the Dictionary of the Bible suggest) that John is expanding the parable of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke’s gospel (in which Lazarus, the humble beggar, goes to heaven but the rich man does not). But only John mentions the story of Jesus raising Lazarus (the other one) from the dead. Luke (chapter 16) tells of Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but this Lazarus (a beggar) isn’t the one whom Jesus raised from the dead. They appear to have been different people. ![]()
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