Lazarus – John 11:1-46

The Story in a Nutshell

The story continues…

A man named Lazarus lived in the town of Bethany in Judea with his sisters Mary and Martha.  Lazarus became very sick, so his sisters sent Jesus a message for him to come and heal Lazarus.

Jesus got the message, but he didn’t come.  Why not?  Jesus said that Lazarus was not going to die and that his sickness was for the glory of God.  Further, Jesus said that he, the Son of God, would receive glory from all this.  Jesus stayed where he was for two days then said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea and see Lazarus, Mary, and Martha..  Lazarus is sleeping there.

“You’re crazy!” they said.  “The Jewish leaders in Judea want to kill you and you want to go back?  And besides, Lazarus is only sleeping.  That’s a good sign for he must be getting better.”

Then Jesus said clearly to the disciples.  “Lazarus is not sleeping.  He is dead!”

When Jesus and the disciples arrived in Bethany Lazarus had been in the grave four days; many people were there mourning his death.  Martha said to Jesus, “If you had come earlier my brother would not have died.  But even now God will do whatever you ask him to do.”

Jesus said to Martha, “Lazarus will rise again.”  “I know,” said Martha.  “But that’s on resurrection day when everyone else rises.”

Jesus continued, “I am the resurrection and the life, everyone that believes in me will die, but they will rise again to have eternal life.”  Do you believe that?”  “Yes”, replied Martha.  “I have always believed that you are the Messiah.”  Then Martha left and went to see Mary.  When she saw Mary she said, “Mary, Jesus wants to see you.”

So, Mary headed out and went to Jesus.  She fell at his feet and said, “If you had come earlier my brother would not have died.”   It was the same thing Martha had said.

When Jesus saw how sad Mary and the others were he was deeply moved and troubled.  He said to Mary, “Where have you put Lazarus?”  “I will show you,” she said.  Then Jesus wept.

When Jesus, Mary, and the others arrived at the grave there was a stone across the entrance.  Jesus told them to roll it away.  “That’s not a good idea,” said Mary.  “Lazarus has been dead four days and the stink will be terrible.” 

Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that through Lazarus’ sickness you will see the glory of God if you believe?” 
With that the stone was rolled away and Jesus looked up toward heaven.  He said, “Thank you, Father, for hearing me. I am saying this out loud for everyone to here, so they will know that you sent me to heal Lazarus.”   Then with a loud voice Jesus said, “Lazarus, come out!”  And Lazarus came out of the grave wrapped in grave clothes.  Then Jesus said, “Unwrap him and set him free!”

To be continued…

What did you learn from the story?

If you want to gain a full understanding of the complete story, and for help in answering some of the questions below, you may want to have the following items as additional resources:  a Bible, a dictionary, and a Bible commentary on the Book of John (optional).

1. When the story began, where was Lazarus living and with whom?
2. What happened to Lazarus?
3. What did Mary and Martha do?
4. What did Jesus do after he got the message?
5. Jesus told the disciples three things.  What were they?
6. The disciples didn’t want to go back to Judea.  Why not?
7. What did Jesus mean when he said Lazarus was sleeping?
8. How long had Lazarus been dead when Jesus arrived?
9. What did Martha say to Jesus?
10.  What did Jesus say back to Martha?
11.  What did Martha think Jesus meant?
12. When Jesus saw that Martha misunderstood what he had said, what did he tell her?
13. When Mary met up with Jesus what two things did she do?
14. When Jesus saw how sad Mary and the crowd were, how did he feel?
15.  Jesus then asked Mary a question.  What was it?
16.  When Mary and Jesus arrived at the grave site, what did he ask to be done?
17. What was Mary’s response to Jesus’ request?
18. How did Jesus respond to Mary’s statement?
19. After the stone was rolled away from the entrance to the grave, what three things did Jesus do?
20. After Lazarus came out to the grave, what did Jesus tell the people to do?
21. What did you learn about God, Jesus, and people from the story?

Have questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible? An excellent source for answers to your questions is gotquestions.org. Check it out. gotquestions.org.

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