FUNCTIONAL FAITH
The Wording

The Raising of Lazarus

John 11:1–44

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Berean Standard Bible

Goodspeed New Testament

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1

At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

Now a man named Lazarus was sick; he lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2

(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)

It was the Mary who poured perfume upon the Master and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

3

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”

So the sisters sent this message to Jesus: “Master, your friend is sick.”

4

When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

When Jesus received it he said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but is for the honor of God, that through it the Son of God may be honored.”

5

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6

So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on for two days in the place where he was,

7

and then He said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

and then afterward said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

8

“Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried to stone You, and You are going back there?”

The disciples said to him, “Master, the Jews have just been trying to stone you, and are you going back there again?”

9

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.

Jesus answered, “Is not the day twelve hours long? If a man travels by day he will not stumble, for he can see the light of this world;

10

But if anyone walks at night, he will stumble, because he has no light.”

but if he travels at night he will stumble because he has no light.”

11

After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”

He told them this, and then he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him.”

12

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.”

The disciples said to him, “Master, if he has fallen asleep he will recover.”

13

They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus.

Now Jesus had referred to his death. But they supposed that he meant a natural falling asleep.

14

So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,

So Jesus then told them plainly,

15

and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

“Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may learn to believe in me. But let us go to him.”

16

Then Thomas called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

So Thomas the Twin said to his fellow-disciples, “Let us go also, and die with him.”

17

When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb.

When Jesus arrived he found that Lazarus had been buried for four days.

18

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,

Now Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem,

19

and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.

and a number of Jews had come out to see Mary and Martha, to condole with them about their brother.

20

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went out to meet him, but Mary remained at home.

21

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

Martha said to Jesus, “Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!

22

But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.”

Even now I know that anything you ask God for, he will give you.”

23

“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.”

24

Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise at the resurrection, on the Last Day.”

25

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

Jesus said to her, “I myself am Resurrection and Life. He who believes in me will live on, even if he dies,

26

And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

and no one who is alive and believes in me will ever die. Do you believe that?”

27

“Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

She said to him, “Yes, Master, I do indeed believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

28

After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”

With these words she went and called her sister Mary, whispering to her, “Here is the Master, asking for you.”

29

And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.

When she heard it she sprang up and went to him,

30

Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him.

for Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

31

When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

The Jews who were sitting with her in the house, condoling with her, when they saw Mary spring up and go out, supposed that she was going to weep at the tomb, and followed her.

32

When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, and said, “Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”

33

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

When Jesus saw her weep and the Jews who had come with her weeping too, repressing a groan, and yet showing great agitation,

34

“Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered.

he said, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Come and see, Master.”

35

Jesus wept.

Jesus shed tears.

36

Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

So the Jews said, “See how much he loved him!”

37

But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”

But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of that blind man, have kept Lazarus from dying?”

38

Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

Again repressing a groan, Jesus went to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid against the mouth of it.

39

“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.”

Jesus said, “Move the stone away.” The dead man’s sister, Martha, said to him, “Master, by this time he is decaying, for he has been dead four days.”

40

Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Jesus said to her, “Have I not promised you that if you will believe in me you will see the glory of God?”

41

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

So they moved the stone away. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for listening to me,

42

I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”

though I knew that you always listen to me. But I have said this for the sake of the people that are standing around me that they may believe that you have made me your messenger.”

43

After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

After saying this he called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44

The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.

The dead man came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and with his face muffled with a handkerchief. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him move.”

Functional Faith Reading

The Greek verb used in verse 4 is doxazō — to glorify, to make the weight of someone's true character visible. Jesus says the sickness will not end in death but will become the occasion for the Father's glory to be seen, and for the Son of God to be glorified through it. The word order matters: the Father's glory comes first, and the Pioneer's glorification follows from it.

Most readings collapse this into a general statement about divine power on display. What gets lost is the relational structure — Jesus is not claiming to be the source of the glory but the instrument through which the Father's glory becomes visible to the people watching. He is acting as the Father's supreme agent, not as an independent divine actor.

The Pioneer's delay is deliberate and costly. He loves Lazarus, Martha, and Mary — the text says so plainly — and he waits anyway. That tension is the point. He moves not on the timeline of sentiment but on the Father's timing, just as he will later move toward the wooden pole not on the timeline of self-preservation but on the Father's word. His obedience here is not cold calculation; it is the same costly love that defines everything he does.

For the person walking the Way, this passage asks a hard question about delay. The Father's silence over your suffering is not indifference. The Pioneer himself waited in trust before acting.

Sit with this

When the Father's timing feels like abandonment, can you still trust that glory is being prepared rather than withheld?

Sources

SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)License

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software.

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