111 And there was a certain one ailing, Lazarus, from Bethany, of the village of Mary and Martha her sister— 2 and it was Mary who did anoint the Lord with ointment, and did wipe his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ailing— 3 therefore sent the sisters unto him, saying, 'Sir, lo, he whom thou dost love is ailing;' 4 and Jesus having heard, said, 'This ailment is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' 5 And Jesus was loving Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus, 6 when, therefore, he heard that he is ailing, then indeed he remained in the place in which he was two days, 7 then after this, he saith to the disciples, 'We may go to Judea again;' 8 the disciples say to him, 'Rabbi, now were the Jews seeking to stone thee, and again thou dost go thither!' 9 Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day? if any one may walk in the day, he doth not stumble, because the light of this world he doth see; 10 and if any one may walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.' 11 These things he said, and after this he saith to them, 'Lazarus our friend hath fallen asleep, but I go on that I may awake him;' 12 therefore said his disciples, 'Sir, if he hath fallen asleep, he will be saved;' 13 but Jesus had spoken about his death, but they thought that about the repose of sleep he speaketh. 14 Then, therefore, Jesus said to them freely, 'Lazarus hath died; 15 and I rejoice, for your sake, (that ye may believe,) that I was not there; but we may go to him;' 16 therefore said Thomas, who is called Didymus, to the fellow-disciples, 'We may go—we also, that we may die with him,'
17 Jesus, therefore, having come, found him having been four days already in the tomb. 18 And Bethany was nigh to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off, 19 and many of the Jews had come unto Martha and Mary, that they might comfort them concerning their brother; 20 Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus doth come, met him, and Mary kept sitting in the house. 21 Martha, therefore, said unto Jesus, 'Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died; 22 but even now, I have known that whatever thou mayest ask of God, God will give to thee;' 23 Jesus saith to her, 'Thy brother shall rise again.' 24 Martha saith to him, 'I have known that he will rise again, in the rising again in the last day;' 25 Jesus said to her, 'I am the rising again, and the life; he who is believing in me, even if he may die, shall live; 26 and every one who is living and believing in me shall not die—to the age; 27 believest thou this?' she saith to him, 'Yes, sir, I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming to the world.'
28 And these things having said, she went away, and called Mary her sister privately, saying, 'The Teacher is present, and doth call thee;' 29 she, when she heard, riseth up quickly, and doth come to him; 30 and Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was in the place where Martha met him; 31 the Jews, therefore, who were with her in the house, and were comforting her, having seen Mary that she rose up quickly and went forth, followed her, saying—'She doth go away to the tomb, that she may weep there.' 32 Mary, therefore, when she came where Jesus was, having seen him, fell at his feet, saying to him, 'Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;'
33 Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, did groan in the spirit, and troubled himself, and he said, 34 'Where have ye laid him?' they say to him, 'Sir, come and see;' 35 Jesus wept. 36 The Jews, therefore, said, 'Lo, how he was loving him!' 37 and certain of them said, 'Was not this one, who did open the eyes of the blind man, able to cause that also this one might not have died?'
38 Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the tomb, and it was a cave, and a stone was lying upon it, 39 Jesus saith, 'Take ye away the stone;' the sister of him who hath died—Martha—saith to him, 'Sir, already he stinketh, for he is four days dead;' 40 Jesus saith to her, 'Said I not to thee, that if thou mayest believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?' 41 They took away, therefore, the stone where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted his eyes upwards, and said, 'Father, I thank Thee, that Thou didst hear me; 42 and I knew that Thou always dost hear me, but, because of the multitude that is standing by, I said 'it', that they may believe that Thou didst send me.' 43 And these things saying, with a loud voice he cried out, 'Lazarus, come forth;' 44 and he who died came forth, being bound feet and hands with grave-clothes, and his visage with a napkin was bound about; Jesus saith to them, 'Loose him, and suffer to go.'
45 Many, therefore, of the Jews who came unto Mary, and beheld what Jesus did, believed in him; 46 but certain of them went away unto the Pharisees, and told them what Jesus did;
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 11:1-46
Commentary on John 11:1-6
(Read John 11:1-6)
It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves, to be sick; bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces of God's people. He came not to preserve his people from these afflictions, but to save them from their sins, and from the wrath to come; however, it behoves us to apply to Him in behalf of our friends and relatives when sick and afflicted. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dealings of Providence, that they are all for the glory of God: sickness, loss, disappointment, are so; and if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. The families are greatly favoured in which love and peace abound; but those are most happy whom Jesus loves, and by whom he is beloved. Alas, that this should seldom be the case with every person, even in small families. God has gracious intentions, even when he seems to delay. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, is delayed, it does but stay for the right time.
Commentary on John 11:7-10
(Read John 11:7-10)
Christ never brings his people into any danger but he goes with them in it. We are apt to think ourselves zealous for the Lord, when really we are only zealous for our wealth, credit, ease, and safety; we have therefore need to try our principles. But our day shall be lengthened out, till our work is done, and our testimony finished. A man has comfort and satisfaction while in the way of his duty, as set forth by the word of God, and determined by the providence of God. Christ, wherever he went, walked in the day; and so shall we, if we follow his steps. If a man walks in the way of his heart, and according to the course of this world, if he consults his own carnal reasonings more than the will and glory of God, he falls into temptations and snares. He stumbles, because there is no light in him; for light in us is to our moral actions, that which light about us to our natural actions.
Commentary on John 11:11-16
(Read John 11:11-16)
Since we are sure to rise again at the last, why should not the believing hope of that resurrection to eternal life, make it as easy for us to put off the body and die, as it is to put off our clothes and go to sleep? A true Christian, when he dies, does but sleep; he rests from the labours of the past day. Nay, herein death is better than sleep, that sleep is only a short rest, but death is the end of earthly cares and toils. The disciples thought that it was now needless for Christ to go to Lazarus, and expose himself and them. Thus we often hope that the good work we are called to do, will be done by some other hand, if there be peril in the doing of it. But when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, many were brought to believe on him; and there was much done to make perfect the faith of those that believed. Let us go to him; death cannot separate from the love of Christ, nor put us out of the reach of his call. Like Thomas, in difficult times Christians should encourage one another. The dying of the Lord Jesus should make us willing to die whenever God calls us.
Commentary on John 11:17-32
(Read John 11:17-32)
Here was a house where the fear of God was, and on which his blessing rested; yet it was made a house of mourning. Grace will keep sorrow from the heart, but not from the house. When God, by his grace and providence, is coming towards us in ways of mercy and comfort, we should, like Martha, go forth by faith, hope, and prayer, to meet him. When Martha went to meet Jesus, Mary sat still in the house; this temper formerly had been an advantage to her, when it put her at Christ's feet to hear his word; but in the day of affliction, the same temper disposed her to melancholy. It is our wisdom to watch against the temptations, and to make use of the advantages of our natural tempers. When we know not what in particular to ask or expect, let us refer ourselves to God; let him do as seemeth him good. To enlarge Martha's expectations, our Lord declared himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. In every sense he is the Resurrection; the source, the substance, the first-fruits, the cause of it. The redeemed soul lives after death in happiness; and after the resurrection, both body and soul are kept from all evil for ever. When we have read or heard the word of Christ, about the great things of the other world, we should put it to ourselves, Do we believe this truth? The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such a deep impression upon us as they do, if we believed the things of eternity as we ought. When Christ our Master comes, he calls for us. He comes in his word and ordinances, and calls us to them, calls us by them, calls us to himself. Those who, in a day of peace, set themselves at Christ's feet to be taught by him, may with comfort, in a day of trouble, cast themselves at his feet, to find favour with him.
Commentary on John 11:33-46
(Read John 11:33-46)
Christ's tender sympathy with these afflicted friends, appeared by the troubles of his spirit. In all the afflictions of believers he is afflicted. His concern for them was shown by his kind inquiry after the remains of his deceased friend. Being found in fashion as a man, he acts in the way and manner of the sons of men. It was shown by his tears. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Tears of compassion resemble those of Christ. But Christ never approved that sensibility of which many are proud, while they weep at mere tales of distress, but are hardened to real woe. He sets us an example to withdraw from scenes of giddy mirth, that we may comfort the afflicted. And we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. It is a good step toward raising a soul to spiritual life, when the stone is taken away, when prejudices are removed, and got over, and way is made for the word to enter the heart. If we take Christ's word, and rely on his power and faithfulness, we shall see the glory of God, and be happy in the sight. Our Lord Jesus has taught us, by his own example, to call God Father, in prayer, and to draw nigh to him as children to a father, with humble reverence, yet with holy boldness. He openly made this address to God, with uplifted eyes and loud voice, that they might be convinced the Father had sent him as his beloved Son into the world. He could have raised Lazarus by the silent exertion of his power and will, and the unseen working of the Spirit of life; but he did it by a loud call. This was a figure of the gospel call, by which dead souls are brought out of the grave of sin: and of the sound of the archangel's trumpet at the last day, with which all that sleep in the dust shall be awakened, and summoned before the great tribunal. The grave of sin and this world, is no place for those whom Christ has quickened; they must come forth. Lazarus was thoroughly revived, and returned not only to life, but to health. The sinner cannot quicken his own soul, but he is to use the means of grace; the believer cannot sanctify himself, but he is to lay aside every weight and hinderance. We cannot convert our relatives and friends, but we should instruct, warn, and invite them.