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Scripture • World English Bible
John 11:28–44
28When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”
29When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him.
30Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.
31Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled,
34and said, “Where have you laid him?”
35Jesus wept.
36The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
37Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.
World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain
Reflection
This scene in John 11 reaches into the deepest human experiences: grief, confusion, and the hope for something impossible. Martha runs to meet Jesus and tells him plainly that if he had come sooner, her brother would not have died. Mary falls at his feet with the same honest sorrow. Jesus sees their tears and the mourning crowd; he is moved—groaning in spirit, troubled, weeping. His compassion is immediate and real.
But this chapter does not stop with sympathy. Jesus moves from sorrow to action. He asks for the stone to be taken away, reminds those around of his earlier promise that believing would reveal God's glory, offers a prayer of thanks to the Father, and then calls with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! The dead man emerges still bound by burial wrappings, and Jesus orders that he be unbound and released.
There are at least three things happening here that matter for us. First, Jesus is not distant from our pain. His tears tell us that God sees our sorrow and enters into it. We do not grieve alone; the Son of God grieves with us. Second, Jesus combines compassion with power. He does not leave the story at consolation—he acts to bring life where death seemed final. The raising of Lazarus reveals the glory of God and points forward to the greater victory Jesus himself will accomplish over death. Third, resurrection often arrives with an invitation and an uncomfortable obedience: Lazarus had to come out of the tomb, and then others had to unwrap him. New life requires response and community involvement.
That combination—compassion, power, and calling—changes how we live. When we face losses that feel final (death, broken relationships, addictions, despair), Jesus meets us in our tears, promises to show God’s glory, and calls us to step into the life he offers. And when he brings that life, it is our calling to help remove the bindings that keep one from living freely in Christ.
This passage is both encouragement and challenge. It comforts us that Jesus shares our sorrow. It assures us that God can do what seems impossible. And it summons us to respond in faith when Christ calls us out of whatever tomb is holding us—whether that is guilt, cynicism, or habit—and to help others be unbound and set free.
Putting Faith Into Action
- When you are grieving or overwhelmed, bring your sorrow directly to Jesus. Practice honest prayer—name your loss, your anger, your confusion—and expect his compassion to meet you.
- When God seems silent, remember that his timing can serve a larger purpose. Wait in faith for the display of God’s glory rather than giving in to despair; look for how God might use the delay for greater good.
- If someone in your life is coming out of a place of bondage or grief, help them unbind. Offer practical help, listen without rushing, encourage small steps of obedience, and be willing to carry burdens together.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you wept with those who mourn and called life out of death. Meet me in my grief, show your glory in my need, and give me the faith to step out when you call. Help me also to be a hands-and-feet presence for others, gently unwrapping what binds them so they can walk in the new life you give. Amen.
Memory Verse
John 11:28 — When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.” (WEB)
“When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.””
Bible Context
Read all of John 11
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Bible Context
Read all of John 11
John 11
World English Bible • WEB
1Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
2It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”
4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”
5Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”
8The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”
9Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”
11He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
12The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
14So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead.
15I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
16Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, that we may die with him.”
17So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.
19Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
20Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
22Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
26Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
28When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”
29When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him.
30Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.
31Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled,
34and said, “Where have you laid him?”
35Jesus wept.
36The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
37Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.
45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.
46But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
47The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.
48If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
51Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.
54Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
55Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
56Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?”
57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain
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